Taking my talents to South Beach

KSC addendum - Below is the video showing me eating freeze dried ice cream... Note the loud crunch when biting into it (to me it really was like biting into a hard piece of chalk)... Also, please note, my enthusiasm (lack of or too much of) is potentially misplaced... Whilst it was decent, I perhaps wouldn't go to space for it, and I probably wouldn't go out of my way to have it again, I mean, I'd have it again, but wouldn't move heaven and earth to get it (I got flustered in front of the camera, knowing I could only film maybe 15 seconds before it would be too hard to upload!)...

It turns out also that there was a space launch scheduled for the Thursday at the Cape.  The Orion capsule which is meant to be the next step in long range space travel or something... I really should have done the research before I showed up to the KSC, but what it is is what it is... Anyway, from what I hear the launch got scrubbed anyway, so it is probably a good thing I didn't run this part of my trip based on this launch...

And with the completion of the addendum, the Moon is behind me and a drive is in front of me... So, lets saddle up and ride!

Wednesday

I woke up Wednesday and took my free breakfast.  Vegemite on toast this time because I remembered to bring it with me to the breakfast room.  One bloke told me he knew where I was from based on the Vegemite... I congratulated him... He seemed very happy with himself... Next time I go to somewhere in Australia and I see a guy wearing a maroon shirt I'm going to proudly announce that I know where he is from...

I walked across the parking lot to the Best Western to print some tickets to the Miami Heat and Miami Dolphins games which I will be attending in Miami.  The guy at the Best Western stopped me and pointed to the computer, knowing what I was asking as soon as I had opened with 'I am staying at the Days Inn'...

I packed my bag and put it in the car, but left both of my keys in the room, which meant that as soon as I had closed the door there was no going back... Unfortunately I had left my backpack in the room, which had my computer, my camera, and my passport... I had to go back to the front desk and ask for another key... Thankfully they had a good humour about it all and then 3 minutes later I had returned with all 3 keys programmed for me and hit the road for South Beach.

As the car I was driving was very small, I had used about 5/8 of a tank going from Tampa, to Cape Canaveral, to KSC, to Cape Canaveral again.  So, on my exit from the Cape I stopped at a Chevron and filled the car... Now, the tank wasn't as big as my car at home (also not nearly as efficient), but I filled it up completely for less than $14... Petrol is SO CHEAP here by comparison to back in Australia... I would have filled the tank for less than $30... I also bought a water for the trip, and two bags of M&Ms cookies for less than $1... I do love how cheap some candy is in this country...

I got back on the road, and like I have done so many times before, made my way towards Melbourne...

Though, I've never made my way to Melbourne, Florida... I kind of got to wondering how they named some of these places... Like, for example, was Indian River really just a river for Indians? That took up about 5 minutes of my thoughts before I got back to concentrating on the road.

The trip went by relatively quickly, I even stopped for a milkshake (as is now, apparently, the family custom)... I stopped at a rest stop where there was a Wendy's... An American Wendy's, nothing like the Wendy's we have in Australia... I had a 'Frosty' which I have heard so much about... When served to me the attendant gave me a spoon... That should have been a signal for what was to come, as this milkshake was so thick that I couldn't drink it through a straw, so, I ended up having to put the spoon to good use and eat the milkshake... I did you proud Dad... Milkshake and driving on the wrong side of the road and all that...

I eventually hit the outskirts of Miami.  Turns out that the Miami Dolphins play so far outside of the city limits of Miami that they're actually in the next county up from Miami...

I had considered whether or not I should drive into South Beach to the hostel, drop off my bags and then drive the car back to the airport drop off point... Thank the good lord I did not do that... The traffic was ridiculously heavy, and the roads were confusing as shit, even with the help of the GPS... I did eventually make it to the airport (though the drop off place was off-site), fill my car up again (which was still less than $15... A full tank would have been less than $30), and drop the car off.

I got an Uber to the hostel.  The Uber driver informed me that there would be an extra 100,000 people or so in Miami in the city this week for some massive art festival, Art Basel, or something... So, traffic was HEAVY!!

Uber Driver Marc's Fact of the Day
Sam: "Gotta love this weather right"
Marc: 'Yeah, well, as soon as you see coconut trees, you know'
Sam: "Huh?"
Marc: 'Coconuts don't grow in places where you get frost.  So, if you see coconut trees, then you know you're in a place where it is summer all year'

Eventually I made it to the hostel, though, it took a lot of finding... The place wasn't very well signposted... It looked like a regular hotel... But I checked in, found a bed based on my hostel bed finding rules and got out of my jeans in favour of shorts...

