The Trip of Perfection

Alright. So, I think I can officially claim myself an overall lucky person. I mean, I really can't complain. I've got it good. But sometimes... just sometimes... things go even better than just good. Sometimes things go perfectly well, in an almost creepy way.

Perfect Thing #1: The ticket
We were at a friend's beer tasting, when I happened to look up tickets to Miami over Thanksgiving. Hey, I was bracing myself for the cold of Cincinnati winter and wanted an alternative now that I was almost "retired" and would have more time. Holy crap. $260 direct roundtrip? "Who wants to go with me?" And that's how Ryan and I bought impromptu tickets to Miami for a week.
 
Perfect Thing #2: The car
We had gotten an uber awesome deal (part of perfect thing #2) for a rental car for $120 for 6 days. When we get dropped off at the rental place, we saw a Fiat 500 in the lot. "Wouldn't it be cool if we got that?" We did. Sweet little car.

Perfect Thing #3: The host in Miami
We couchsurfed for our first and last night in Miami. Our host? An awesome lady who lived in a highrise fancy condo building on the water in Downtown Miami with a view of the water and Miami beach with an extra parking space in her garage (which was filled with uber fancy cars...). And she owned a bunny that hopped all around. Yeah. Ryan even saw 2 dolphins in the morning. Good morning, Miami.


Perfect Thing #4: The perfect pit stop
On our way to the scenic drive to the Keys, signs for the Everglades. Hey, why not. For a little detour, we got to see alligators and lots of birds. Sadly, no Florida Panther (I think that would have been a Perfect Thing all on its own). 

  
Perfect Thing #5: An awesome "Thanksgiving" meal
Thank you, Yelp. Because of Yelp, I experienced some of the most amazing meals I've ever had. Including a delicious Cuban sandwich with fresh mango juice in the Keys.

Perfect Thing #6: The hotel booking in Marathon
We decided to book a hotel for the first night half way down the Keys and I had booked the cheapest hotel I could find online for $90. When we got there to check in, I empathized with the check-in guy how he was working on Thanksgiving day. "It's ok, you're my last check in for the day... I get to go home now!" "That means you'll hook us up with the best room, right?" "Let me see what I can do..." We got a recently renovated suite with 2 queen sized beds... for $60 total.

Perfect Thing #7: The sunset in time
After checking in, we checked out more of the immediate surrounding islands, but wanted to make it back to the recommended Sunset Bar & Grill for the sunset at 5:40. As we got there at 5:35, the place was packed and the cars were parked all the way out for a distance. We found a parking spot right in the front and made it in time to watch the beautiful sunset. And then enjoyed some drinks at the tiki bar.



Perfect Thing #8: The Bond marathon
Ok, so some of you may know that I have a recent obsession with Bond movies after I attended the Cincinnati Orchestra's "Bond & Beyond" concert. I made it a personal mission to watch all 23 Bond movies and have been checking out whichever Bond movies are available at the library at the time. We got back to our hotel and a Bond MARATHON is on the Syfy channel. Hell yes. I watched a total of 1.5 Bond movies before passing out.

Perfect Thing #9: Beach day at Bahia Honda
Bahia Honda State Park has the longest stretch of sand beaches in the Keys. My friend Aaron had also highly recommended it and said it was a little piece of paradise. True. Beautiful beaches and not crowded. We spent a day there soaking it all up (Ryan a little more so since he resulted in a sunburn just on the right side of his stomach...)

Perfect Thing #10: CS meet up in Key West
After Bahia Honda, we made it down to Key West. Before meeting up with some couchsurfers, I had another one of the best meals of my life: Puerco Asado with yellow rice, plantains, and beans... topped off with Flan and Key Lime Pie (Perfect Thing #9.5). Oh and we checked out Hemingway's house and found free parking wherever we went (Perfect Thing #9.75?) The CSers were great and since we didn't have a place to stay at yet that night, one of them told us about this secluded place by the shore that we could pitch our tent up for free. After a night of roaming Duval st and drinks, we pitched our tents next to each other.

Perfect Thing #11: Private island beach day
Another thing the CSer had told us about, was that if we went to the Westin hotel, told them we wanted breakfast on their private island, we could get a free ferry ride to the island (which Oprah celebrated her birthday on this year), and sneak off to the private pristine beaches. So we did. We were expecting ridiculous prices for the restaurant, but my Eggs Benedict were about $10 and our table on the patio overlooked the beautiful beaches. Not bad. We then passed out on the chaisse lounges on the beach and wondered how the hell we lived such a lifestyle...

IMperfect Thing #1: No hot water
Ok, so I feel like I need to throw in the ONLY thing that WASN'T perfect on this trip just to balance it out a little. After Key West, we headed back to the northern Keys since we had scuba diving and snorkeling the next day in Key Largo. The hotel I booked (again the cheapest) was comfortable and all... but had no hot water. What. the. hell. Especially after all the perfect things I'd been experiencing, this was just a SHOCK to me ;)

Perfect Thing #12: Scuba diving & snorkeling

I had 2 dives left to get my scuba diving certification. This place, Ocean Divers, had been recommended to me by the Cincinnati Diving Center where I had taken my classes. Awesome awesome people. The best. So much fun on the boat and Ryan was allowed to tag along for some snorkeling. While on the boat, the crew kept commenting on how they had never seen the water SO clear! Of course. We're there. That's why. Everything's perfect. I saw a stingray, a baracuda, and lots and lots of colorful fish. And completed my certification :)


Perfect Thing #13: Free campsite?
We had booked a campsite at John Pennekamp State Park for that night, but didn't realize the park closed after 5pm. After a scrumptious dinner with our umpteenth key lime pie, we got there and the gates were down... So we lifted the bar and drove underneath (yay small car). Campsite was comfortable and they had HOT WATER SHOWERS!

Perfect Thing #14: Getting my interviews in
So, I got interviews to one of the schools I applied to, but... they didn't have any alumni to interview me in Ohio, Kentucky, OR Indiana. I mentioned I was going to be in Florida over Thanksgiving so was able to take care of the 2 interviews while I was there. And they just so happened to be across the street from each other!

Perfect Thing #15: Gelato on the boulevard
We had some time to kill and were driving around Miami Beach when we decided to stroll along the boulevard. "You know what'd be great right now? Gelato." Bam. We pass a gelato shop. It's like someone heard me. 






Perfect Thing #15: South Beach day

We had told one of the CSers we met in Key West about the amazing host we had in Miami who we were returning to, so she ended up staying with her our last night there too! Our last day we spent on South Beach enjoying the constantly beautiful weather (we'd had on the whole trip) and finishing it off with another AMAZING meal at El Bolivar with some fantastic Yelp deals -- $20 for $40 worth of food (lunch specials were $10, sangria and beers were $2.99), and a free glass of wine. Nom nom nom.

Perfect Thing #16: Finishing it off with a mojito
We got to the airport with a little over an hour to spare til boarding time, but security line took foreeeverrrr. Instead of missing our flight, our flight was conveniently delayed 15 min when we got to our gate, so Ryan treated me to a mojito to top off all the perfectness of the trip.