The Miami Great E-Skate 09

The Great EsSkate in South Beach was a terrific weekend as usual. There were more skates than anyone could possibly do. The weather was cool for a change and was great skating weather except for a strong East wind. The Great EsSkate group again did a wonderful job of coordinating around 300 skaters and the events. We all had a grand time. Thanks one more time to Gene Cook and all his volunteers.

The early Friday night skate was about 14 miles as reported by Dee. A dinner party followed at the Royal Palm Hotel (the official hotel). The food was very good. Following the dinner party most every one visited their favorite nightspot(s) and danced into the wee hours of the morning. The early Saturday Skate was about 26 miles as reported by Dee. Following the skate, we had a very nice picnic at Lummus Park which was close to the hotel. After a little rest and clean up, we all were off to dinner and more partying. One group went to the Delano Hotel for drinks and on to Sushi Siams’ for dinner. Several other activities followed and partying again proceeded into the wee hours. Some how every one (almost every one) sprang to life and did the Sunday morning skate. Dee reported the distance as ~ 14 miles. Shortly after noon almost every one was headed towards home.

The new official hotel, the Royal Palm Hotel was basically a three star hotel. The only negative input was it did not have a Hot Tub. Hotel people were extremely cordial and did not complain about the bladers blading inside the hotel. You could put your blades on in your room and go freely through the hotel to the outside. You could get multiple room keys at no extra cost. Latest check out time allowed was a convenient 1 PM on Sunday.

Odds and ends: It was too cool for beach goers and using the heated hotel pool. You could get a very nice breakfast on Washington Ave for $3.69 and on Ocean Drive for $4.25. There seemed to be many more speed skaters than previously. About 6 bicyclers did the skates. Our own Stan was one of them. My preliminary count is we had 29 bladers in South Beach that had attended a Sunday Blade or function at one time or another. In our group, we suffered a few falls but no one in our group were hurt much beyond some colorful raspberries.

One more ENGAGEMENT Announcement
Peter Fritsch and Sherrie Dunlap are now also engaged. Congratulations Peter & Sherrie.

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