Welcome to Miami / Bienvenido a Miami

There are a few places in this world that ended up being exactly how I pictured them, even before seeing them. Las Vegas is one of them and Miami is another. With nothing but Dexter, Miami Ink and Kourtney and Khloe take Miami as references, the image I had of Miami was pretty close to the real thing. From the awe-inspiring art deco hotels that line Ocean Drive in South Beach to the lush tropical wetlands of The Everglades, Magic City really is all kinds of bueno.

 
And how exactly did I get to Miami, you might ask? 

No, I did not send myself by post. 

I asked the universe, here. Also, I repeatedly asked my very fresh friend to go on a road trip. In the end, the universe conceded and my friend said yes to Florida but no to the road. So we flew. With Air Canada Rouge.

Love the "quotation" marks. Unfortunately, there was nary a jaunty hat in sight. 

Armed with a (growing) list of must-sees in Miami (we also spent a few days in Broward County, which includes Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale) we first paid our official respects to DASH (me) and the Love Hate Social Club (him).

mecca

Ami James' dog

And then there was Ocean Drive. 

Honestly. It's just like heaven on earth.

While we hadn't planned on doing anything at night in Miami (we were livin' la vida broka, folks) we got very, very lucky (thank you!!!) and had the opportunity to attend Meatopia, "the world’s most famous celebration of all things meat," as part of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF).

Two amazing things happened at Meatopia (other than lots of meat eating and drink imbibing).  

This:

 rockin' around the clock

And this:

celebrity chef José Andrés and yours truly

Thanks universe! You done real good.