Jeff and I got to go to South Beach Florida this year for President's Council.
It was a cross between a work trip and a extension of summer.
Before the actual New York Life meetings started we drove about an hour to the Everglades and went to a alligator farm. Here we are watching the alligator wrestler.
Pretty talented guy!
We got to hold baby alligators.
Afterwards Jeff and I went on a wild ride air-boat tour.
A no swimming sign...I think this goes without saying...
Beautiful and peaceful...
Until the wild ride started. I've never been on one that had us doing donuts all over the place. Fun but they had to warn of us of sloshing water coming into the boat. It was a lot of fun.
We watched this guy as he was feeding the alligators (he is also the one who wrestled with them). We were trying to get pictures of them through the fence. Jeff asked him to take a picture while holding the camera over the fence...he did one better...
My favorite. (Good thing we got our camera back!)
After the farm we checked into our hotel. This is part of our hotel.
That night we went to the opening dinner. We loved this ice sculpture that was sitting in the middle of the pool.
It was one of the original hotels on South Beach.
I woke up early the next morning (3:00am our time) to go with Jeff to his morning meetings. I was rewarded with this sun rise. Pretty nice :)
The next day I went on a walk down the boardwalk that runs in front of the hotels at the edge of the beach.
Pretty walk but hot and sticky...
I was sweaty and pretty worn out by the time I was done.
One of the days Jeff skipped out a bit early on his meetings and we went on a duck boat tour.
On our tour they showed us the most elaborate mansion in the area. I don't remember the price but it was astronomical.
Here is one example of the art deco buildings we saw on our tour.
We both earned quackers for answering questions right.
It was a lot of fun and we got to see both the city and the water from the height of about a double decker bus (the thing was tall!)
My favorite thing at the zoo was feeding the Kangaroo. I can say it was a new experience for me.
By the way their fur was soft!
Some of the animals we saw including
White tigers and lions!!
The second to last night Jeff and I were with a group of people that were invited to eat dinner on the private yacht of one of the New York Life Agents. He had a staff of 4 people including a chef. Wow what a way to live!
The final night was Back to the Future themed
On the last night New York Life has some sort of finale entertainment. This year it was these guys.
Huey Lewis and the News. We were so impressed with their singing and playing.
Still going strong.
Fun night!
So to get in our final hurrah before we were flying home we decided to try parasailing.
It was a push trying to check out of the hotel and get there, finish and then get to the airport in time but it was worth it.
This is us starting to rise...
This is the other guy that went with us...and what our parachute looked like.
Fun way to finish the trip!
