Miami - the arrival and first two days in the sun!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008- Wednesday, January 2, 2008

As nice as it is to get away from 16-degree weather, waking up at 3:30 A.M. was the price to pay for our trip to Florida. With frizzy hair and botched make up, we all boarded the little white bus, normally used by the ski teams, on the way to Portland. The sub-zero temperatures on the bus, combined with the blasting of 80s hard rock, made sleeping impossible. The airport itself was mostly a blur, which could explain for the six magazines I bought, each with some variation of the headline “K-Fed is Jamie Lynn Spears’ Baby’s Father!”

When we arrived in Baltimore, I headed straight for a bench and slept until the flight. The flight to Fort Lauderdale was a little shakier than the first one. Allison Cappelloni sat beside the more adorable baby and they talked for almost the whole plane ride. Luckily, Heather (“Boo”) Pratt sat next to Karlyn Adler, who probably has more flying experience than some of the pilots, so the rough air didn’t bother this first time flyer too much. Exiting the plane brought a rush of humid air, making each of the double sessions we just concluded at Colby worthwhile.

During the ride to Miami we starred at all the brand new cars and impeccably well-dressed people. The entrance to the hotel we drove into was covered with palm trees and water fountain and if we hadn’t realized it before, we knew now: we weren’t in Maine anymore!!! As soon as we got off the bus, we ran up to our rooms and threw our bathing suits on. Lying on the beach, we let the sun sink in for seemingly hours. That night, some of us went shopping, while others took naps or had dinner. I fell asleep at around 8 o’clock in attempt to make up for the straight 24 hours I hadn’t slept.

The next morning we had practice outside, which provided some interesting twists to our normal practice routine. The practice included a “sun block” break (as opposed to traditional water breaks) and an early end to board the Navigator and Escalade that drove us to practice. Although that afternoon was windy, we all sat by the pool and in the hot tub and enjoyed a huge lunch. At night, we ate at Emeril’s restraurant, on site at the hotel we were staying at. The food was positively delicious and we were treated like celebrities. After dinner, we went shopping (again…) and finished the night by watching “Varsity Blues” as a team.