Hodads!!! (Yes Again)

When you have cravings you just can’t fight it sometimes and you just need to fulfill them so we did. Bacon cheeseburger with extra bacon FTW!!! They have by far the best bacon on a burger EVER. Yes quote me.

Dream Hotel South Beach

Im a sucker for review websites such as yelp to find good restaurants. In this case I ran across tripadvisor.com in the process of staying over in South Beach for a day and one hotel caught our attention, the Dream Hotel South Beach. Rooms silhouetted in blue mood lighting, hallways nicely lit and most important… #3 out of 201 on tripadvisory.com, this had to be good.

This hotel was recently remodeled and once called The Palmer House, that was built along with the art deco era. This hotel resides on Collins St which is parallel to Ocean Blvd. It is about a 5 min walk from the doors of Dream to the waters of the ocean. Collins St is laced with shopping, shopping and more shopping.

The interior room is lit with blue mood lighting. Windows are covered and stay covered. I opened the shade covering the window and there was absolutely nothing pleasing to view other than a wall from the building next door. There is a small chandelier in the corner, the mirror has a light in it, the shower/sink/closet area can be blocked off with heavy auto-closing doors. The shower and closet are beside each other and both have glass doors both lit in blue also. The shower has a direct blue light shinning on the water which makes it feel like you’re showering in a enchanted place. The bed is huge and comfortable!

The service was great and they made you feel very welcomed. I definitely recommend this place and is worth their #3 ranking.

Atlantis & Cabbage Beach – Paradise Island

So we headed over to Paradise Island via ferry. In order to get to the famous Atlantis resort we had to walk through the marina that docked incredibly huge yachts! We found our way into the Atlantis resort and sat at the sports book room and watched the 2nd half of the US Women’s Soccer vs Brazil game. Atlantis reminded me of a Las Vegas Hotel with casino’s, sports book rooms, beautiful pools and so on.

Afterwards I felt the urge to see some kind of beach so we asked for directions and walked about a mile in the blazing heat and humid weather. Then all of a sudden, at the end of this walkway surrounds by trees was this cliff and all you would see are crystal clear waters. This was Cabbage Beach. When I thought Coco Cay had amazing beaches, this just topped every single beach i’ve ever been too in my lifetime. Sand that felt like powder on your feet, water the temperature of a heated jacuzzi, and the clearness of the water. I was seriously in awe the whole time. Right when we got to the beach there was this man that asked if we wanted to go wave running and we said no but 3 word he said thereafter will always stick in my head… “Welcome to Paradise.”

We had to catch the boat before it headed back to Miami so we headed back to the ferry. On the way to the boat was this house on the dock and it was actually used in the James Bond Casino Royale movie. First thing we did was get pizza (all you can eat) and laid out on the pool deck as the boat set sail and while they were having a Sexiest Man Award.

Goodbye Nassau and Paradise Island…

Nassau, Bahamas

On our second day we ported on the island of Nassau. As we got off the boat it was nothing but hot and humid weather. We took what seemed to be a short walk around their little downtown walking into stores based on their air conditioning. They had a Señor Frogs restaurant, souvenir shops and surprisingly a whole bunch of high end shops like Coach, Breitlng, Rolex Etc. Getting off the boat and walking into the downtown seemed like a cluster as locals hassle you for hair braiding, moped riding, and the list goes on and on. One lap around their downtown was enough and we had two options 1.) head back to the boat or 2.) find a way to get to Paradise Island a parallel island home to the Atlantis Resort. We were headed for Atlantis…

A few facts we found out about Nassau:

• 20 minutes away from the airport is where Anna Nicole Smith and her son are laid to rest accompanied by 24 hour security.
• James Bond’s Casino Royal was filmed in part of Nassau
• Nassau has also been the setting for several other recent movies including After the Sunset,Into the Blue and Flipper.

