June 6, 2011-Day 6-South Beach, Miami, Florida

We woke up, packed our bags half-heartily and made our way off of the ship. There was a shuttle that took us back to the airport. From there, we caught a shuttle to our non-smelly, clean hotel room. After checking in, we called a taxi to take us to South Beach. Once again we felt like we were in paradise. Warm, beautiful water surrounded us. Topless women were everywhere. Much to Matt's luck and my dismay, they were all young 20-something-year-old women who quite obviously had not had children. If I could rewind time to my 20's, there are only a couple of things I would change. Appreciating the power and beauty of youth would be one of them. I realize that I will one day look back at my mid-thirties and maybe say a similar comment, but for now I am quite shocked at how quickly time changes things...like skin and "other body parts".

I had never touched the Atlantic Ocean before this day.

Matt was super excited to find the Miami Ink Tattoo Studio. After convincing him that he did not have to get a tattoo while there, he settled on buying a really cool Koi t-shirt.

June 3, 2011-Third Day-Leave Port of Miami via Carnival Imagination

Our cruise ship, Carnival Imagination
Matt and I as we boarded the ship.

Our stateroom. We had two portholes and the best air conditioning EVER!

The main deck of our ship.

We ordered drinks and began to sail away from Miami.

My super happy and relaxed husband.

June 2, 2011-Second Day-Leave LAX-Arrive in Miami, Florida

We woke up at 3:30 a.m. in our Los Angeles, California hotel room. After being shuttled from the LAX Parking lot, where we left our car for the week, we arrived at LAX at about 5:00 a.m. Everything went smooth, including my search for Dramamine at the airport. Our flight was smooth and on time. Between the medication and a great flight team, I was actually able to read and sleep while in the air.

We arrived in Miami, Florida and phoned the hotel to request our shuttle. As soon as we saw the van that picked us up, Matt and I both became concerned. We had picked a hotel that was reasonable priced off of Expedia. We figured being in Miami for one quick night before our cruise would mean little hotel time so we did not put much thought into our choice. We made sure it offered airport and Port of Miami shuttle and we hit "book now". Lesson learned. Walking into the lobby we immediately experienced a unique smell I know I will never forget. Walking into our room, just felt gross.

Matt and quickly put our luggage down and went out the door. Miami here we come. What?!?! Wait! We were not by anything that resembled what we had pictured for the night. We found a mall. Ate dinner and shopped for a while. The initial plan was to see a couple movies so we did not have to be in our room.

Eventually the long day caught up with us. We bought a candle at Bath and Body Works so I would not have to struggle through the smell in our room all night long. Then we got online and changed our hotel that we would stay in after the cruise. Silly us. We had booked both stays with this same hotel. It would be hard enough to have our cruise end. Can you imagine how I would have felt knowing I had to go back to that stink hole?