We got to Miami several hours before the game. I had been able to park in the closest parking lot (available on ParkWhiz) to American Airlines Arena by using a 50.00 gift code ParkWhiz had given me to be used on the Thanksgiving holiday. Josh and Shelby had already arrived from the Fort Lauderdale Airport. We walked over to the Biscayne Shopping area next to the Stadium. They had a Five Guys so we headed for that to eat. It was a madhouse, but we finally got our food and ate. We walked around the shopping center and then went and saw the harbor. We then walked to the arena. We had to go through metal detectors which were not too bad except for the fact that they impounded Jonathan's nail clippers. We got to our seats and they were as good as I'd hoped. We were only a few rows from the court. Kentucky would be playing South Florida coached by former UK assistant Orlando Antigua. One of their players was the brother of former UK player Darmarcus Cousins. UK was expected to win easily. The Arena was roughly half full and most of them were UK fans. The Miami Heat mascot Burnie entertained everyone and seemed to have a special rapport with Josh.
The game was somewhat close throughout the first part of the game. Kentucky ended the half on a 15-0 run to take a 42-21 lead at the half. However, there was a scary incident in the first half. In a scrum for a loose ball, Tyler Ullis came up holding his arm. He left the court not to return until the second half (with his arm in a sling). Tyler is the player UK can least afford to lose. It turned out he had a hyperextended elbow. Uk ended up getting as much as a 31 point lead before winning by 21. We stayed and watched a little of the Memphis/Ohio State game and then left.
We walked back to the car to head to Fort Lauderdale. I had the bright idea of stopping by a Krispy Kreme on the way back. One, I wanted doughnuts and two, I thought it'd be something for us to eat for breakfast the next day. I got off an exit on the north side of Miami and we finally found it. Unfortunately, it was in a area that can be best described as "sketchy". Donna and Cheyenne didn't want to get out of the car so Jonathan and I went in to get doughnuts and milk. We got back and could tell they were really uncomfortable. They had seen several scary looking people wandering around so we hurriedly made our way back to I-95. We made it the rest of the way with no problem. We checked into to our resort and the room was as nice as I hoped. We were right on the beach. Josh had gotten food from Wendy's so we ate and crashed out.
We got up the next morning and I headed out to see the ocean and to run on the beach. I ended up ditching that plan after running about a mile on the sand and ended up going to the sidewalk for the rest of my run. Donna and We then went to a Wal-mart neighborhood Market for food for the week. We found out that we had to watch for drawbridges when we crossed back over the Intercoastal Waterway. When a tall boat/yacht went over, we had to wait just like one does for a train. We finally got our groceries and came back. We spent most of the day going back and forth to the beach and enjoying getting out in the surf. The only bad part of the day was keeping up with the UK Louisville football game. UK jumped out to a 21-0 lead only to have Louisville come back and win 38-24. So much for our hopes of going to a bowl game. I ended up ordering pizza out from a recommended place called Heavenly Pizza. The pizza was excellent. We watched a little TV and then went to bed.
We got up the next morning and headed for the worship services at Sixth Street church of Christ. We found the building with no problem. The brethren there were very welcoming and hospitable. One of the elders preached the a lesson about grace and it was one of the best ones about that topic I'd ever heard. Afterwards, we went back to the resort. It turned out the Jets game would be on early and the Cardinals game late. So, we watched football. The Jets won easily over the Dolphins. We kept up with the Giants who dug a deep hole against the Redskins and almost came back to win. We watched the first half of the Cardinal game. They struggled to a 6-3 lead at halftime. We headed for evening worship services at Sixth Street again. Afterwards, I found out the Cardinals had pulled out a 19-13 win. We went and got chicken from Popeyes. It was good but unfortunately, we were shorted a couple of pieces of chicken. We had enough though. We watched a little of the New England Denver Sunday night game and then went to bed.
In my next post, I'll let you know about what we did during the week.
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