Coco Cay, Bahamas

Our first destination was a small private island called Coco Cay. This island is privately owned by Royal Caribbean and only people aboard our ship could step foot on this island. We boarded tenders to transport us onto land. We first found a spot on one of the busier beaches just because we didn’t know better. All that mattered was that I step foot into the clear teal waters, the whole reason I wanted to cruise the Bahamas. It was like a dream come true.

The forecast all weekend was scattered thunderstorms and every now and then it was drop huge drops of rain and then stop 5 minutes later. It was kinda good it was raining because everyone bailed out of the ocean. To us it was better to be in the water when it rains. Had lunch as our ship supplied a BBQ to everyone but since it was raining there were no protected picnic tables because everyone took shelter. As we found a spot, these ruthless birds that are spoiled by foreigners feeding them food, just attacked Heather and stole one of her ribs right off her plate. If only I had a BB gun, heck, why not just a shot gun.

After lunch we started to walk around the island and noticed a whole other side of the beach that had been not discovered by everyone else as they were so eager to get into the water. This side of the beach had empty beach chairs and the waters were wide open! I just simply sat in the water all afternoon trying to soak up the moment. Every now and then the sun would peak through the clouds and hit the water and turn it into a neon green color. This was the ideal beach you can ever dream of.

After hours of making the beach our home, you can see haze of rain in the distance just get closer and then all of a sudden just ruined the fun and drop buckets of water from the sky. It was time to head back to the boat…

Miles of clear teal waters, silhouettes of palm trees, elegant shapely clouds and warm weather, I just wish I can bring you home.

Setting Sail With Royal Caribbean

After boarding my first cruise it was pretty over whelming with what you can fit on a cruise boat. We left the Port of Miami in the afternoon with the other barrage of cruise ships all headed for the Bahamas. As we headed out to sea, there was a great view of Miami from the deck of our Royal Caribbean ship…

Miami Beach Day 1

So I was filming the Rock ‘n’ Roll Miami Beach course that is upcoming in December and the last .1 mile runs on hard packed sand at the beach, so after filming the course we decided to check out the beach and get our feet wet. Miami around this time is hot and humid. The beaches are turquoise, warm and filled with men in speedo’s even in the wee hours of the morning. Ever single lifeguard tower is colored and designed out differently and it brings out an artistic side to their beaches. One cool thing was that they had these stations for bike rentals. Miami Beach was a great little tease on was the weekend was to follow…

Miami Beach Art Deco District

I may be going out of order of our trip but I figured this would be an easy post. Our last night in Miami, we had the chance to walk around the nightlife of the Art Deco District in South Beach Miami since our hotel was in the heart of it all. I love the architecture and neon lights on all the buildings. Kinda felt really unreal and like we were on a hollywood movie set. This area is definitely worth walking around in the evening when in Miami. There are also countless amount of restaurants to fulfill your hunger.

Art Deco is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and jewelry, as well as the visual arts such as painting, graphic arts and film. The term “art deco” was first used widely in 1966, after an exhibition in Paris, ‘Les Années 25′ sub-titled Art Deco, celebrating the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes that was the culmination of style moderne in Paris. At its best, Art Deco represented elegance, glamour, functionality and modernity.

Savannah, GA

My last leg of my trip I stepped foot in Savannah for a couple of days. First reaction, HOT & HUMID. I realized I haven’t been to the south during this time of season. I arrived to my hotel late in the evening due to stupid Delta flight delays but they bumped me up to a riverfront room. A cool thing about this trip are the cool upgraded rooms I get, unfortunately I don’t have anyone with me to soak in all the perks. Anyways, first thing in the morning I watched tug boats pass along the river and eventually a huge barge came by and gave a huge loud toot on its horn. It must’ve sucked for those people sleeping.

Right off the bat, I felt comfortable in ol’ Savannah. Cool architecture, parks, and most importantly I didn’t feel like I was going to be mugged. It was a cozy little city that prided themselves with their food, their history, and their ghosts. Yes, america’s most haunted city has cool ghost tours. With my time crunch I didn’t get to hop in one of the hearse ghost tours.

