Shelley's Great EsSkate Miami Beach 2006 Write-up
Getting there
Why do 7AM flights always seem to come so early in the morning? Early flights always seem to be a great idea, until you have to drag yourself up out of your nice warm bed at the crack of 4AM! Of course, being the Great Procrastinator, I had labored late into the night before doing laundry, packing and yes even cleaning bearings. Even with my busy evening and lack of substantial sleep, I managed to be up and ready when Duane came to pick me up at 5AM. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and the pillow creases out of my cheek, I kissed my little dog Belle goodbye, then rode to the DFW airport to begin our journey.
May I suggest parking in DFW Express Parking? It rocks. Bottled water given to you at the gate, and a van to pick you up at your car and take you to your gate! Just don't use the toll-tag entrance and remember your parking spot number. Tolltags are not supported currently at Express parking. You can still use it there, but it's a bit of a hassle.
We arrived at the terminal with plenty of time to spare and didn't see another Pegasi anywhere. We checked in electronically and checked our bags. After getting though security without a hitch we headed for our gate, or so we thought. We grabbed some Starbucks coffee and goodies and plopped down in front of what we thought was our gate. As some time passed we began wondering where everyone was. Surely not everyone was running late? After a call to Fuz, I discovered there was a gate change and everyone was sitting about 2 gates down from us. D'oh! We managed to find our fellow Pegasi and waited to board.
Turns out a few of our folks were graciously upgraded to first class, and got to board the plane first. Those of us peasants left behind took great pleasure in ribbing the fortunate few, and even came up with some plans to cast our revenge, though none were executed. Yet. >:)
Coach seating was not all that bad, and I even got to pat the heads of two sweet little canines that were traveling with the lady seated next to Duane. These 2 "pocket dogs" laid on the lady's lap and were very quiet and content. Very sweet. I heard of an incident with a "princess" blanket a few rows ahead of us, but cannot comment as I did not witness it first hand. Anyone care to elaborate? :) Oh yes, and Big Mike was lectured by a flight attendant for running wild in the aisles. Or was he just trying to get to the potty? Not sure...
We landed in Miami safely and regrouped in the terminal. Fuz was wrapped up in a pink furry blanket with flowers on it. The first-classers had that rosy glow going from their complimentary champagne, foot massages and hot towel treatments. We all found each other, then hailed cabs to get to South Beach. Cheryl, Big Mike, Duane and I shared a van and even had to give the local driver directions to the Riande when he tried to drop us off many blocks away from where we should have been. I guess after so many years of attending the Great EsSkate you get to know the area a bit. :)
We arrived too early for regular check in and sat in the Riande lobby for a while trying to decide what to do with ourselves. Angie and Richard had arrived earlier and had gotten their room, so most of us took our gear up to their room for safekeeping. I distributed a few of the "special edition" shirts, then we decided to venture out to look for some lunch. There was an early Art Deco skate scheduled for 1PM, and I believe a couple of our folks managed to take part in that. Report, Timo? Lunch was at Pizza Rustica on Lincoln Road. This place has awesome gourmet pizza and is a Great EsSkate tradition. Yum. After that we visited Fritz's skate shop and bought some new brakes and other goodies. Then we ventured back to the hotel to try to check in.
Turns out that they had some rooms ready, but they were "smoking" rooms. Duane and I decided to go ahead and book one of these, with the condition that we could switch rooms if it smelled too bad. Turns out it wasn't that bad at all and was a fairly large room only 2 doors down from Angie and Richard! Our view wasn't very good, but you could see a bit of ocean if you stuck your head out the window, turned sideways and looked out over the roof of the next building over. After checking into the room we went down to the pool to join the pool party. Not much going on there, but it did look festive. We walked to the beach behind the hotel for a bit, then rejoined some folks at the pool.
Friday Night Skates
The first skate grouped up around 6:45 at a parking lot at 21st and Collins. This was a different group up area that last year. All of us Pegasus Flyers managed to find each other, and got our group photo taken hastily. I regret that this photo is a bit out-of-focus. I'm sorry about that, and those that know me know that it drives me crazy to have pics out-of-focus. Oh well. I'll post the fuzzy pics anyway. At least you can sorta tell who is who. We had 29(?) folks travel from Dallas to Miami, and we were very proud to show our colors that night!
