October 2021 – Day 1 & 2 5 days at Sunny Isle Beach, Florida and then a 9-night cruise on the Celebrity Equinox

Delta used to have an ideal flight, leaving Bloomington at 11:00 am and getting into Fort Lauderdale or Miami around 4:00pm. The bad news is that they deleted that flight which meant that we had to leave Bloomington at 6:00am – and of course getting up at 4:00am.

We had a 2 hour lay-over in Atlanta so it gave us time to go to the Delta Sky Lounge, take off our mask and enjoy a late breakfast. Then it was on to Ft. Lauderdale arriving at about noon. 

We were able to upgrade to a Convertible; however, it was a Mustang!! The car is nice in that it is a convertible, but it is not much else. Our room wasn’t ready so we ran a couple of errands and ate lunch and the room was finally ready. It is a corner room, high up with direct views of the ocean and the amazing condo right across the street. 

 Dinner was at a Peruvian restaurant that we had eaten at before and it was again a good meal We have stayed in this area at the Marriott Residence Inn a number of times so it is fun going back to some of the great restaurants we had eaten at before. 

 We were really tired and fell asleep at 9:00pm and woke up today at 9:00am!! 

In the morning, we ran an errand buying Kahlua and canned A & W Root Beer for the cruise and by the time we were ready to go to the beach, it was 11:00am so we decided to go eat lunch instead. 

Lunch was wonderful and finally at 12:30pm we were at Haulover Beach, one of our favorites. WOW was it hot and we were only able to stay on the beach an hour!! 

By this time, we realized we did a terrible job of packing!! So, we went to Walmart to buy Barb some beach crocks and also, they had Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion with zero sunscreen.  We have not been able to find it and they had 3 bottles so we bought them all. 

 Dinner was at a favorite Greek Restaurant. We had a Greek salad, Greek meatballs and a wonderful Sea Bass on a bed of rice. 

It was 86 degrees today and the next couple of days will be the same. 

Tomorrow we plan to be at the beach by 9am and probably we will only be able to stay until Noon. 

We don’t board the ship and our entire schedule is beach, eat and relax. It is exhausting relaxing!! Night from Sunny Isle Beach. 

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                                                                            Leaving home

 

                                                   The Mustang emblem on the ground at night

 

                                                       Leaving for the Beach for our first day

 

                                                                    Pastrami for lunch

 

                                                             View from our window

 

                                                                    Going to dinner

 

                                                                      Greek meat balls

 

                                                                          Greek salad

 

                                                                 Greek Sea Bass

Coming Home - Monday, April 12

We had a wonderful trip, the first since January 2021 The trip was uneventful and we had just enough time between flights in Atlanta to hurry to the Delta Sky Lounge and have some food before boarding the plane to Bloomington. Jason and Sharon had brought Becker home and he was excited to see us. Our next vacation is not until October as we have a very busy summer with car events. As you can see in the pictures, we packed light! Then we stopped at a market on the way and bought a Corned Beef sandwich, then on the plane

, eating in the Delta Sky Lounge and Barb leaving with a double-double Kahula!! Life is good!

Spring 2021 - Our last day (until October) in Sunny Isle Beach

 We have slept in today as the weather was very rainy all night and today it is very cloudy so there is no reason to go to the beach or pool.

There is a reason why there are so many luxury cars around us and that is the properties right across from us.

One is the Acqualina Resort and Residences on the Beach.  For next week, the room start at $1,300 a night!

This resort is rated by Tripadvisor as the #1 Luxury Beachfron Resort in the U.S. for 6 consecutive years.

https://www.acqualinaresort.com/

Then next to it are the Estates at Acqualina with the cheapest residence from $4.9 million dollars with the penthouses up to $59 million!!!

http://www.estatesatacqualina.com/

We are flying Delta Airlines and our plane leaves at 3:55pm, flys to Altanda and then we arrive in Bloomington at 8:13pm

This was our first destination vacation withour a cruise and it was a fun week.

See everyone soon.

Hugs from Mon and Ed

                 The Acqualina Hotel on the left and the Estates on the right - one of two towers.

Spring 2021 – Day 7

Today is our last full day to be on the beach so we went there early, around 10 and stayed until 1pm so it was a fun 3 hours in the sun. It was a little windy but it really felt good and of course it was hot.

We snacked on the beach and decided not to eat lunch as were going to have an early dinner.

We then drove west about 45 minutes to the town of Weston, right on the edge of the Everglades to meet friends who have moved here, Eric and Renee Degelau and Pam and Jeff Beir. They drove from their homes in the Ft. Myers area.

We had become friends with both couples through Corvette Adventures. Pam and Jeff are also coming up in June to be drivers for us on a couple of tours.

We met at the Bonefish Grill and had a wonderful meal while sitting around with our friends for a couple of hours just talking and catching up.

We spit a Grouper fish dinner and finished up the dinner with a chocolate warming cake with vanilla ice cream. Sorry – forgot to take a picture!!

