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bayousister
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Name: Heather
Birthday: 12/15/1977
Gender: Female
Interests: God, Church, Family, Friends, Sunsets, Traveling, Laughing, Dancing, Planning events, Fishing, Running through Sprinklers, Riding with the windows down, Rocky Road Ice Cream, LSU football, Dallas Cowboys football
Expertise: Journalism, planning events, cajun cooking
Occupation: Journalist
Industry: Petrochemicals
Message: message me
Member Since:
3/6/2007
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Perhaps the folks that live there may think the songs about Miami are blatant exaggerations but for the visitor to South Beach, the songs don’t lie. $100,000 cars…Water so clear. All night on the beach to the break of dawn. Dancing in the club. Ladies half dressed. Ferraris. Flashy clothes and jewels Wine on the menu for over $8,000/bottle. Yep, that is pretty much what I saw during my visit for the ILMA base oils conference at Loews Hotel South Beach. The boys all dress the same mainly-jeans or shorts with a long sleeve button down shirt, sleeves rolled up, and buttons down to the pecs all David Hasselhoff style. Aviator sunglasses. And the women have on tiny, skin-tight shirts they call dresses with spiky heels and flashy earrings. I arrived a day ahead of my work conference so I could see the sights before getting to business. I brought my friend Rachel along for the weekend. Here is what I wish I knew before First, there is a HUGE difference between Miami and Miami Beach. Book your hotel in Miami Beach. If you get a hotel in South Beach, you don’t need a car at all. If you are in North Beach, you can take a cab or the bus to South Beach for restaurants and shopping plus you may get a better night sleep since it is so quiet on that end. Second, everything is very expensive but there are a few value-priced places to eat. I loved Spris pizza at Lincoln Road Mall for lunch, and Cardoza on Ocean Drive for breakfast. Third, don’t fall for the soliciting on Ocean Drive…the 20% deals, free drinks, or the 2 for 1 drink specials. They will try to reel you with a free glass of wine…but only if you buy two meals that are over $100 each. Or they will offer you a free drink with purchase but what they mean is you must buy two $25 drinks which are the size of a giant aquarium. If you drink both, you will surely need to be carried home. Fourth, if you want to leave the United States, just visit Miami. It is another country all on its own. It is good to know Spanish, as well as Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Mandarin and Wooey balooey. Fifth, gratuity is included in most places. Read the fine print before you order, and before you cash out. Hotels. These places looked cute and were close to the conference hotel and (gasp) reasonably priced but not available by the time I got around to booking. San Juan Hotel, Haddon Hall, The Penguin Hotel, The Richmond, The Century even the hostels: Clay Hotel and South Beach Hostel. I think they might be fine but I would read the reviews on Trip Advisor before booking. Since all were close to the clubs, I would guess they are all pretty noisy. After a horrendous one-hour cab drive with a man who spoke neither English nor Spanish, and a terrible 15 minutes at the Miami River Inn, we finally ended up at the Holiday Inn North Beach just after lunch time. It is right on the beach, and not close to the shops and restaurants but only a $5 cab ride away. 
We enjoyed the beach and pool, then put on dresses and headed to Lincoln Road Mall to people watch, shop and eat at an outdoor café. On Sunday, we checked into the conference hotel-the beautiful Loews Miami Beach then headed out on a party boat to fish all afternoon. Rachel caught a King. Other things caught were mutton snapper, yellow tail, shark and barracuda. We took the fish to the marina and they cooked it for us for $5. The place was incredible. So family-oriented and casual. I liked this part of Miami the best. It was very normal. Everyone was out walking, or on some kind of wheel-skateboard, bike, stroller, roller blades. And everyone had a dog. The marina restaurant seemed to the only one around and full of locals. There was a band and a swimming pool. I could have stayed there all night but we finally got tired and headed to bed early.   
Fishing and the beach were great ways to spend the weekend, but there are other ideas too. For Monday and Tuesday, I was working nonstop with meeting after meeting at the beautiful Loews hotel. But it did eventually turn 5 pm and the beach was quite close! The ladies and gentlemen in the base oil industry are a lot of fun and kept telling me about other fine places. Over and over people said that Danny Devito’s restaurant was exceptional and worth every penny. Pretty expensive though and I was not sure I could expense something like that! Joe Stone Crabs, Prime One 12, Larios and News Café were also voted fantastic. 