The Famous Friday Night SoBe Skate was quite a sight to behold! Hundreds of skaters outfitted with blinkie lights and neon bracelets took over the streets of Miami led by wailing police cars flashing their red-and-blues! We sailed through intersections and waved at honking cars, all the while taking in the sights and sounds of Miami Beach. What fun! Lots of water/banana/Rockstar stops along the way kept us fueled up and energized!
We arrived back at the hotel after a couple hours hungry for more fun. A nice, hot Italian meal was waiting for us around the Riande pool and in the cafeteria, accompanied by a steel drum band and a crazy Bahamian "marching band" of sorts. Some of us bought raffle tickets and won some great prizes! I managed to win a certificate for a pair of Landroller skates, which I hope to redeem and use really soon! :)
After the meal and party, it was time to skate again! We grouped up at 10:45 for what was previously known as the "Fast and Furious" skate. This year it was modified and renamed "Over the River and Through the Hood" to allow more intermediate skaters to join in the fun. The course was the same for both the fast and intermediate skaters, but there were quite a few more stops along the way to allow for recovery. This was a loooong skate, and we did not roll back to the hotel until 1:30AM or so. we dragged our tired feet up to the room and tried to rest up for the early start the next day.
Saturday Skate and Beach Party
9:30AM. Time to group up for the Saturday skate! Leaving from our group-up spot at 21st and Collins, we headed out for our day of adventure! The weather was perfect, about 76 degrees and sunny with cool ocean breezes! We slathered our noses with sunscreen and rolled up the sleeves of our draftwhore/draftpimp t-shirts. It was gonna be a toasty one today!
Our tour took us all over the great city of Miami, including some spots we saw the night before during the "Through the Hood" skate. We got to skate the big round fountain and cross many drawbridges. The highlight of the Saturday skate is always the big causeway, and it did not disappoint this year either! With Duane to pull, and me faithfully living up to my pink "draftwhore" t-shirt, I tucked in behind him and rode his draft all the way up that big causeway, passing a lot of folks in the process. That man can skate! I heard a lot of positive comments and laughter from folks "getting" the joke meant by our tshirts, and I have even heard from others that some folks would like a shirt of their own. Pretty funny, and a great idea, Donna! :)
Eventually we arrived at the location designated for the beach party. It was a nice wide-open area set up with picnic tables, vendor booths, and lots of food! We ate burgers and beans, deserts, sodas and lemonade. After discovering we accidentally left our raffle tickets in the hotel room, we bought a few more. Everyone made their way to the beach and played in the water a bit, with a few brave souls like Zabrina, Big Mike and Paul going under all the way. Y'all are brave! All I managed was to dunk my feet.
Soon there was an announcement to get together for the group photo, so we all headed to the foot of a huge sand dune to stare right into the sun and get our photo taken. It came out pretty well, I think! After the photo it was time for more raffle drawings and more Pegasi came up winners, including Duane who won a $25 Pizza Rustica certificate, Ken who won Disneyworld tickets, and Olga and Momoko who won skate pads. There were more winners I'm sure. Pegasus Flyers also won an award for the 2nd largest delegation there! We got a handful of Italian restaurant coupons and Mango's passes.
Then it was time to go back. Booths were starting to be taken down, and skaters put on their sweaty gear for the 6 mile skate back to the hotel. It was a nicely-paced skate back, though into the wind the entire way. Duane led again, pulling the paceline of a few Pegasus Flyers. After a couple miles I noticed that no one was passing us, and I looked back to find that our paceline had grown to about 30+ skaters! Duane was having a grand time, pulling that pack with ease and not tiring a bit. Coach Mike would be proud! :) We had almost made it back to hotel when a pothole jumped out and snagged Christine, taking her down. The paceline scattered and Christine ended up with a nice road-rash souvenir on her leg.
