South Beach, Miami & the Marlins vs the Cardinals

On Tuesday morning, Tim and I left the world of Disney and headed south to Miami. Our hotel was in South Beach and just a few steps from the beach. It was wonderful! While the city of Miami wasn't quite our favorite city, the South Beach area was really nice and interesting to see.

This is our hotel's beach, which was literally right outside the back door. The beach was free, but just about everything else was not. The first day we were there Tim and I grabbed two chairs and an umbrella, only to have a hotel worker let us know that would be $10 for each chair and $15 for the umbrella. Being the cheap skates we are, we politely laughed, said "No thanks" and made our place in the sand.

South Beach was a little too liberal for our tastes. We did see several topless sunbathers and a few men in speedos, it was a little different than what we're used to in Kansas.
This is the view of the beach after sunset. The beach area was so pretty.
On our last night in Miami we explored the south beach area and made our way to Lincoln street. Lincoln street is home to some really nice shops and eating places.

This was Tim's meal in South Beach, his favorite from Germany, Currywurst. While walking along Lincoln street and looking for a place to eat, we stumbled across the Hofbraus House. Hofbraus House is a famous beer house we visited while in Munich, Germany last summer. We didn't end up eating there last summer, so we decided why not eat there now. I was a little confused as to why South Beach Miami would have a German Beer House, but Tim loved it so we had to stop. As repayment for eating at the German restaurant, I got to pick the dessert and we headed to the Ghirardelli ice cream shop. Our rocky road sundae was well worth the dinner at the German restaurant, it was to die for!!#42- Spend the day at the Beach- Done
We didn't actually spend the entire day at the beach, just long enough for a swin in the ocean and a sun burn. It was still a perfect day for me!

Tim wishes I'd get to the real reason we were in Miami, the Cardinals!
One of the main reasons we decided (or Tim decided) to vacation in Florida was to watch the Cardinals play the Florida Marlins.

This is what we arrived to the first night, an empty stadium! We were amazed to find the stands completely empty, granted it was raining and it was 30 minutes until game time, but had the game been at Busch stadium, the seats would have at least been half full.
This was the crowd for Tuesday night's game. We're not sure how a city like Miami can't get more than 9,000 people to attend a baseball game, not to mention there were more Cardinal fans at the game than Marlins fans.
The Marlins' stadium is the same place where the Miami Dolphins and the University of Miami have their football games. It was also host to numerous Super Bowls and the Orange Bowl. It was neat to imagine it packed for a sold out football game. I feel a little sorry for the Marlins players, not only can they not draw a crowd, their popular chant is "Let's Go Fish!" We were able to see Chris Carpenter pitch the first night. The Cardinals lost the first game on Tuesday night, but where able to win the games on Wednesday and Thursday.

These were our seats for Thursday's afternoon game. These seats were a great (& hot) view of the game and only $10.
Our Florida trip included a perfect day for me, spending the day at the beach and a couple of perfect days for Tim, watching Carpenter pitch and the Cardinals win.