18 year Anniversary

Well, what a nice weekend, despite Hurricanes and Tropical depressions. My sister and mother put together a very nice weekend for my wife and I. We were told to keep Sat and Sun free and they would dole out instructions as time went by.

We were told to pack a day bag with toiletries (yes it makes a difference Ximena), and be prepared to be told what to do. Ximena came over at about 1PM and we handed the boys off to her and were lucky Gemma was there to watch the dogs. She handed us a folder at the car and said read the sheets of paper and open envelopes based on instructions marked on the outside. Once we rolled out we started reading and we were told to head for Lincoln Road with all stores and restaurants listed on the paper, to have a nice walk, shop, lunch etc. free of kids and "you have to hold hands" was the text message that followed. The first envelope had to be opened right on 152nd street so as we left and on the corner we opened it to find a nice poem and cashola...yes Lincoln Road, started to sound even more fun.

Once on Lincoln, we walked around, decided to get lunch at a nice Italian cafe, food was good and we met interesting guy named Robert at table next to us, big movie buff... Anyway, we walked a little more, went to Books and Books, Liz found an autographed Salman Rushdie book and so she had a big smile. Instructions were to call at 4PM so I set an alarm on my phn, we called at 3:59 because Liz was so anxious she wouldn't even shop. The next instructions were to head to 1677 Collins, I had to ask about parking but was told "just go". When we arrived, it was the National Hotel a very nice Art Deco hotel preserved to it's original luster. The lobby was very nice so our anticipation was incredible. We checked in and were told the pool was 24 hours, and that we had a Cabana room facing the pool, we headed to the room and it was great, view of a long narrow pool the length of the hotel and views of the ocean as well. After rummaging the robes, chocolate, flip flops and other nice things in the room we put on swimming suits and headed to the pool. When we got there, it was blustery so we decided to walk to the beach and see the weather and watch the waves, after a short beach walk, we got on the boardwalk. We walked down Ocean Drive a bit then on to Espanola Way. The young lady wanted a pastry. There we stopped at a little cafe and ate some Palmier type pastries . On Espanola we found a quaint little French Cafe where we wanted to come back and have dinner, but then we headed back to the hotel. Once back at the hotel we got in the square pool by the bar and just relaxed for a while and I had my first $14 dollar drink...yes $14 wow that's a whole bottle, but hey, I didn't pay for it it was gift so it was the best $14 dollar drink.

So the only other instruction we had that night was to have fun, hold hands and...well have fun, enough said. We went to the room took showers and headed out all primped up for a night on the Beach. The weather was cooperative, windy but quite ok. We went to the little French Cafe and had a nice Crepe and some French Cider.

Here is a preview of more pics to come (Liz is drinking too!!!):


So now I found some time to continue.

After our nice dinner at the French Bistro called "A la Folie" on 516 Espanola Way, where we had nice Soup, Crepes, Salad and Cider we headed back towards the hotel. On the way there we remembered the bartender by the pool mentioning that if we wanted to do anything we should simply go to The Delano(click and listen to cool tunes)Check this place out. Forget all the other clubs and nightspots the Delano was where it was happening. So since it was next to our hotel we went there. The lobby was covered by long flowing white curtains floor to ceiling making it secluded from outside passersby. There was cool loungy music playing and lots of people decked out for a typical night out on the beach. The only difference was that it was very laid back and not a crowded pushy nightclub. We had a couple more drinks there for more DING DING DING$$$, and actually too strong for Liz. After some light dancing and roaming out by the pool where the party continued we noticed that there was an actual nightclub in the basement also. We skipped this and called it a night. Back at the Hotel we opened the last envelope only to discover some more gift money for our next day out...how awesome.

The next day, we slept in just long enough to get out on time for some French pastries up the street and back for checkout time. Once we checked out we decided to go check out Bal Harbour and act like the Rich and Famous. Well shopping is not easy there, but window shopping is fun. My favorite was obviously Agent Provacateur, if you don't know who they are go check it out... Maybe on another day Liz can come back to actually shop there. I almost forgot, on the way there we stopped in N Miami Beach and ate churros at a cool little Latin cafe, I wish I knew the name but it was on a corner around the block from the Days Inn. From there we decided to go get some lunch and I did not want to interfere with a Dinner I had planned so we went to an Asian restaurant right next to Soyka on North Biscayne Blvd.. It was a light lunch and we followed it up with a little shopping where I bought a nice shirt that I have yet to wear, maybe tomorrow.

Finally we headed back to South Beach for a small stroll on Lincoln Road to kill some time before dinner. There we visited lots of clothing boutiques like Guess, Victoria Secrets, and some smaller local shops. When it came time to leave so we could head for a 7PM dinner we realized we had nowhere to change into nice clothes so I drove to the roof of the Convention center parking and found the most secluded spot where we changed out and into our nice evening clothes. Truthfully had anyone shown up in any elevator they would have been about 10 spaces away from seeing our naked asses. This just added some fun to the day and we did a pretty good job changing in the car. Then I took Liz to my gift for the night a dinner at Capital Grill. Ximena came through with the reservations, because our table had been decorated with rose petals and we got a nice corner booth. Liz had the Dry Aged Sirloin and I had a special New Orleans Delmonico , we topped this off with a Creme Brulee the restaurant gave us as a gift...it was truly incredible and I don't do sweets. We were kinda pooped and lunch ended up lasting longer than we thought so once we got dinner, it was hard to put it all down. By the way, if you ever go to Capital Grill, make sure you don't sit under an AC vent as they condense and drip on your dinner...yeah we had to move a bit.

This was a very nice weekend, I appreciate everyone who worked hard to make it happen and hope that one day we could make it up to you guys. Sorry for the long boring story...but it's been a long time since we first met.