We. Slept. In. Until. 11:30 am. LET’S GO! Felt so well rested when I woke up today. Andrew’s bed was so comfortable. I honestly would have slept well on anything having just driven basically the entire state of Florida, but the comfy bed really did the trick. We unloaded Alex’s car, got changed and got our lives together and made our way to Andrew’s apartment, arriving around 1:30 pm.

Andrew’s new place at Nova was really nice! His dog Tyson greeted us as soon as we entered. Pretty sure he jumped up and tapped Alex in the nuts. Good dog. We also met Andrew’s friend who was studying for the same med school test. We hung out there for a bit when we received a call from Lauren saying she wasn’t able to meet up for lunch with us. Would’ve loved to dine with her, but oh well. Hung out a bit longer until we left around 2:30.

Our first stop after leaving was some Asian food market so Alex could get various Asian meats – duck, pork, cat (jk), more duck. Big errands require time, meaning Alex wanted to try them before committing to buying them and then salivate while they prepared them for him. Got that done and made our way to The Counter for burgers in Aventura. This place was incredible. Really delicious custom-built burgers where you get a paper menu and you check off what you want on your burger. ½ pound beef patty, brie, horseradish aioli, lettuce, grilled peppers and onions, corn and black bean salsa, avocado slices, and a fried egg all on a pretzel roll. Oh yeah with a banana split milkshake. It all fell apart as soon as I tried to cut it but I ended up fork-and-knife-ing ¾ of the burger and somehow managed to eat the remainder like a normal person. Truly delicious and beyond filling. I had posted something on Facebook about Team Handsome eating burgers or something fat like that before we got our food, and in the middle of eating I received a message from Alexa Berland: “You’re in Aventura!” So we made plans to meet up with Alexa at the Aventura Mall after we paid. Good looks, technology.

The mall was right down the street. Parking was a little tough but we eventually met up with Alexa…and Archie, Lotte, Chris, and Elise!! We had no idea they were there too – such a pleasant surprise! We hung out in the mall with them for about 2 hours. A highlight was going into some French perfume store that began with a C after the girls working there tried to solicit us unsuccessfully and Alex pressured me to go in and check it out. We got free samples of some skin spray, free grapes, and entertained the 2 ladies – Taniel and Nikki – who worked there with our camp silliness. OH and there was a Crocs store so I finally got 6 Jibbits – Darth Vader + Yoda (#ColorWar2015), Woody riding Bullseye, Hello Kitty, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Batman. So pumped to put them on my crocs even though everybody else judged / judges me for loving them (thanks again Alyse!). Alexa had to leave around 5:45, so her mom and dad came to pick her up, which was great because we got to see Jodi (and Frank). We talked for another 15 minutes, took some photos, and went our separate ways.

Around 6:30 we had to head back to Alex’s. We said goodbye to those who remained and made plans to hangout tonight after dinner. Chilled big time at Alex’s, mostly watching the food network and deliberating on where to go for dinner. By 9 pm we decided to go to Fifi’s Seafood Restaurant. Prior to that I checked my phone to see that Lee Shapes commented on my burger status from earlier today. Lee Shapes was my 1^st best friend (along with Alex Plutzer) at Camp Wekeela in our first year in 2001, and the last time we saw each other must have been around 2003. Lee is also my birthday buddy because we’re both 10/8/90 babies. Once again, good looks, technology. We threw on some nicer clothes, hopped in Alex’s dad’s car and drove to Fifi’s. The food was amazing! We had fried cheese and some kind of raw tuna roll as appetizers. The Lelchuks brought their own bottle of white wine for us to share, so that was a great addition. For dinner we shared paella and cod marinated in some sort of sweet miso glaze. Both were phenomenal. There was much seafood in the paella but I was so full I had only had 1 helping. But to be honest the cod stole the show. For dessert we “split” flan (I ate most of it), talked some more, and headed back home around 11 because we moved our Wekeela hang out plans to the next night.

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I’m writing this now) We’re hanging out at Alex’s the rest of tonight. We need to digest all the amazing food we had and just sit. We made lunch plans with Lee for Tuesday and still need to figure out plans for the rest of the week. Life is tough. Tomorrow Alex’s parents are free so they’re also trying to come up with an agenda tomorrow. I’d like to watch TV and start planning more specifics for our road trip after we get back from Kansas City. But if that doesn’t happen I won’t feel bad. So excited to be down here in Miami and explore and relax before driving the entire USA. Also tomorrow is the first day of school in Baltimore City – good luck Mount Royal! I miss everyone lots and expect to visit after I’m done with this portion of traveling. Sorry, that seemed like a random add on thought but I’d been meaning to include something like that over the past few days but wasn’t able to. It’s 12:30 am right now so I’ll probably go to bed in the next hour. No idea what’s in store for tomorrow but that’s great – this is the year of “I don’t know” and that’s exactly what I want to know as of now.