So, as I indicated previously, I had tickets to the Antiques Roadshow on July 10th in Miami Beach. It was to be a short 7.5 hour drive, but three pretty significant accidents in Friday night travel traffic pushed that to closer to 9 hours. The last accident happened just before I reached it and a few of us on the turnpike stopped to help the couple involved out of their car and make sure they were ok. Surprisingly, considering how many times their SUV rolled, they had only a few minor scratches. Also, I met a rather nice lady from London (by way of Newcastle) at the Earl of Sandwich in Port St. Lucie and I hope she enjoyed her vacation in the occasionally lovely state of Florida.
After those bits of excitement, I made it to Miami Beach where I was surprised to find my hotel was smack dab in the middle of the historic Art Deco district. The lovely Wyndham Garden Inn was my residence for the weekend. The room was somewhat small, but the hardwood floors and mammoth bed were great and, as far as hotels go, this was one of the greatest I’ve ever stayed at. The elevator was wonderfully old with a pull cage door and despite the fact I usually hate elevators and was only on the second floor, I was using it constantly. Definitely an A+ for the atmosphere of the place. The famous 11th Street Diner was right across Washington Street and I was pleased to find they had Taylor Ham on the menu.
Any of you from the north-east or with relatives up there will likely know what I’m talking about. The service there was top notch and the quality of the food was excellent. I highly recommend stopping there if you have the opportunity. After a spot of late night breakfast, it was time for bed.
This weekend Antiques Roadshow is filming in Miami and I managed to grab a couple of tickets through the lottery. Normally I’m not a big fan of Miami and I doubt that this trip will change my mind much. But the opportunity to finally found out who painted the awesome estate sale canvas I picked up in October was too good to pass up, especially as the room was free (thank you Wyndham Rewards!). So, hopefully, I won’t end up shelling out too much for this little diversion.
As always, I’ve delayed packing until the last possible second so that means that I’ll be getting the car ready (vacuuming and finding the ol’ Knight Rider GPS) and getting me ready (laundry, packing, etc) sometime tonight. With luck, I’ll be out of here right on time at noon tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll get some decent pictures from the Roadshow, although it depends on their picture taking policies.
So, that’s what’s happening here. Maybe, one day, they’ll be an interesting post here.
No, no one reads this thing. No, I don’t care. Yes, I’m back. Yes, I will be updating and reviving this monstrosity. No, I won’t give you my lunch money.