The Breakers, Palm Beach, FL

In February, I was slated to speak at a conference in Palm Beach, Florida.  The conference was held at The Breakers Resort. I gotta say, if you have to work Tax Season hours, it's nice to be working them near the beach.

On the first day, I explored the resort a little bit, taking some video of the ocean spilling over the breakers (how appropriate, huh?).

At check-in, I was told that my room had been upgraded, but that it had two double beds.  Since I was traveling alone, that didn't matter to me.  I am not quite sure what "upgraded" means.  The room was beautiful, but it overlooked the front entrance to the hotel.

I always love when there's a TV in the mirror in the bathroom.  It adds a little something to the primping process.  This one was interesting though.  It was not HD (maybe they don't make in-mirror screens in HD?) and it didn't have all the same channel line-up as the one in the main room.  The room, like the rest of the hotel, felt very "Old Florida".  I liked it.

Because I had files to review, I spent much time in my room.  One day I ordered a shrimp Caesar salad from room service.  It did not disappoint.

When they said "colossal shrimp", they meant it!  Isn't that starfish glass pretty?  I kept it to drink water for the rest of my stay.  And the napkin was wrapped with a little shell chain.  And by the way - this was the best.bread.ever.

My cousin Kellye happens to live in West Palm Beach, so we were able to spend some time together while I was in town.

One evening after dinner, we came back to the hotel bar, HMF. I enjoyed having a nightcap glass of wine here.  Our server, Giana, was adorable.

The Breakers is most definitely a 5-Star hotel, and I was spoiled in my two nights there.  The service was impeccable in all areas.  The lobby area was just beautiful.  The rooms were safe; location wonderful, and ambiance was amazing.

I would love to return to this resort someday with my husband and/or daughter and spend a little more time enjoying the resort and less time working.

Supercross Dallas 2014

Chris and I are pretty big Supercross fans.  From Wikipedia: "Supercross is a motorcycle racing sport involving off-road motorcycles on an artificially-made dirt tracks consisting of steep jumps and obstacles. Professional supercross contest races are held almost exclusively within professional baseball and football stadia, although one contest is held at a major motorsport venue (Daytona International Speedway) in the island that separates pit lane from the circuit."

A few years back, we started attending the Dallas stop each year.  Then we added Houston to the mix, and three years ago, we attended our first Supercross Finals in Las Vegas.

Last weekend (February 15-16), we went to Dallas.  We drove up Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel, the Towne Place Suites in Arlington, TX.  I had selected this hotel for several reasons.  First, it is pet-friendly and we had originally planned to bring our dogs with us for this trip.  Second, I'm a Marriott Rewards member, so I like to get my "points".  And third, it is about a half mile from the AT&T Stadium (formerly Cowboys Stadium).

We left Austin a little late and checked in at the hotel around 6pm.  When I was checking in, there was a young man asking for a shuttle to the stadium.  They said they could call a taxi, so I just offered to take him over with us.  He was a nice "kid" named Ryan, who rides motocross and attends the Salt Lake City event every year.  He was in Arlington training to work for an oil company.  We dropped him off right near the stadium entrance and proceeded to our prepaid parking lot.

Our seats, which I bought last May on the day and time that they went on sale, were Row 5, Club Level, 50-Yard-Line.  Row 5 is actually Row 1 since they cover the first four rows for Supercross.

 

We've been following the season and are thrilled that Ryan Villopoto, who has dominated the sport for the last few years, is not dominating as much this year.  He is still the points leader.

Our favorite rider, Chad Reed, the Aussie, has been doing super this year, but he had an unfortunate battle with the whoops the week before and tweaked his shoulder during practice that day, leaving him unable to race.

The races were fun to watch.  My favorite 250 class rider is Blake Wharton, and this was the East Coast class debut for the season.  I looked forward to seeing him ride, but he ended up not doing so well.  A highlight was when rookie Adam Cianciarulo took first place in the 250 class.

   (Credit: cyclenews.com)

17-year-old Adam was so gracious and fun to watch giving his post-race interviews.  It's nice to see a humble, good guy win.

Turning to the 450 class, one of my long-time favorites, James ("Bubba") Stewart took an early lead and a repeat of the prior week's win.  Another of our favorites, Ryan Dungey, took second place, with Justin Barcia - another great sport, rounding out the podium.

I didn't take my good camera, but here is an iPhone shot of Bubba (nobody calls him that anymore) crossing the finish line during the race.

And finally, I managed to get a "slow-mo" setting video of Bubba James Stewart during the race.

The race ended around 10pm and we didn't rush with the crowds to our truck, knowing from prior years that it takes forever to get out of the parking lot.  Meanwhile, we "Yelped" area restaurants and bars, and Chris stumbled upon Maverick's Bar and Grill around the corner from the stadium.

It got great reviews, so we decided to try it out for a post-race cocktail or two.  It was in a somewhat industrial area, and felt a little scary pulling up, but we went ahead inside.  Right when we crossed the threshhold, I noticed that we were the oldest people in the room by a good 30 years.  Turns out this was a college bar full of UTA students.  Thus "Mavericks" - the school mascot.  

We found seats at the bar and ordered our cocktails.  I was a little worried about being out of place, until I realized not a single other person in there was worried about us.  Gotta love the college crowd.  It was a fun scene to watch.

Back to the hotel for a night of rest, then an uneventful drive home Sunday morning.  We are looking forward to our next Supercross event April 5 in Houston.