At the finish line of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Savannah is a park that was home to their famous fountain that you see on all the brochures and such. This park was really cool and looked like a magical forrest. Definitely has potential to be a fun city for our crew going out there this fall.

Virginia Beach, VA

As part of my east coast solo tour, I stepped foot in a familiar Virginia Beach to film the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon. I love VB, it reminds me of home and I feel like we have a mutual relationship. Weather was great, water was warm, and it was nothing but sunshine…

Fenway Batting Practice Tour

I couldn’t get enough and on top of the park tour I signed up for the Batting Practice (BP) Tour. It was similar to the park tour but we got to hang out on the field for like 5-10 minutes. A bunch of the Padres were having media time in the dugout. It was most definitely worth it.

After the tour I immediately went back into line to be one of the first to enter the park and head down to the Padres dugout to get even more up close and personal. This is the first time i’ve ever done this and I find it interesting that you learn a lot from a player in their pre-game rituals and/or warmups. For example, Deno if the most most focused, O-Dawg is looked and talkative, Latos on game day you never want to talk to, Bud Black is a jokester, and the list goes on…

Of course they always throw balls out into the fans behind the dugout and it usually ALWAYS goes to the kids. I hate that, I was the kid that grew up with this sport and never had a chance to get any balls in the park from players and it wasn’t my fault I aged. Bud Black even gave his cap straight up to a kid wearing Red Sox gear. This was a very cool experience for me whose been brought up into baseball since t-ball.

Fenway Park Tour

I took the red eye into Providence Monday night, drove up to Boston and took the T into Fenway. It was pretty cool riding the T into the city and seeing the towns in and out of Boston. My first mission at Fenway was to take the tour. For $12 you can tour Fenway and learn a little about it. For one thing its pretty crazy playing at Fenway in baseball games your whole life and actually see it in person.

Fenway is the oldest ballpark which is set to make its 100th year anniversary in 2012. Pretty cool how much baseball and traditions have lived throughout this park. The tour was with about 100+ die hard Red Sox fans and 1 Padre fan (me). They sat us down and talked about the details of the park and noted that the seats we were sitting in were the oldest seats in the park or any baseball park in general. They are the same wooden chairs from 1913 or something like that but just repainted. Another cool fact is out in left field is 1 single red chair. That chair was the spot Ted Williams hit a crushing 502ft.

After the tour I had lunch at The Best Sausage Co. which was recommended by one of my coworkers, a native from Boston, to eat that amazing sausage. And YES it was amazing. Probably one of the best ballpark sausages i’ve ever had. I then hung out at the park and signed up again for the Batting Practice Tour…

Fenway Park – Padres vs Red Sox Game #2

Here is the first set of photos of Tuesday nights game. I had redunkulous seats on the 3rd base side beside the Padres dugout. Definitely was awesome to see my Pads out there in the stadium you only hear and see about in video games since I was a kid. To top it off, the Padres played an amazing game with Latos at the mound. It was good to see Gonzo out there but weird in a Sox uni.

Stay tuned for a whole bunch of photos from Fenway coming soon…

Kay’s Graduation K•L•O•L

Spent last Sunday at my sisters graduation at UC Riverside with family. It was the last siblings undergraduate graduation (thank god, i hate big graduation ceremonies). She graduated UCR with a BS in Biology with concentration in Medical Biology. And again, both sisters have finished what I couldn’t do, graduate with a bio major. My status records at SDSU still say pre-bio, but i’m glad the way things have turned out. Momma & daddy are happy and that’s all that matters. Now it’s time for her to take the big leap into dental school. BTW she left to Honduras the day after graduation to clean peoples teeth. That’s how we do.

After graduation we had dinner at the Mission Inn for a delicious buffet. Apparently my sister says LOL a lot so that’s what her posse’s signs are all about. Congrats sister and i’m glad I will have a new roommate back at home. I needed someone to bake me pastries.

Johnny & Lauren Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of my manager Johnny & his lovely fiancé Lauren. Had a great time cruisin around San Diego taking photos. Now if only the sunset had played nicely that day. Can’t wait for their big day coming up…