three of us in the arena with our required masks on
about to begin
This was the fourth national championship that Cierra and I have attended (started in 2017). We were both looking forward to attending in Nashville from the first time it was announced that it would be the host for 2022. This year we added my cousin Kathy to the mix and we all enjoyed ourselves. Between omnicron, flight cancellations and winter storms there were questions if we would all get there or not. Happy to report we all saw all of the events of our championship weekend tickets. Well, that wasn't all good - Cierra was supposed to miss the skating spectacular but her return flight was cancelled so she flew back on Monday and missed part of a workday. Going I had a delayed flight and ended up with a flight attendant crew from 3 different cities, but hey I made it!
Our Championship weekend ticket package started with the ladies finals on Friday evening. Had a couple of hickups for the finals - 2 ladies came down with omnicron and instead of walking to the event we had to get an uber. Walking a mile (ish) on icy and snowy sidewalks did not sound good to any of us. However, the skating was good and a favorite of ours won the event after skating beautifully.
Isabeau Levito who came in 3rd as she came out for warm up
Mariah Bell in a spin
Mariah Bell receiving a standing ovation at end of skate
The US Figure Skating Association has changed/strengthened the rules to qualify to go to Nationals resulting in fewer contestants. It was really noticed with the pairs and dance teams. Historically there were so many that most of Saturday afternoon would be the lower ranked teams skating. This year there were about half the teams so only the really good ones and they did not start till the afternoon. Sooo. Brunch on Saturday was the plan. We went to a restaurant not too far from the arena where the skating was held. Kathy and Cierra enjoyed lattes and nice breakfast dishes while I had iced tea with my meal. The restaurant had a French spin on southern food and decor. After our meal we had a little time to kill so we walked over to Broadway where all the action is in the evenings - bars, honky tonks. We got a laugh at how some people were dressed and saw a couple of cute things in store windows then it was time for our skating marathon to begin!
On to pairs. US is not noted for having great pairs teams, but there are 2 really good teams. Unfortunately, one half of one of the teams came down with covid. Guess it would be good to note here that the athletes and coaches were all tested daily thus some competitors dropped out in the middle of competing. Anyway, the team (Cain-Gribble and LeDouc) that did compete looked good and I for one am hoping they win a medal in Beijing. Photos of Cain-Gribble an LeDouc are below.
More pairs skating photos. The bottom photo gives you a good feel for how close to the ice we were.
After the pairs competition ended, it was time for the second round of the dance team competition. Here, the US has several very good teams and we saw some good skating. In my opinion, dance can be a hard discipline to recognize the little details that can separate top teams. I have my favorite teams here and they did well.
Kaitlyn Hawayek and Jean Luc Baker
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue
End of their dance - their final US Championships
Caroline Green and Michael Parsons expect to see more of them in a year
Madison Chock and Evan Bates - they won
Due to Covid, the contestants had to put their medals on their partners
Now we had some time on our hands since it was a couple of hours or so till the final competition of the day - mens short program. One of our uber drivers had pointed out the old train station and said it had a neat old clock and stained-glass windows. Also said it was now a Marriot Hotel (The Union Station Nashville Yards Autograph Collection) since the snow was now quickly disappearing thanks to rain and warm temperatures, we headed to it to explore.
Outside of the hotel
Grand Lobby per website - they were setting up for a wedding
the arena is in the background
We wandered into Assembly Food Hall a couple of times because it was close to the arena and it gave us choices. Including during this break. We ate things like falafel, vegetarian tacos, pork buns, ice cream and had a nice meal at 60 vines. 60 Vines was a free-standing restaurant up on the top floor. Pictures below are from there.
My dessert - an olive oil cake
Cierra's dessert
The skating for the day continued with the men's short program. If you follow skating at all, you know that it was a phenomenal competition. I think every man there brought his best game to the arena. It was a great evening to be there in person, because we got to see a lot more men than you saw on TV. When you are giving the men with lower rankings standing ovations for their performance and not just the top ones - you know everyone has brought their "A" game and we were in for a treat! Unfortunately, I can't tell my pictures from the short and the long programs. So, the pictures are mixed below. Oh couple of notes. How good were the short programs you ask? Well, a man I don't know and lowly ranked almost pulled off a quadruple axel. No one in the world has successfully completed one in competition. Also a note, the young man below- you have probably never heard of him before this competition. Well Cierra predicted he could be a dark horse - said he has done well in Junior Competitions and has skated some at her rink and he is the real deal. She was right he came in second his name is Ilia Malinin (my 2 Russian knowledge folks debated correct way to say his last name) and still in high school.
jumping Ilia
More of Ilia
Jimmy Ma who skated well to his relief
this and next are of Jason Brown
Vincent Zhou
another of Jason Brown
Nathan Chen mid jump - long program
The week end ended with the skating spectacular which is so much more than you see on TV. Always a local group of some type and then a variety of top and fan favorite skaters. This year, they also announced the Olympic team and gave them each a guitar. You get to see a different side of the skaters. Below are some pictures from the event.
