Day Three in Miami (Part Two)

The blog on our journey to Miami sure is dragging out.  I hope I can remember all the details to get this latest installment done. 

So......we last left off as we were boarding the bus after our stop at Vizcaya (the magnificent mansion built on Biscayne Bay).

We waited briefly for the bus and when it stopped we were excited to find that we had our same tour guide as when we had left. 

The tour continued on through Coral Gables and other interesting sights in Miami.

Here are some of the pictures along our way:

Well.....I have no idea what this picture is.  We were sitting at the back of the bus and I must have thought it was interesting at the time

 

This is the famous Biltmore Hotel.  Extremely beautiful.  Extremely expensive.  Maybe we'll stay there on our next visit!

This was the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables.  Built in 1924 in a coral rock quarry. 

Gorgeous pool in a gorgeous location.

 

We had been staying on the bus since our last stop because we had a destination in mind.  Little Havana.  We certainly could not come to Miami and not eat Cuban food.  Apparently 3/4 of the people on the bus had the same idea as us....as the bus emptied at this stop. 

After getting a good restaurant recommendation from the tour guide....we headed to El Cristo Restaurant to eat......and we were really hungry!

 

 Paul chose a combination pleate which included rice, black beans, picadillo, and some other things I have no idea of.  However, I did sample a taste of everything on his plate and found the picadillo to be my favorite.  I myself, picked the Cubano sandwich and the "julienned fries" (which were actually shoestring potatoes....lol)

After eating our delicious lunch we spent our time waiting for the bus by buying souvenirs for the managers and taking cheesy tourist pictures.

Isn't it nice that he'll pose for these and let me snap a picture of the memory?

 

But of course, I had to have my turn too!

 

 

We even found a park near the bus stop that had a group of people spending the afternoon with competitive games of Dominos and Chess

 

 

 

And of course, the Chess Master was enthralled with all the chess games happening around him!

 

We had a lot of fun hanging out in Little Havana...and then the bus came and it was time for us to continue on our scenic tour of this beautiful city

 Did I tell you how HOT it was while we were there.......not a flattering picture.....buy hey....it was really really hot on the top of that bus (but it was also very fun too)

 

More pics of Little Havana!

Our bus tour of downtown, Coral Gables, and Little Havana had finally reached it's end.....but that was not the end of our tour.  We had to change busses and finish our tour with the Miami beach tour which included South Beach.

But.........that is just going to have to wait for the post of Miami.....Part 3.

I promise..........it's coming soon!

A day in our city

A couple of weeks ago we took some time off on our way to run errands and just tried to find a little fun. 

We ended up here:

This lot.......where there is lots of giant Presidential heads and the Beatles made out of concrete.  It is a foundry where an artist works and designs these out of concrete.  How totally awesome is this???

We had the whole place to ourselves........as you can see we had quite a good time snapping pictures of the Presidents.  We also spent a great deal of time trying to identify each one of them.

What a unique place to visit!

A little thanks really does go a long way

I've been the lucky recipient of two "thank you's" this week.

The first one was an out of the blue text from one of our drivers:

"Debbie, I have an incredible amount of respect for you.  I do not have intimate knowing of work behind the scene, but I do know that your effort and investment in Pizza Zone is beyond measure.  I thank you and Paul for the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful team."

Wow......those were such incredibly nice words to hear!

The second "thank you" came from our neighbor, who came and thanked us for noticing the fire the other day behind his house.  He said he had no idea it was out there and was surprised at the size of it when we first went to see what was going on.

I was just doing what any neighbor would do.

But, now I want to make sure that I keep on saying those "thank you's" to other people.  Because in this day and age.......telling someone thank you might make their day too.

Thank you!

Here's your briefing

Wow......life is still just whizzing by.

I still need to post the rest of the Miami trip, the entire Tucson trip, and our recent getaway (very short) weekend.  If I don't hurry and get it posted I'll never be able to remember what happened.....lol.

We've been busy....busy.....busy.  I'm still working on getting next year's tax stuff done (I'm almost there).  We've been working on getting the store in order and getting new menus.  We've been working on cleaning up this long neglected house.  Still working with the landlord on the expansion of our little pizza shop.  And we've been working, working, working.

Anyways.....................here are a few single pics that I've snapped along my incredible journey of life.

We visited the famous Houston "Beer Can House" on a recent 1/2 day off

This is one of our drivers cars.  He wrecked it right out in front of our store.  Thankfully, he was not working at the time.  This is exactly why we tell them they can't take a left out of the parking lot.  They think we're just being mean

Went to the comic store yesterday and get a couple of things for a young friend who had to be placed in a rehabilitation hospital recently.  Ended up at the comic store of one a good customers and he gave us a bunch of posters and comics to cheer up our little friend.  We have such amazing customers!

Trying to eat better.  Paul is on an egg diet.  That means I don't get to cook like I used to.  But last night I whipped up some scrambled eggs deluxe.  Dang......that was delicious!

 

Selling the other store has really been a HUGE GIGANTIC load of stress and extra work taken off our backs.  I can finally see a small tiny little sliver of light at the end of the tunnel!

Oh......but trust me.  Paul and I are still making up a bucket list of places we still need to go visit.  Hopefully, we'll be able to still maintain an active traveling schedule!
 

Whoopeee! Day Three. Miami. (Part One)

No sleeping late on this day.  It was our last full day and we had sightseeing to do.

We jumped on the freeway and headed south about 18 miles to Miami.  Our plan was to take a tour bus of the whole city.  It's the fastest most efficient way to see a city.  If you have extra time, you go back and visit the places that you were most interested in. 

Lucky for us.....we took a Hop Off-Hop On tour.  We actually had two tours in one.....a city tour and a beach tour.

So off to the Big Red Bus we went!

