Miami Dolphins and a bit of Christmas spirit

Today I woke up early. Before having breakfast, I Facetimed with Willy and Xandrine. After that, I went for breakfast in the hotel. Breakfast buffet, as much as you can eat with enough to choose from. I had some scrambled eggs and toast and some juice and coffee and finished off with a banana. After that it was time to pack my belongings and slowly head towards Sun Life Stadium for a NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Miami Dolphins.

At Sun Life Stadium, where I thought I was early, were a lot of people already having their breakfast/lunch behind their own cars. Tailgating with their own bbq. Fun to watch. I walked around and took some photos before going to the stadium. Before entering the stadium I walked around and watched the entertainment around the stadium. There’s a lot to do for the fans before the game starts.

The game itself started off pretty good for the Miami Dolphins, but after a while the Baltimore Ravens were getting better and better and eventually won the game. Amazing to see. During the game I walked around during half time show to pick up some food from Everglades BBQ and something to drink. I had pulled pork nachos, which was very good prepared. Also amazing to see is how easy and quickly everybody can leave the stadium and the parking lot.

It did not take me very long to head onto the highway towards Melbourne, where I went to see the Space Coast Lightfest. This is located in a park, where they have set up a lot of christmas lights. Very nice to drive through with the car (and the lights off). About half way through there’s a cabin where you can get funnel cake and hot chocolate.

After that I drove to Titusville where I booked a Best Western for the night.

Vandaag werd ik vroeg wakker. Voordat ik aan het ontbijt zat heb ik nog ge-Facetimed met Willy en Xandrine. Daarna ben ik gaan ontbijten. Ontbijtbuffet, zoveel je kunt, met genoeg keuze. Ik heb wat geklutst ei genomen met toast, daarbij wat jus en koffie en een banaan toe. Daarna was het tijd om mijn spullen te pakken en langzaam aan richting het Sun Life stadion te gaan voor een NFL wedstrijd tussen de Balltimore Ravens en de Miami Dolphins.

Bij het Sun Life stadion, waar ik dacht vroeg te zijn, waren al een hoop mensen met hun ontbijt/lunch bezig. Tailgating noemen ze dat en ze nemen daarbij hun eigen bbq mee. Leuk om te zien. Ik heb een beetje rondgelopen en wat foto’s gemaakt voordat ik richting het stadion liep. Voordat ik het stadion binnenliep, ben ik nog rond het stadion gelopen en heb gekeken naar alle activiteiten rondom het stadion. Er is een hoop te doen voor de fans voordat de wedstrijd begint.

De wedstrijd zelf begon goed voor de Miami Dolphins, maar na een tijdje werden de Baltimore Ravens beter en beter en wonnen uiteindelijk de wedstrijd. Geweldig om te zien. Gedurende de wedstrijd, tijdens de half time, liep ik wat rond en heb wat te eten gehaald bij de Everglades BBQ en heb ook wat gedronken. Ik heb genoten van een grote portie pulled pork nachos. Ook is het geweldig om te zien hoe snel iedereen na de wedstrijd het stadion en de parkeerplaats kan verlaten. 

Het duurde dan ook niet erg lang voordat ik op de snelweg zat richting Melbourne, waar ik naar het Space Coast Lightfest ben geweest. Dit is in een park, waar ze een hoop kerstverlichting hebben opgezet. Erg leuk om doorheen te rijden (met de lichten uit). Ongeveer halverwege is er een hut, waar je funnel cake en warme chocolademelk kunt krijgen. 

Daarna ben ik doorgereden naar Titusville, waar ik een hotel geboekt heb voor de nacht.

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Miami Dolphins and a bit of Christmas spirit

Going to the beach

Today we had a really slow starter. I had to wake up Xandrine after 10AM this morning. She was not ready to wake up by herself. Apparently she does need her beauty sleep.

After the slow start, we stayed in the hotel room for some time getting started and getting ready.

Our mission for today, the beach. We are going east for Melbourne beach, Florida. Not the most well known beach of Florida, and that also makes it a less crowd beach, which is good, since we do not like the big crowds.

Before going to the beach, we pick up some useful items at the WalMart. We tried to get some Frogg Toggs Chilly Pads, but unfortunately our WalMart did not have them on stock. We did manage to get a cooler fur less than $10 and some grapes and cherry’s. Also some cool drinks too. So we are set to go, except we forgot one important thing today, breakfast, brunch, lunch or whatever you want to name it. Since we had a very slow start, we skipped breakfast and brunch, so call it lunch.

We stopped on our way at a Firehouse Subs and picked up some subs to eat on our way. At least, Xandrine got to eat hers, I ate mine at the beach. Xandrine got a sub with meatballs, sauce and cheese and to my surprise she ate the whole sub, with sauce, without complaints. She even liked the sauce. I had a brisket sub with melted cheese, which I ate at the beach. Good food, we’ll remember that for a future visit.

The trip to Melbourne is about 1-1,5 hours and takes us over toll roads. Since I left my transponder in our previous rental car, during a previous trip to Florida, I took the cash lanes. This will cost a bit more, both in dollars and time. For the return trip, I stopped at CVS Pharmacy to pick up a new transponder.

At the beach, it was not very crowded. The weather was good, bit on the warm side, but in the water it was very pleasant. The water was warm and a bit rough. This part of the ocean is known to be good for surfing, although we did not see any surfers today. Xandrine had a lot of fun with her goggles and spent most of the time looking under water. Even though I tried to warn her several times, she managed to swallow a gulp of salted water. She did not like that very much.

After a couple of hours on the beach, the evening had set in and the water was becoming even rougher. Apparently it was time for high tide. I showed Xandrine a spot where she has to leave the beach untouched as it was marked being a turtle nesting place. I explained why they mark these spots and she completed me with her knowledge of turtle nesting and hatching. Good to know, she knows a bit of nature. Turtles come out at night and try to reach the ocean before being picked up by birds or crabs. In the water they face other enemies like sharks and jellyfish she mentioned.

Then it was time to leave the beach and travel back to Orlando, but this time not without having had some dinner. In Melbourne there was a Truck Food Bazar where we stopped. Around 15-20 trucks gathered on the parking lot near Kings Centre of Performing Arts. I saw this on the internet a while ago and looked like a funny way to get some food and enjoy it. When we arrived, it was already 7PM and some trucks already sold out most of their goods, which to them is of course a good sign.

There was still plenty of food left for us to buy, so we picked up some cup cakes at YumYum, some great ice cream at Ice Cream Social Club and some pulled chicken at Up In Smoke BBQ. This was enough for the two of us and the prices were very reasonable. We both ate from one platter of pulled chicken, which was more than enough for us both, and that for only $5. Xandrine loved her pulled chicken with sweet BBQ sauce and I enjoyed it with Spicey BBQ sauce. We also loved our ice creams, Xandrine had strawberry with blood orange, and I had blood orange.

After having eaten all that, we threw away our garbage and got into the car to drive back to the hotel in Orlando. On our way, Xandrine tried one of the cup cakes, but she did not like that very much, maybe one of the other three taste better, than the vanilla. She has three other choices to try tomorrow, an orange cream pecan, a key slime and a bacon whoopie. Tomorrow we also have to leave this hotel and head west to Tampa, where we will be staying until the 1st of July.

 

Going to the beach