These next pictures are from Hawayek and Baker's performance - a fun farce on swan lake. I think both of them are bit of comedians.
It was agreed early in 2021 that we would get together this Christmas in Miami. At the time, Jeff and I thought we would be returning from a cruise to the Amazon River to Miami days before Christmas itself. The cruise did not happen - so 2021 there, but our get together did.
We realized it was significantly cheaper for Cierra to fly from DC to Orlando on the 21st then to Miami on the 23rd so the three of us met up in Orlando and spent a day at Epcot. Then we drove the rest of the way to Miami in a rather full car since it had Christmas decorations and a bunch of wrapped presents on top of our suitcases.
Cierra had chosen Epcot to visit which was good since it was the only park we could get entry for - Disney limits guests to each park these days so you must reserve your spot ahead of time and week ahead only Epcot had room. We stayed near Disney's downtown restaurant and shopping district (Disney Springs) and enjoyed dinner there each night first at a seafood place then at a barbecue restaurant the second night.
This is how we spent our day in Epcot: occasional ride, eat, drink, wander to next country pavilion, drink, next country, eat, drink, explore on repeat all day. At Christmastime, Epcot has some special food offerings which we had to check out. Most were small and we often shared. Along with the food was special drinks both alcoholic and non. There is also an annual cookie stroll which of course we did. We bought 5 cookies in 5 different countries and received a 6th for free. We shared all cookies 3 ways and actually kept the last one till the end of our vacation and split it up then. We started with a snickerdoodle made with a Snickers bar which was probably the least favorite for Cierra and me. We moved onto a gingerbread man, a linzer, red velvet crinkle, and a black and white cookie. The reward was a sugar cookie shaped like Mickey ears iced in honor of the 50th anniversary of DisneyWorld. Below are some of our photos from Disney World.
Jeff and I finally made it to England!
Our "reward" cookie from the cookie stroll
So all of this food was small bites from outdoor temporary food stands so some of the food and drink we had was good and some were misses mostly because the dish just wasn't meant to be cooked and then reheated. I think it was France where we started our noshing. I know I had a sparkling drink and a salmon napoleon which while nice but not flaky dough but more of a bun for me and Jeff and Cierra had a potpie type dish which they thought was just okay too.
We also saw Santa, Father Christmas and Pere Noel
We did do some non-food things too! We started the day at Soarin which is a family favorite and enjoyed it. We did the 360 degree movies in Canada and China. We rode the 3 Amigos ride in Mexico, and we managed to get seats for Remy the new ride late in the evening. Remy is based on the Disney movie Ratatouille and is a great ride. If you don't know Remy is a rat who is a great cook, but alas not everyone wants a rat in their kitchen, so our car (a teacup) felt like we were sneaking along at times and then running for our lives at other times.
We also attended the Christmas music program they had. It was nice, but not great. Cierra's comment was she felt like we were at a televangelists' Christmas show at times.
Next day onto Miami to pick up Kevin and mom at the airport and check in at our hotel. I say hotel which it is, but the hotel is in a building shared with a condo complex so we actually had a 3-bedroom condo and a hotel room. The condo had a nice big balcony that looked out on Biscayne Bay. We enjoyed watching the boats especially the ones that went out to a small island to hang out for the day. We noticed one very unique thing - a food truck on a pontoon boat. Unfortunately, it was too far away for us to get it in a picture to share. Oh, we also saw a couple of manatees in the bay below our condo. In addition to hanging out at the condo, we went on a couple of tours, had a couple of nice meals, saw neighborhood Christmas lights and explored Little Havana.
Manatees - seen from our balcony
also seen from balcony - look in middle of white foam is a man fly boarding
in front of Christmas tree in building lobby
our Christmas tree and bear
The next photos are all from our airboat ride in the Everglades
I missed the message to take my mask off!
anaconda bird - snake bird
alligator found
The next couple of photos are taken from our cruise around Biscayne Bay - got to see the fancy houses from the water.
Christmas Eve Dinner at Bellmont Spanish Restaurant was a multicourse pre fixe menu dinner with wonderful live music. Take a listen below.
We wandered around Little Havana some during the day and had lunch. Jeff, Cierra and I went back down for lunch that night.
enjoying Cuban drinks - Jeff and me had mojitos and mom had strong Cuban coffee
The restaurant (Ole Havanna) that the 3 of us ate at that night had good food and even better decor. The jukebox was right by our table and Cierra and I are each at our table.
One last family Christmas picture - in Little Havana
If you ever visit Miami at Christmas time, I highly recommend looking up neighborhoods for lights. All of these pictures are from one small neighborhood that has been decorating to extremes for years.
