Greetings...From Miami

Oh MAN! What a Spring Break! Un-freaking-believable! I could go on and on, but let's just get to the point: I took a massive amount of pictures and I have an equal number of stories. So sit right back and hear a tale of jet-set airline brat and his spring break to end all spring breaks.

Trip One was to Miami. Brian "B-Mac" McCleery (left) is an old friend that I worked at Worth Ranch with. He currently goes to Texas A&M, and his spring break plans included Miami.

Actually, this story starts on a sour note. Hans had given me clearance to ride first class on the DFW-MIA flight on Thursday night. It was a 777 with the fully reclining seats! I had to. Well, due to large crowds of people who actually paid for their tickets, I didn't get on. Nor did I get on the second flight. Brian was in Miami without me, but his roommate Josh was coming in the next day, so I flew out (in first class) Friday morning at 6:18am.

On the flight, I decided that I'm never flying coach again. Aside from the normal first class perks, I also met a guy who works for Accenture sitting in 2E next to me. I got his card...oh yeah...making connections.

Well, long story short, Brian finally picked Josh and I up at the airport in the afternoon. I had to find Josh based on Brian's description of him, but it wasn't that hard, especially with that huge Aggie ring he wears. The Aggies were staying in Miami for the whole week, but since I had a few extra days, hey, why not include me? We stayed at the house of Brian's aunt and uncle. They took the three of us to dinner at a nice Italian place and then to the brand new Four Seasons for drinks. It was a high class night for sure.

(At right: Josh, Brian, Ian, Aunt Deb, and Uncle Jim pose for a photo at the Four Seasons bar)

The next day was Saturday, so we had to hit the beach... South Beach, of course. This was after a breakfast of pancakes and beer. This is a typical Aggie custom, I found out. It was my first time to have beer for breakfast though. On South Beach we walked around, got some sun, had some drinks, and experienced all the beach had to offer. It was pretty obvious that I wasn't a regular beach bum, with my milky white skin. I chose to go shirtless in hopes of getting some color.

Ian and Josh at the Clevelander...with his sunglasses on, Josh looks eerily like Scott Hatter.

At 5:00, we stopped at the Clevelander Hotel & Bar where there was a "Hot Body" contest. Normally, I would've passed this off as stupid, but the "Octane 190" drink I got at Fat Tuesday was doing the talking for me. Besides, Brian wouldn't have missed this. He caught a shirt that was thrown from the stage.

When we arrived back at Aunt Deb's house, the other Aggies had arrived. They chose to drive it instead. Travis, Oscar, and Wes were napping after that long 24 hour drive from Texas. We went to Coconut Grove that night and walked around. About the most exciting thing that happened was Brian decided he had to have a face painting of a ladybug.

It had been a tiring day, so sleep was very welcomed. Around noon, B-Mac took me to the airport and I set sail on the next leg of my spring break extravaganza...

Trip Two