The stuffy business suits do eventually come off at these conferences and some of the oil execs were seen at a few clubs near the hotel like The Clevelander and Mangos on Ocean Drive, Set on Lincoln Road and Shore Club on Collins Ave. Everyone seemed to really like Mangos—for the outrageous people watching I think. For me, I was happy to sit at an outdoor café with a $6 coke and gasp at the people going by. People-watching is by far the best entertainment, outside of fishing and beaching, in South Beach. | | |
| When I stepped off the plane at 2 pm on Monday afternoon, the world was blue, green, red and purple, the color of a rainbow after a thunderstorm. The smell was fragrant of salt, plumeria and gardenia. As I walked toward our rental car at the Honolulu airport, I felt a gentle breeze and quickly realized it was cooler-even at the end of September-here than back home in Houston. The noise was a gentle symphony only God could orchestrate-birds chirping, palms swaying in the wind, the sound of the ocean and laughter, lots and lots of laughter. 
As David and I cruised the beautiful H1 highway out into paradise for a long awaited vacation together to celebrate our anniversary, I recalled this time last year when we were up to our elbows in mud and mold as we volunteered to clean up devastated homes destroyed by Hurricane Ike. While the rest of the week proved to be an amazing time exploring this beautiful land together, we both agreed that we could have fun anywhere together. After an 8-hour plane ride, we were exhausted but had to move around. Forget sleep. This is Hawaii! We headed first to Waikiki, once a playground for Hawaiian royalty. A statue of Hawaiian hero and the Father of Modern Surfing Duke Kahanamoku greets visitors. We had our first meal at Dukes barefoot bar and watched the surfers, kayakers and paddle boarders while gazing out at the volcanic crater Diamond Head as well. I enjoyed the garlic fries appetizer, big enough for two to share and the hula pie of course. The Hula Pie was so much bigger than I thought, probably big enough for 4! As their website describes, it is macadamia nut ice cream piled high and I do mean very high a top a cookie crust, topped with chocolate syrup, whipped cream and more macadamia nuts. After a long lunch, we walked up and down Kalakaua Avenue shopping just briefly. We found great bargains on shirts, beach bags, towels, souvenirs and even dresses at the International Market Place. I did want to hike Diamond Head, but the park closes at 4 pm and we really had to get on the road as traffic in Hawaii, believe it or not, is outright awful! 
David chose a beautiful resort in Kapolei, the western end of Oahu. We ended up saving quite a bit of money since the Marriott Ko Olina villas had a kitchen. We had every breakfast and lunch the rest of the week from our balcony looking over the sea. Still feeling Texas time of around 1 a.m., we wussied out and crashed before 9 Hawai'i time on day one.  Day two-we headed down a maze of roads to Barbers Point for a surf lesson with Girls Who Surf. Our instructor Cecelia was fantastic, patient and a great teacher. We had both had lessons in the past but it had been a while. I was nervous I would not get up at all, crash into a reef or get attacked by a shark! But Cecelia was so calm, it just rubbed off on us. We both got up multiple times and caught several 2-4 feet waves. And I am so thankful they were not higher. That was high enough, thank you! Oddly, my husband did get sea sick from surfing. It is a lot of waiting on the board as the gentle waves rise and fall so it makes sense but it did surprise me. I'll make sure he wears his sea sick patch next time. Beware of driving on those sandy state park roads, it is easy to get stuck in the sand and I am pretty sure you are not supposed to do that in a rental car! 
We desperately wanted a nap that afternoon but decided to pull through and cruse up north. We stopped at the Dole Plantation halfway there. The Dole Whip, which is creamy, tangy pineapple ice cream is the most delicious treat ever. We also did the world's largest maze, which was quite fun. Later, we headed to historic surfer village of Haleiwa for shopping, watching surfers, a picture on the old Anahulu bridge and a wonderful shaved ice at Matsumoto's General Store. There are so many flavors, it is hard to choose which shaved ice combination. The sour lemonade was really wonderful though. It was like a lemon chill, only better. Then we cruised over to Pipeline and Sunset Beach for more sunset and surfer watching. That night, we had a nice 2-year anniversary dinner back at the resort at Roy's. Roy's was yucky-overpriced and tasteless, but the ambience was nice. If we did not have a gift card there, we would not have gone. 