The hostel, by the way, has no amenities, no vending machines, no ice machine, no central location on site to sit and meet other travellers (which to me makes it more like a hotel than a hostel)... Though it is clean, has decent beds, a clean bathroom, lockers, and is one block from Miami Beach... Those are the pros and cons I guess...

I began chatting to a French Canadian guy from Montreal by the name of Mathieu... He was travelling with his sister, Miriam, although, she didn't say much because she wasn't very confident with her English... Though, she is able to speak two languages, so she is doing way better than me...  They wanted to go to Bubba Gump Shrimp because it was the same as in the film Forrest Gump, and said they were about to catch the bus out there... After working out which place they were referring to, and working out that it was right next to the American Airlines Arena where the basketball was, I decided to go with them.

Catching the bus was a very interesting experience.  We needed to get the C105 Downtown... Which came after a 20 minute wait... I paid my $2.25 fare and we packed in to the bus... The traffic was still as heavy as earlier, and the bus stops were packed with people, and the bus stopped stopping for anyone... This made for a very comical half hour, as one black guy next to me kept on yelling to the driver to 'close the door on 'em', or 'drive away', or whatever else... Some of the reactions of people on the street were hilarious, one memorable woman threw up her arms and swore loudly...

It took a while to get across the causeway and over to the mall next to the AA Arena, but eventually we got there, sat down and had a meal at Bubba Gump.  It was actually kind of humourous listening to them say it, they pronounced it 'Booba Gump'... I couldn't help but chuckle a few times...

I had the Captain's Fish and Chips, which were pretty good.  The conversation was pretty basic due to the language barrier.  I can't recall all of it, but yeah, basic is the best way to describe it... They were going to Key West for a few days via a bus, and would then go to the Bahamas and then Cuba... Apparently you can get to Cuba if the original Port of your vessel is not in the United States due to the embargo.

I got to the arena about 20-30 minutes before the tip-off, so the players got on court basically as soon as I sat down in my seat.  Which was 4 rows from the back of the arena... After my wonderful run of seats in Orlando and Tampa, I was then left to the nosebleeds once again...

AA Arena

Just to prove I was actually there

Back to the nosebleeds... I was on the wrong side of the aisle

Of those Championships 1 belongs to Shaq, 2 belong to LeBron, and for some reason D.Wade has 3 Rings...

There were seriously more tourists at the game than locals... I had to stand up from my seat about 25 times before the game had started just because people in my row wanted out to have their photograph taken... I don't have a problem with it, but when it is the same people each and every time it gets a little frustrating.

I'm going to say it now, rather than have you think I was just in a bad mood at this game... I really don't like the Miami Heat... I think Dwayne Wade is a flopper and a really dirty player (I won't post it because it is sickening, but what he did to Rajon Rondo's elbow a few years ago by pulling him to the ground was just horrendous)... I think Chris Bosh was better off on the Raptors (because he kind of reminds me of one (except without all the cool aspects of being a Velociraptor))... And I think head coach Eric Spoelstra is a douche who was in the right place at the right time when LeBron came to town... So, my view on the Heat isn't exactly what one would deem 'fair'.

I was supporting the Atlanta Hawks throughout this game... In no small part due to my dislike for the Heat, but also I had no strong feelings one way or the other about the Hawks, so as the lesser of two evils they were my team for the night... I also really like Kyle Korver due to a few conversations with Jason when Korver played for Chicago...

National Anthem

Hawks player introductions (of all the away teams being introduced that I've seen, this was the shortest one)

Heat player introductions

The game tipped off and the Hawks jumped out to a lead, and held it for all of the first quarter.  The game was marred with errors from both sides, but especially Miami... I don't think I've seen that many passes thrown away since the last time I had a 6 PM game at Wayville and got to watch the primary school games... It was really poor for NBA talent... But that happens from time to time... It was an entertaining first quarter...

Opening tip

First quarter action

Atlanta on offence

I'll let you know about the second quarter when I see a replay of it... I mean, I saw it, but I saw most of it via bobbing my head left and right around people standing in the aisle...

Those who attend the football with me know that I take this sick pleasure with kicking people out of my seats... Especially during the years where Port were a very bad team on the field and the attendances were down in the mid-teens (thousands, not people... Although some weeks it felt like it was just people)... I would walk down to my seat, ticket in hand, and see some kids there trying to sit close to the fence, and very loudly inform them that they were sitting in my seat and I held the ticket, and politely told them to piss off (didn't use those words but certainly got my point across); there were 35,000 spare seats, they could stand to move away from my seats... I did this more than once and each time I did it with glee! 

