Americans seem to have some sort of fascination with the state of Florida, it’s mentioned in the news daily, some times for no important reason at all. Now, anyone who knows me personally can tell you that Florida is not my favorite place in the U.S., even though I have been there probably around twenty times in my lifetime. However, this time I finally had the chance to visit Miami, Florida. Sarah, my old roommate and co-writer of this blog got a job in Miami in May and we had been looking for the perfect time for me to come visit, we decided upon fourth of July weekend since she would have a few days off work to explore with me. So Sunday, July 3, I flew out of O’Hare Airport to Ft. Lauderdale airport at five in the morning. Due to flight delays and travel time Sarah met me at the airport around one P.M. and we drove to her neighborhood of Wynwood. We grabbed coffee at Mister Block and checked out all of the incredible graffiti and street art in the area. We stopped in all of the hip shops and checked out an outdoor market. This area is AMAZING, it reminds me of Wicker Park and Venice, California. We went for dinner at KUSH by lokal, they have a great craft beer selection include jai alai, and I had one of the top five hamburgers I have ever tasted. We checked out the walls of Wynwood before going back to Sarah’s apartment to shower and get ready. That night we ubered to Epic Miami hotel/Area 31, a hotel rooftop bar that made yummy cocktails and had a huge swimming pool that overlooked the city. We then met some locals who brought us to Wood Tavern in Wynwood, which was a fun and interesting atmosphere. The line was very long and there were a few more eclectic people inside.. they had actual snakes around their necks in the bar…
The following morning Sarah and I went for coffee at Panther coffee and headed over to the design district, which held all of the designer shops. We ate a quick lunch at Ella, we wanted to go to Crumb on Parchment but it was closed. The area also has a lot of cool architecture and art. After lunch we drove to South Beach where we laid out and swam in the ocean. We then shopped around for a few hours before grabbing dinner somewhere near the beach (read: touristy) (read: do not take this advice) before heading back to Sarah’s to get ready to go out that night. My friend’s sister works at E11EVEN, so we headed over there later that night. We had a few drinks there and hung around for a bit then stopped by Blackbird Ordinary.
The next day, and my final day in Miami, we had breakfast and coffee at L’epicerie, an adorable French cafe! Sarah then went and got a tattoo and we explored Ft. Lauderdale, grabbing a quick lunch before Sarah had to drive me to the airport.
Visiting Miami definitely improved my relationship with Florida as a whole, but I will still never look at Florida the way I do California, Illinois (well, Chicago), or New York. But to each their own, and if one is visiting Miami I would definitely recommend taking a step outside one’s comfort zone or stray from the path you have planned and go check out Wynwood! Oh, and don’t forget sun block – I learned the hard way….
Runaway Blond 