This morning, I attended "The Land Rover Experience" in Miami.
I was greeted in South Beach on the street by a group of valets in Land Rover uniforms. I ambled around a bit, as other guests arrived. Then two shuttle vans pulled up, and the drivers piled us in and we were off. Apparently, the purpose of the valet was to prevent congestion of cars at the actual event. As we cruised across the Venetian Causeway amid old Miami estates, the reason became apparent. dozens of Land Rovers and Range Rovers lined the streets, like a wall of steel bricks, outlining the path to our destination. As we pulled up to the driveway of the mansion, through the gated entry, I could see 1 each of their 4 models (LR3, RR, RR Sport, and the new LR2) for us.
We were greeted by a half dozen more LR employees, who led us inside and explained the events of the day. After registering, we were left for a short while to roam through the house, nibble on hors d'ouvres, watch LR vids on the TV, and chat with the organizers and each other. Then, they took us out back in groups of 6, where two boats were waiting to ferry us out into the middle of the bay. There, they had 5 barges tied together, on which they set up an offroad course in the middle of Biscayne Bay. We didn't get to drive, but it was way cool nonetheless! I've never driven a technical offroad course myself, so this was a new experience for me. And leaning over in a 3-ton truck, precariously balanced on the edge of the barge, dangling above the depths, was a really unique experience that everyone should get to do!
So we drove around for about 20 minutes, then came back and got to road test the Rover of our choice. A half hour later, we came back to the mansion, and they had even more waiting for us! Lessons on sushi preparation from the head chef of Nobu South Beach; a seminar on fragrances or something upstairs (I didn't bother with that); a technology guru to show us new gadgets and gizmos out on the market. Sweet! I finally learned how I can plug my iPod earbuds into my cell phone for the gym (off topic, I know, but Jesus, that's been bugging me for months!)
Then, as I left, they had parting gifts - lots of pretty brochures and a nice photo of me in a leather-bound box stamped with the Land Rover logo.
Fun stuff.
Now, for some pics! I screwed them up and overexposed them, because I had never shot outdoor photos with that much white surface, but I adjusted the levels in PS, and they're acceptable now... sorry for the crappy amateur work!
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