Mid-June, my class was invited to attend our graduation ceremony in Coral Gables, FL... and after a little poking around, I learned that this was a suburb of Miami. Eich! As if being in the heat of St. Kitts for three years wasn't enough, they decided to bring our graduation back into the humidity of tropical weather. Mind you, we had been promised graduation in Madison Square Garden in New York City... but I digress.
It was the first trip I had taken US Airways in quite a long time (I had been flying American Airlines or United mostly), let alone travel with my family. Leaving Boston's Logan airport was (mostly) smooth, as my family and I were all allowed through the TSA Pre-Check line. True to fashion, my mom held up the expedited line because one of the bags got stuck at the x-ray. After a quick bite to eat at Au Bon Pain (for myself and my mom) and McDonald's (for my dad), we found the gate and were shortly on our way to North Carolina. On the second leg of the trip, I ran into my best friend from vet school, who was on the same flight to Florida... and ironically, was staying at the same hotel. (Ok, I guess there aren't THAT many hotels in Coral Gables...) The first thing I remember about landing in Florida was that oppressing wave of humidity that hit as we were exiting the plane. Not fun. Then we gathered our bags and tried to get our rental car. After a rather... chaotic miscommunication with Thifty, we learned that our reservation was NOT, indeed, cancelled, but my dad's enrollment in their frequent traveler program meant we picked up the car in a different location. It felt like an eternity by that point, but we finally made it to the Marriott Courtyard in Coral Gables.
The last thing I wanted to do was go to the reception within 45 minutes after arriving at the hotel, but Jen dragged me there. After finding a table tucked away in a corner, Jen, AJ, and I settled in to enjoy the open bar and hors d'oeuvres... which was surprisingly good! Especially the veggie burger sliders and crab cakes. Once the 2 hour mark was hit, and the party was scheduled to be over, we were promptly kicked out. I learned later that this was because, in true "Ross fashion," Ross had also scheduled the medical school's reception and ceremony with an hour between the two of us. After a quick change and shower, I joined my parents at John Martin's pub on Miracle Mile. I was, for the most part, pleasantly surprised, considering it was an Irish pub in the middle of a largely Hispanic population. Although I only had a salad as my main course, I sampled some of my mom's escargot and my dad's corned beef dinner... mainly because it had included a "parsley sauce," and I was curious. Unfortunately, it was rather lacking in flavor, despite my high hopes. Considering the graduation ceremony was the next day, we made it an early night and returned to the hotel.
Saturday morning, we decided to try breakfast in the hotel for convenience sake. Bad idea. Service was very slow... we were forgotten on several occasions because we did not opt for the buffet option... and the waiter was overly chatty, to the point of making very awkward conversation. We made it a point to not get breakfast there again before leaving. On the way to graduation, my dad had found the Magic City Casino, so, of course, we had to spend a day in the casino. As part of my graduation gift, my mother and I played some of the slot machines while my dad played some poker and black-jack. In the midst of the day, my mom and I were approached by a worker, who offered us 2 free tickets to their buffet lunch. I was pleasantly surprised at the array of Cuban dishes, although it would've been nice to have more protein options than chicken. My dad, on the other hand, was not impressed. After a little more gambling, we returned to the hotel for the afternoon--my parents wanted to swim, and I, of course, wanted to decompress a little bit. Then we trekked back to... you guessed it... Miracle Mile for dinner. During their exploration of the restaurants, my mom discovered a place called Season 52. They offered a sample of 3 wines, a flatbread, and a full glass of your choice of the three wines for about $15. Our waiter was charming, knowledgeable of the wine flavor profiles, and very attentive to our needs. Of course, I opted for the reds, ultimately selecting a brand of merlot called Velvet Devil, while my mom got the whites. Behind the bar, there was a rotating pedestal with a piano, which played a charming rendition of a huge variety of music, ranging from showtunes to modern pop hits. After the we finished our wines, we walked about half a mile down the road to have some drinks and appetizers at Miller's Ale House. Unfortunately, with the World Cup going on, the noise quickly became too much, and we moved back down Miracle mile to a sushi restaurant that had caught my eye earlier--Red Koi. Service was slow, as seems to be the trend in Miami, and the food quality was decent... but their specialty sushi rolls consisted of far too many flavors. Enough was enough, and we called it quits for the evening... well, we retreated to the Marriott's bar for a little bit.
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| A curious little capuchin (?). |
Sunday was Father's Day, a detail which we pretty much forgot along the way to breakfast. Many places were closed or not taking walk-ins. Luckily, we found a little French bakery, La Provence, which was able to accommodate us. The breakfast sandwiches were tasty and prices were reasonable, but we were a little confused as to why salads were offered as a side dish for breakfast. We had a small sparrow accompany us for the meal, which the staff spent quite an amusing bit of time trying to shoo out the front door. We continued our tourism stint, stopping by a place called the Venetian Pool. The travel book had made it sound like a much more elaborate natural spring than a public swimming pool. Jungle Island for the afternoon, ignoring the fact that the zoo was likely to be over-run with children. With it being Father's Day, my dad got in for free, and they were hosting a celebration with free samples and a "man cave" set up with pool tables and arcade games. Miami Brewing Company presented a coconut ale (Big Rod), which is definitely something I hope eventually makes it up to New England. The variety of animals at the zoo were limited, but they appeared to be well cared-for. After a few hours of wandering in the heat, we opted to return to the hotel to cool off before dinner. We then turned our sights to--you guessed it--Miracle Mile yet again.| Roosterfish photo courtesy of www.laterallinemedia.com |
We couldn't wait to leave Miami... and Monday morning couldn't come fast enough. Unfortunately, Miami airport was a NIGHTMARE. (And if you have happened to come across my review of the airport on Google, I apologize for the redundancy here...) After dropping off our rental care, we took the MIA mover to our terminal. USAir had about a dozen check-in stations after walking past what felt like hundreds of American Airlines stations. Then, we had to walk back to the security point about a mile back, only to be told 3 times to keep going to other security check points. TSA Pre-Check was closed at the one entrance to the terminal, and I had to back-track to the previous one that I had gone to, where the TSA officers gave me a hard time about using the D/E entrance. Even once we got beyond security, the nightmare continued. The food in terminal E was disappointing--the cafe by the gate was out of many menu items, and even the bag of chips I settled on for breakfast was stale.
I'm definitely standing my ground and avoiding returning to Miami, and its airport, like the plague.