 
Day three-we were up early again to board a 53-foot catamaran for a dolphin watching and snorkeling cruise with the Ko Olina Cat tours. The Spinner Dolphins were awfully close to the boat, jumping, spinning and showing off their pink underbelly....I think that means they are flirting. We snorkeled for quite a while too. The boat provided all the equipment, life jackets, snorkel, fins and mask. That afternoon, at last we enjoyed our beautiful hotel and the four manmade lagoons. We had a sunset dinner at the Kolohe grill right there on the resort. The mahi-mahi fish tacos were probably the best meal I had the whole week. 
Day four-we decided to quit going, going, going and actually relax and enjoy the resort. We woke up early and snorkeled the lagoons, then spent the afternoon at the pool. Walking out to the lagoon in those big awkward fins reminded me of a horrible memory of a dance my high school dance team did in fins and hot pink and aqua blue wetsuits one year. Oh that was bad! But those kind of memories never leave a poor heart and I mangaged to dance my way into the lagoon and out of it too, remembering the counts like it was yesterday. One of the pools has a huge, dark slide that goes on for 8-seconds. I think the entire resort heard me scream the first go, but it was so much fun I did it about 20 more times. I felt like a 10-year old kid. 
On our last evening there, we went to the Paradise Cove Luau. We were greeted with a lei and a mai-tai when we arrived on their 12-acre secluded beach. Before the feast begins, there are parrots to take your photo with, polynesian tatoos, games, boat rides, lei making, shopping, drinking, sunset watching and so much more. Then the crowd heads to the amphitheater for a first dance performance and moving the pig from the ground. And then the feast-lomi lomi, salads, chicken, fish, pork, fruit, vegetables, rice, poi and desserts begins. And while people are eating, hula dancing, singing and fire throwing entertain the crowd. The food was pretty good but it was so much. I wanted to taste it all and I hurt so bad the next day from it. Rolaids would have been a smart thing to bring along. 
On our final day, I still wanted to squeeze in so many things we had not done yet like hike Diamond Head, snorkel Hanauma Bay, and surf Waikiki but alas time was limited and you really should be careful what you do before an 8-hour plane ride anyway. We did make the journey to Pearl Harbor and gave our respect to the crew who died on the USS Arizona. It took about 2.5 hours to watch the film, take the ferry out to the sunken ship and check out the museum. It was worth every minute. There are many other exhibits to see there but I think this one was the most impressive and most worth taking the time to see. We finished the trip where we began it, back at Duke's to eat a leisurely lunch, watch the surfers and thank God for a fabulous trip and hopefully another one very soon! 
What I liked, and didn't like. I am so glad we did a lot, making the most of every minute---even if some naps did get in the way. It was very hard to adjust to the time difference in just five days. I am glad we got a rental car. The taxi from the airport to Kapolei would have been around $100 EACH way. Since we had one free day with National, our rental was $150. While parking at the hotel was high, it was really nice to have the flexibility to go and explore whenever we wanted. Hawaii does have a great bus system I hear so perhaps we could have done without. But I am so glad we had it. I am thankful we had a villa with a kitchen too. That saved us so much money. If I did anything at all different, I would make sure to stay an extra couple of days so I could adjust to the time and have more time for playing---snorkeling, hiking and surfing and perhaps even time to lay on the beach and read a book front to back. For the first vacation of my life, I did not read a single fiction book this trip. I had my daily quiet time Bible Study, which was fantastic but no brain candy this time. Maybe next trip. Aloha Hawai'i, I can't wait to go back! | | |
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So I made a food blog. I often make things and then forget how I did it, and its just not the same the next time. I thought putting all my favorite recipes online where I can chronicle my adventures in cooking, entertaining and even cooking club would be fun and helpful in the long run. Its a work in progress but I am pretty excited about it. My blog description: I am a country girl, born and raised on the bayous of Louisiana. I have been cooking since I was 7 and love the entire experience from menu planning to saying grace with my loved ones to devouring a delicious meal with friends and family. I am constantly praying, even while I am cooking. My mom taught me early that you must say your cajun blessing half way through-its gonna be geauxxxx! I live in Texas now and am constantly trying to improve the presentation and health quality of this yummy grub my family taught me to prepare years ago. Please feel free to contact me with questions or comments at my email address: mcjournalist at hotmail.com Bookmark it and visit often! | | |
| The water is in and its beautiful! I am so excited about the pool. We are sketching out landscape ideas now.    
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