There were some tourists who couldn't get to their seats because some other tourists had sat in their seats... The tourists who held the tickets stood in the aisle during play and debated whether or not to get an usher... They decided to just take some random seats, which happened to be in front of me... These seats were already sold to some guys who were not in their seats as they were off getting a beer... So, when these guys returned and promptly kicked these tourists out of their seats, the tourists returned to their spot blocking the view of everyone in my line of sight and eventually got an usher to kick out the other tourists... This took entirely too long... Tourists... The absolute bane of my existence when they are at sports... Get up to let them take photos... Have them stand in the aisle during the play... Dicks...

This was my view for most of the 2nd quarter

On the actual game, it was close for most of the 2nd, but Atlanta ran away late to have a half time lead of about 8-10 points. 

Perhaps it was my annoyance at the tourist issues I was having, or perhaps it was me being tired, or perhaps it was just the Miami Heat fan experience, but I wasn't really into this game... The Heat fans, by the way, are pretty bad... They were leaving early when they were still in the game... Like, in their droves... Didn't make sense to me...

The 3rd quarter was close for large stretches, I'm pretty sure Miami even hit the front, but again the Hawks ran it out again and entered the 4th quarter with a 16 point lead.  This lead didn't really change during the last with an entertaining but ultimately well won game taking place in front of me... And by the way, most of the night Dwayne Wade was the last person to jog back up the floor lazily after a failed Miami offensive possession... Earning his money...

Hawks offence

Korver nearly has the ball stolen from him

Shot goes up

The DJ and Bananaman tried their best to lift the crowd, but at this point they were long gone!

Final, Atlanta 112, Miami 102

I left the arena, and found a cab... I sat in the back, but the cabbie demanded that I get in the front so that he could get more people in the cab... He failed at this and I ended up sitting in the front for the entire ride home despite the empty cab... The culture here is to sit in the back of the cab... The upside to placating the cab driver was that he charged me a flat rate prior to the ride, so, he made brilliant time, avoided the traffic and I got a decent enough deal.

I got back to the hostel, found the French Canadians asleep, and went about my business trying to be as quiet as possible... I hopped into bed and was about asleep when some Spanish speaking people came in speaking in their outdoor voices (despite it being after 11:30 PM and staying in shared accommodation), the female chastised the male, but the damage had been done and everyone woke up...

I got to sleep a short time later... I really needed the sleep!

Thursday

This was a rest day... I mean, I did next to nothing... So, anyone reading from here on expecting anything grandiose will be sorely disappointed...

I woke near 11 AM, waited for the shower/bathroom to free up, then took a shower. 

I was planning on going for a long walk and seeing the sights of Miami Beach, but the weather didn't really agree with that plan... I walked to the beach, walked along and saw the very few people on the beach, and in total probably walked about 4 city blocks before searching for food...

Miami Beach

Miami Beach

I then grabbed some food for breakfast/lunch in the early afternoon and continued my walk...

The heavens then opened and it rained very heavily... I decided to head back to the hostel and spend some time on the internet doing my blog and researching other things to do in the South Florida region.  So, that is what I did for basically the rest of the day... I did my blog, I struggled with the temperamental internet at the hostel, I watched a film... (I am the kind of person who sees something in real life and it triggers a memory of a film or TV show and I then have the urge to watch it... When I was in Atlanta I saw the Bobby Jones exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, which triggered the awful film with Matt Damon and Will Smith, The Legend of Bagger Vance...)... So, I watched an awful film, followed by 2 episodes of The Walking Dead (but Season 1... After the tour in Atlanta I had the urge to see the Season 1 sites that I had actually seen in person... Actually put a place in my head to what is on the screen).

Some French guy turned up and spent 15 minutes chatting to me about his travels (he is in Miami for the art thing, leaving after 3 days of solid partying... Talk about all business), before he took a nap and headed out to meet his friends (and apparently also meet Pharrell Williams)...

The weather cleared up but when I left the hostel later to get some food it was still wet on the ground... In my researching I had decided to go on a day trip tour the following day to Key West.  Which meant being picked up at 7 AM the next day... So, I tried to be in bed early and despite the awful etiquette of the others in my room I did manage to sleep before midnight...

A bit of a short post this time (still longer than a lot of 2010 Sam's work), but you're bound to get a few of those throughout... Key West next!