We drove the 45 minutes back to the hotel in a driving rain and it finally stopped as we drove into the hotel.

Then it was back to the hotel and an early night.

It has been a wonderful vacation, on the beach every day and eating wonderful food at different ethnic restaurant each day.

Coming home tomorrow.

Going out for the morning at the beach

                                                                        Going to dinner

The group - Jeff & Pam Beier, Eric & Renee Degelau and us

at Bonefish Grill, Weston, FL

                       

 

Spring 2021 - Day 6

 Another absolutely perfect weather day in Sunny Isle Beach with the temperature hitting 81 degrees.

After breakfast, we went to the beach for a few hours of sun.  We both have a couple of burn spots but are using spf 100 to cover them up.  Still, we can only spend 2 – 3 hours on the beach because the sun is so very hot.

After the beach we went to a Patagonia for lunch and had Caprese sandwich which was Proscutto, fresh Mozzarella, Pesto Sauce, lettuce, tomato and extra virgin olive oil.  It was good.

Then back to the hotel to clean up, change and go to a huge mall close by where they were having a weekend arts and crafts show.  The show was terrible so we then headed to Miami and went to one of the most exclusive islands, Palm Island, just off the causeway from Miami-to-Miami Beach.  One of the houses just sold for 35 million dollars!!

Then it was time to meet Reny our representative from Celebrity Cruise Line in the gambling department who we book all our cruises with.

Reny took us to a famous Cuban restaurant in Little Havana called Versailles.  On one of our first trips here we also went to that restaurant.

Dinner was wonderful, good food and seeing the person face-to-face who we talk to over the phone all the time taking care of our cruises.  For dinner we had a tropical ceviche and a shrimp cocktail followed by Dolphin Mahi-Mahi, sauteed with garlic.  The fish was amazing and the sauce was very, very good.

After dinner, we took the expressway back to the hotel and went to the bar on the 9^th floor to have a complimentary drink that they have each night.  Tonight’s drink was a Pina Colada.

Tomorrow is our last full day so good night for now.

                                          Ed's breakfast plus an English muffin back in the room

                                                    Going out for the afternoon/evening

                                        A mulit-million home under construction on Palm Island

                                The most expensive home on the island - just sold for $35 million!

                                            Yes, it is on the water by the cruise port

                                               A typical older house on Palm Island

                                            Tropical Ceviche and shrimp cocktail for an appetizer

                                                    Dolphin Mahi-Mahi, sauteed with a garlic sauce

                                                    Probably the bet fish dish we have had on the trip

                                                    Reny from Celebrity Cruise line and Barb

                                                    Our very late night drink- a Pina Colada

Spring 2021 – Day 5

We again go up late, but still made it out of the room by 11:00am.

The weather is unbelievably perfect. Virtually no clouds and very hot sun.

We stayed on the beach until about 2pm and then went to a Columbian restaurant where we have shrimp in a wonderful garlic sauce with a salad and rice combination.

After the late lunch we rode around with the top down looking at the fabulous homes in this area.

Then we came back to the hotel to freshen up and heading to an area in Surfside which has 10 neat restaurants in a 2-block area.

We choose a Greek restaurant and had a Greek salad and Sea Bass on rice. We usually split an entrée for dinner and this was a huge portion – but we finished it all.

After dinner, we came back to the hotel and had one of their complimentary drinks and then it was time to go to bed.

Tomorrow will be fun as we are meeting our contact in the Celebrity gambling area for dinner at a Cuban restaurant in Little Havana.

Night from beautiful Sunny Isle Beach

                                                        Going out for the day

                                                              The sky was perfect!!  

                                                        Lunch - Shrimp in a garlic sauce,

                                                            rice and salad

                                                             Greek Sea Bason rice

                                                                        Dinner

                                                     On drink on Marriott before bedtime

Spring 2021 – Day four

When we woke up, we decided that we had too much sun in a couple of sensitive areas so we did not go to the beach.

Instead, we first went to lunch at a Cuban restaurant and we had a favorite sandwich of the Cuban people, a Cubano.

Then we came back to the hotel and laid out on the pool deck for a few hours.

We then came in and cleaned up and drove around a couple of islands looking at some amazing houses.

After that, it was time for dinner. We wend south to the town of Surfside and ate tuna sushi and a choclate warming cake with ice cream at a popular kosher restaurant.

We then went to the Hard Rock Casino and first watched the light show on the main hotel building, which is shaped like a huge guitar. Hard Rock has completed a major expansion and the place is huge with a 140,000 sq ft casino and it was jammed.

Next was the casino where Barb didn’t play and Ed lost a little.

That’s all from Thursday.

                                                                What we left of lunch

                                                               The pool deck

                                                                         !!

                                                                    Outside for dinner

                                                                        Dinner was excellent

                                                        Going out for the evening

                                                        Outside the Hard Rock Hotel

                                                                        The Hard Rock Hotel

                                                    The light show at the Hard Rock Casino