Coming soon to a blog (mine) near you: Miami Beach!

I just returned from 4 hot, humid and very windy near the end (thanks to Hurricane Ike) days in Miami. Don't get me wrong at all - we had a BLAST! The trip was to celebrate the upcoming wedding of my very best friend in the entire world; Debbie. You could call it a Bachelorette Party - but *pshh* we were so well behaved it hardly qualifies...

This is just a teaser until I can go through all the 340 pictures I took... (yes, that includes deleting about 1/3-1/2!)

Hurricane Ike was passing just under Florida - over Cuba - while we were in South Beach, so the ocean and weather changed significantly as we opened the blinds to look at the beach each of the 4 mornings.

A very calm morning -- Less calm but still really nice

What an absolutely beautiful day -- The day we left, the ocean got very rough

I sampled my first taste of Cuban food and while it seems to have A LOT of potential - I'm guessing perhaps we didn't chose the best restaurants to present it to us. I won't be writing it off however. Maybe it's time to surf for some recipes?

Pork shoulder with moro (Cuban) rice and sweet plantains

Food by the pound: fried fish, rice, plantains -- A Cuban Sandwich: ham and cheese

Our walk along Ocean Drive took us past all the typical "South Beach" images one thinks of when picturing the area:

Can barely see the Colony Hotel -- A very windy day, so say the palm trees!

We stayed at the South Beach Marriott thanks to Connie's brother, who was able to get us a nice hookup:

The South Beach Marriott

And let's not forget the most important aspect of this trip... that Deb relaxed and had fun all in the same place:

Yes, she's wearing a top