Miami Heat 2011 home game

Leanne and I ended up flying from Buenos Aires to Miami a day early after we had a problem with the hotel booking for our final night in Argentina.  This worked out perfectly as it put us in Miami in time to catch a Heat NBA basketball game. We had great seats for the sold out game and enjoyed watching LeBron James, Dwane Wade, and Chris Bosch play. All three were brilliant in the win over the Bucks.

Byfuglien and the Thrashers vs the Panthers

On our second night in Miami, we drove to Sunrise to catch a movie, True Grit, and an NHL hockey game.  I sat fifth row from the blue-line for the game and payed less than the cheapest tickets to see a game in Vancouver.  It was good to see Vancouver native Evander Kane playing pro after watching him a number of times with the Vancouver Giants.

Our 2011 Audi Q5

It was great to return home from our Antarctica and Patagonia trip. In the first few days of being back we met our niece Teagan, and enjoyed visiting family and friends. We ended an era and sold our jeep and picked up our first ever new vehicle, a 2011 Audi Q5. We ordered it last year and had to wait over three months while it was assembled and shipped from Germany. We have rediscovered the joy of driving with it. The day after we picked it up, I took my brother on a road trip to Seattle to catch an incredible football game.

Michael and Chris Jan 10, 2011 Seahawks/Saints

I doubt I will ever experience a better live NFL football match than I did in Seattle when I screamed along with 67,000 crazy fans as the underdog Seahawks had a huge victory defeating the defending Super Bowl champions, the New Orleans Saints in a do-or-die playoff game.  We literally shook the Earth as Lynch broke seven tackles and ran 67 yards for a touchdown to help clinch the win. I was jumping up and down yelling. Fans were hugging. And the fanatic season-ticket holder in front of me and Chris was weeping in joy. He had just told us during the previous down that if Seattle scores on this drive, he thinks he’s going to cry.  It was a phenomenal game that Seattle won 41 to 36. It capped off an incredible week of attending live sports.

Our trip is over. We are happy and currently have no future plans.

Tango in BA

It was over a five hour drive south from Torres del Paine to airport in Punta Arenas. From there we flew two hours North to significantly warmer weather in Puerto Montt. We spent the night in town before an early morning pickup for our scenic trip through the lake district from Puerto Varas to Bariloche. It made for a long day with five bus rides and three separate boat trips. The lakes each had distinct scenery with a variety of colours and volcanoes in the background along one and flowers along the edges of another.  We passed through little towns between the lakes, one with a population of 12 and another with only one full time resident, the park ranger. We went through the tiniest of border crossings when we left Chile and entered Argentina.

Tango Theatre

As we approached Bariloche, the shores were lined with people out enjoying the sun. We stayed there for two nights in a beautiful lodge next to the beach.

Lake Flowers

We returned to Buenos Aires on Dec 31^st. We skipped the chaos of the New Year parties around Puerto Madero and instead had a more personal celebration with a late dinner at a French restaurant and we brought our champagne back to our room in time to ring in 2011 in private.

On Jan 1^st we had an exceptional meal at the renowned Cabaña las Lilas and the following day we spent the morning watching the street performers and crowds of people from a café in the heart of the Sunday, San Telmo market. That evening we went to see what the city is famous for, Tango. I am not a fan of dinner theatres, but there were moments of brilliance in the show that certainly made it worthwhile. The remainder of our time in Buenos Aires was spent revisiting some of the city highlights (Recoletta, Galerias Pacifico, etc.)  we had already seen a year ago when we passed this way on our world trip.

Lake District Volcanos