Nick's Trip: April 2013 in Miami, FL

I had a business trip to Miami for a few days this month; Brandi and Nick came down for a long weekend after our presentation was finished at iStrategy. They flew down on an 'awesome' American Airlines jet, and we spent four days mixing up activities for all of us. It was good to get time with the family, as I had just finished two weeks travelling as a focus group moderator.

At each hotel Nick is in search of a pool, but loses interest quckly with the cold ones.  He says, "I have an idea. We need a machine that can heat the water and put it back in the pool.  We'll call it a 'hot-i-nator."  Now, he's sharp, or he's heard that somewhere. But he had no fear of the Atlantic ocean, which wasn't much warmer. During our days on the beach he was in the water more than on the sand. We had a private area of beach which was quiet during the week.

We ate well.  I tried Squid Ink for the first time. but most of our dining wasn't overly adventurous.  One afternoon our splurge meal was at the Grillfish in South Beach, just to take in the atmosphere. We had Italian at Ludos in Coconut Grove on the last day, taking in the small town with a table along the sidewalk. All I wanted was a quiet meal, which was a challenge given at every turn my peace was disrupted by every possible man-made distrubance, from annoying children to Hare Krishna parades. (Still beats being screwed for two subs for $25 at the Miami Beach Subway where they don't speak English and the receipt is illegible.) We stayed at the Cadillac Hotel along the ocean; the balcony view and ocean breeze were wonderful (once we got past the construction and 24-hour power generators outside of our window.)

We visited the Miami SeaQuarium on Saturday, where Nick experienced sharks, dolphins, sea lions, and a killer whale. The shows were nicely done, but the park itself was rather run-down.

His first baseball game was the Cubs vs. Marlins, at Miami Marlins Park. He most enjoyed Billy the Marlin, and a couple bags of cotton candy, a hot dog, and a pretzel. But he followed quite a bit of the game, cheering and seeing a couple good innings. Like most of the trip, he had a portable TV to pass the time when the action slowed down.

Finally we visited Viscaya, an architechtrual home from 1912, built with the International Harvester fortune. Nick was a bundle of questions during the tour, abd good ones, actually ("If that's the organ, where are the pipes? Want to make it better, add a train around it.") The surrounding gardens were beautiful, where Nick honed in on a wedding party and got a picture with a tall brunette named Christina. You'll recognize the property from the end of the Movie, "The Money Pit" (a film close to my heart.)

The pictures share the stories much better than the words.

- Jason