Saturday Sushi and Night Club
After a nice hot shower and a bit of rest, we all met up in the lobby for our annual trek to Maiko's for sushi. It was a brisk 8 block or so walk up Washington Avenue to the storefront sushi restaurant. Just a side-note, we passed the famous tattoo parlor, Miami Ink, on the way there! Zabrina had tried to get a tattoo there, but they are so very busy and she couldn't get in. She did get a beautiful tattoo in Miami however, you'll have to ask her to see it! :)
The sushi was good as always, and of course I wimped out and got cooked chicken sushi, edamame, fried sweet potato and california roll. I watched in awe as everyone else enjoyed their huge yachts and cruise ships full of colorful fish-flesh. I even got to try some warm saki, which I didn't much care for. :P
After sushi we went our separate ways to go get ready for the Shine Nightclub, located in the hotel next door to the Riande, the Shelborne. They had really hoity-toity-ized this hotel since the days it was the Great EsSkate host hotel. Lots of candles and curtains now. And higher rates I'm guessing.
We all got glammed up and met in the pool area of the Shelborne for drinks and socializing. Drinks were free from 10-11 and the line was at least 4 deep all along the bar. I found the rum-and-cokes WAY too strong, and I heard that Momoko got charged $12 for a shot of whisky there! I sure hope it was good! Lots of photos taken here, and good times remembered! We never did make it into the actual club "Shine" though. I think there was a bit of confusion as to just where we were entitled to go for free. After a little socializing, everyone split up again to go enjoy the Miami Beach nightlife. Duane and I gave our spots in Daria's free limo ride to Christine and Paul, and I hear the group had a great time!
Sunday Sunday Sunday
What a rude awakening! We woke up to find a grey, windy, cold morning! Well, "cold" was 50 degrees, but hey! The day before was close to 80! We had the choice of two skates that morning, the "Rich and Famous" skate or the more leisurely "Art Deco Tour". Not wanting to battle the wind, and feeling a little tired from the weekend's previous activities, Duane and I decided to take it easy on the Art Deco Tour. We got endlessly ribbed my Timo and some others for not stretching our legs on the faster skate, but we were quite content to skate around with the slower group and learn a bit about the architecture of South Beach. It really was fascinating and we ended up winning some t-shirts for answering some trivia questions!
After the tour, we went back to the hotel and met some folks for lunch. Timo, Momoko, Fuz, Duane and I ended up going to Jerry's Famous Deli for sandwiches and breakfast foods. They were really busy as usual, and a bit overpriced, but hey it's tradition!
The last official skate of the weekend was the Sunday Afternoon Mystery Roll. We ended up boarding school buses at 3:15 and were transported out to Coral Gables for a nice roll through the neighborhoods there. It was a beautiful roll with smooth, tree-lined streets! We took a rest stop in a park and almost got eaten by alligators. Well, not really. But we think we might have seen a splash that COULD have been an alligator. Or a frog. Or just a stick falling in the water.
After returning from the skate and showering, all the Pegasi met up again for one last group meal. Fuzi presented all the ladies with beautiful pink tulips. (Which I later rescued from the dining table. Thanks, Fuz!) We decided on Cuban food and found a good place called David's Cafe II. We were joined by the Pittsburgh Skate Club. What a great group of folks! David's Cafe really impressed us, as they seated our huge group of 30+ immediately WITHOUT a reservation! The service was great and the food delicious! And nothing like a spilled Mojito to keep Fuz on his toes! :) After dinner we all went our separate ways again to crash or enjoy the Miami night life once again!
Case of the Mondays
What can I say about Monday? Some people got up to do the "Doug Skate" at 10AM. Not me. I slept in. Ate a nice, late breakfast of french pastry and quiche with Duane, Tony and Olga. Walked around and explored South Beach. Found a neat art gallery on Espanola Way featuring Pierre Marcel. Ate an early lunch, coffee and gelato at Bacio on Collins. At 3:30 Duane and I caught a cab to the airport with Tony and Olga, and made our way through the maze of people in line at the airport. Spent a couple hours waiting around and chatting with fellow Pegasi. Flew home to Dallas. Sigh.
See ya next year!
~Shelley