MIAMI>LAX

I hate to say the trip ended on a bad note, but it kind of did. The hotel was doing construction near the pool the entire trip, but until the last night, we didn't really notice it. You could kind of hear it while out by the pool, but because of the fountain, music, and people it wasn't really noticeable. On our last night though, they  decided to drill up the concrete until after midnight! Since we had the great upgraded room we were right near the construction site. I was really tired and knew I would be coming home to construction and decided that for the amount of money we were paying for our hotel room it was completely unacceptable to be doing loud construction that late at night. So I called the front desk to complain. The lady tried to claim it must be some other construction even though I told her I could see it from my window and then promised they would stop. When it was still going about 20 minutes later I thought I might kill someone and realized that this must be how pregnant women feel when there hormones turn them into crazy, angry, pregnant women. I called the front desk again and complained again. She seemed all surprised  to be hearing from me again. Surely I couldn't have been the only one complaining, right?! I'm still baffled by the whole thing. I don't know anyone, especially hotels charging guests to stay at them, that think it is ok to do construction that late at night! 

Well, as you can imagine, I did not get a very good night of sleep and woke up feeling terrible the next morning. We wanted to spend our last day out by the pool. but it was all rainy so I tried to sleep as late as I could despite feeling like crap. We had breakfast at the hotel then packed up and took a few more pictures of our hotel room before we left.

When we went to check out, I again complained about the construction from the night before and asked if they could do anything for us. The lady was quite rude and instead of apologizing for the inconvenience, she threw the free upgrade back in my face. It was so disappointing after such a great trip and a mostly enjoyable stay at the hotel that I didn't even get a genuine apology. I mean at the Pier House Hotel they gave us free drink coupons because our room wasn't ready right at check-in without us even asking and this lady couldn't offer up anything, not even a sorry. I was extremely disappointed, not feeling well, and generally ready to get home.

Once we left the hotel though, I decided I didn't want one little incident and a few rude hotel employees to ruin our wonderful trip, so I let it go and we decided to enjoy the rest of our day. We drove up the coast a bit to do some exploring, then grabbed lunch at this place called The Burger and Beer Joint. Nic got the California Burger~ a 10oz. Certified Angus Beef, ranchero salsa, guacamole, grilled red onion, cilantro sour cream, sharp cheddar, sunny side up fried egg, and brioche bun served with skinny fries. I got the Rooster~ 8oz. chicken breast, turkey bacon, jalapeno jack, beer battered onion ring, sesame bun and bourbon bbq sauce served with skinny fries. Nic said his burger was one of the best burgers he has ever had. The place also has a $125 burger called the Motherburger that is a "ginormous (10 lbs. of beef) beast the size of a manhole cover and sandwiched in a bun that resembles a couch cushion!" If one person can finish it in 2 hours they get it for free! lol. Check out the picture of it...They cut it with a chain saw!! Such an interesting, cool, and delicious place!

After lunch, we went to the airport. I really wasn't feeling well by the time we went through security and was pretty nervous about the flight. At the same time, I just wanted to get home. I called the after hours doctor and she said it sounded like I had some time of stomach flu. I just tried to relax and drink plenty of water. Our flight was delayed because of thunder and lightning. Once it cleared, our plane had problems with the bathrooms that we had to get fixed. Then as we were turning on the runway, we had additional mechanical problems that had to be fixed. I kept thinking, my gosh, just let us get home! I never have that feeling at the end of trips, but the combination of being pregnant, not feeling well, and being overtired was making me want  the comfort of my own bed desperately. We finally took off and made it safely home. I did really well on the flight, drank tons of water, got up frequently to walk around and I was actually feeling heaps better. I'm still not sure if I did get some sort of 2 hour flu, had some sort of food poisoning, or had a reaction to antibiotics my doctor prescribed me while on the trip, but whatever it was, it went away as quickly as it came on and by the time we landed I felt perfectly fine. Despite the somewhat rough last day, we had an amazing trip!! Little baby did so well, we felt so proud of him, and we had the best time. It was a much needed break from reality and we definitely benefited from spending some quality time together. We had been so busy and stressed that it was great to get away, relax, eat good food, explore new things, and enjoy each others company. :)