We rode on the top of the bus and it was an EXTREMELY hot and humid day there in Miami.  So it's not our most glamorous shot......but we wanted to document the moment.  (pay no attention the girl with the fat neck)

Here's where the bus started from.  What a beautiful view!

We rode the bus and were waiting for the perfect opportunity to jump off and do some sightseeing. 

The first place that interested us was Vizcaya.

This was the entry into the property.

Built in the early 1920's the house was decorated extravagantly and still contained all the original furnishings.  Built right on Biscayne Bay......the views were INCREDIBLE!  We walked along a heavily wooded path until we came upon this beautiful, beautiful house.

 

We took a private tour through the house with a host and ended up being the only two people on the tour.  We learned so much "hidden secrets" and enjoyed learning the history of the house and the family that owned it.

It had the most magnificient view of the bay.

 

 

What a beautiful backdrop for a beautiful picture with my handsome husband!

 

 

This is the fountains out by the garden.

 

 

And who wouldn't want to have a pool like this with your own private grotto?

 

Our tour of the home was over.....so we headed back out to the road to wait for the Big Red Bus to pick us up again.  This was the amazing view we got to enjoy as we waited!

 

 

And of course, we always have to take a tourist show now and then.  Seriously, I don't think we could look any more like a tourist than we do!  Who cares........we have the most AWESOME vacations!

I think he was planning on what stop we were going to get off and eat lunch at.

Okay.....well that's enough excitement (and pictures) for one day.   We'll have to continue Day 3 in Miami on our next post. 

Don't forget to come back :-)

Here's just a hodge podge of pictures

I was going to post today our fabulous Day 3 in Miami, but don't have the time right now to document that BUSY BUSY day. 

So instead........you are going to get a hodge podge of new and exciting things I've been meaning to post and I haven't.  So just pretend like you're enjoying it.....ok?

Things I love:

These new Dole chopped salads are AWESOME!  They are so fresh and the best part is everything is already chopped up for you.  We have been eating these at least 3 times a week!

I love being able to take a picture of my shopping list and sending it to my husband's phone.  Now he has no excuse for forgetting something I asked for at the grocery store.  Isn't technology wonderful?

We love these new bowls that we bought at the restaurant supply store the other day.  They are like the wok bowls we've used in the restaurants.  They are awesome for pasta and salads.

I love making things from scratch......it tastes so much better.  One of our favorites:  Creamed Corn!

I love to take pictures of food I'm cooking and send it to my kids.  That's how I lure them back home all the time.......they miss their mama's cooking!  On this night we were eating roasted corn and spicy brautwurst.

We love to try new things.  On this night we were making Beef Stroganoff.  I used to love it many years ago.

On this night......Paul really liked it and I was just meh.....

 

 

But the good part of it was that we got to use the new bowls!

Day 2 in Sunny Florida

Well that title is not actually true.  Yes, it was Day 2 in Florida.  No, it was not sunny.

In fact, when we woke up this morning (or should I say LATE LATE morning) it was actually cloudy and had been raining on and off during the night.

We woke up at 11am.  We had waken earlier, but was just too tired to stay up.  Hey......we're on vacation....but we don't want to sleep it away!

So......we got up and sat down in the hotel lobby figuring out what we were going to do.  The weather scared us a little bit so we thought we would just cruise down A1A (runs along the Florida coast) and enjoy the magnificent view.  As we drove along, we realized that all the bad weather was moving along so today would be our best opportunity to go jet ski riding.

So off we were headed to Pompano Beach to go riding!

The place we picked happened to be on the Intercoastal Waterway.....so we wouldn't be riding in the ocean, but in the waterway instead.  Oh what beautiful homes we saw along the way.  Since we didn't bring a camera with us.....I'll have to "borrow" one from someone else.

We were able to go about 4 miles up the waterway.  The place where we rented was behind this funky old beachy Polynesian hotel that had a lot of character.  But it had a restaurant right on the waterway.....so that was awesome!

After an hour of zipping up and down the waterway, we needed to head back to our hotel for a quick shower to get ready for the concert.  The concert was an early 4pm.....and due to us not getting up so late.....it didn't give us much time to do anything on this day (however, sometimes I think we need to just get some sleep.....so we're not really complaining....to much).

Since I forgot to post a picture of our hotel on the first day.....here's one for you.  Not a bad place to stay......just had a lot of stray cats hanging around the place.

After a quick shower......we were headed to the concert.  Lucky for us -- it was only 3-4 miles down the road from the hotel! 

Lucky me......the concert was at a casino!

We got there a tiny bit late.....but really really enjoyed seeing Martha from Martha and the Motels (I only knew one of her songs); Patty Smyth from Scandal (she was awesome!) and the GoGo's.  

The GoGo's were amazing and for some reason my husband's pictures did not load....so they are not here.  They will be posted later (when I can find them) on a special feature blog.

So since the concert ended at 7pm......we had a HUGE night still ahead of us.  We tried to have fun at the Hardrock Casino, but quickly realized that their machines only wanted to take our money and not give it back.  So we had to move on to another destination.

Here's where we ended up.  We were really hoping that there would be live racing that night.....but we tried to soothe our disappointment in their casino when we found out......no racing.

We left there hungry and with a little bit of money.....but it was late and we still had not had anything to eat since the hot dog that we scarfed down at the concert earlier.

The mission:  to find pizza

That task proved to be very difficult because it was getting late and most places just don't cater to those of us who don't usually eat dinner until 10pm.

So after much driving around using GPS to find the perfect place to eat......we just found the first place that we came to that was still open and might have some good food.

Here's where we landed:

Yeah.....Mahi Mahi and Crab cakes for a very very late night dinner!

After our fabulous dinner.....we headed back to the hotel for some sleep because tomorrow we were going to have to cram in a lot of fun!