Girls Trip - Miami, FL

One of my most favorite traditions is my girls trip in which some of my best gal pals and I head to a destination for some R&R. Last weekend, I headed to Miami, FL with Debbie and Syndee. I quickly discovered that Miami is an incredible city. Even stepping off the plane put me in a different world with lots of languages surrounding me, luggage wrapping (which I haven't seen since flying internationally), and lots of beautiful people.

Ready to hit the beach

Miami Beach itself has a totally different vibe than anywhere I've ever been. If you stroll down Ocean Drive at night, you'll pass 20 or 30 tiny hotels that each boast a huge porch and lobbby ... and a tiny check-in desk. The lobbies are actually bars and the porches and sidewalks restaurants -- this is EVERY hotel! So you feel as though you're going from party to party as you go down the street. People watching is incredble as you see families (babies out at 12:30 at night), hoochies, rich people, etc all mingling together. I've also never been to anywhere before where there were so many tall, skinny people showing so much leg. I never really thought of myself as a leg girl, but there were certainly a lot of them to look at in Miami!

Too bad it was so humid when we took this picture

The restaurant scene is something else, as well. We went out to eat both nights around midnight, and you would not have known that it wasn't a normal 8pm seating time. People filled the streets, the tables were full, and getting seated was as normal then as it was 4 hours prior and 4 hours later (lots of places stopped seating -- not serving, though -- between 2am and 4am). In the morning, it was a totally different Miami than the nighttime. This is when the families come out (while all the party-ers slept, I guess) and shop or go to the beach. I think the best way to enjoy the city would be to take up the siesta ... eat, sleep, party, sleep, play, sleep. My kind of place!

Fried seafood recommended by Guy on the Food channel.

Fried lobster, fried oyesters, fried fish, fried roe, and tres leches ... Yum!

We spent the weekend shopping on Lincoln Road and Collins, resting by the ocean and in our room, and eating Italian, fried seafood, sushi (cooked for me, of course), tapas, etc. We were able to hit the beach for a little while and went to the Vizcaya museum, but the main thing was that I was able to spend some time with the girls that keep me sane and gave me time to recharge and remember who I am and what I'm grateful for ... two things I tend to forget when I get caught up in the day-to-day grind. One of the things I'm especially grateful for is that James is okay with these weekend jaunts because I hope to never give them up!

It would have been a more accurate picture if it showed me hugging my girls fiercely never wanting to let go. That's how I felt!

In other travel news, I got back from a business trip in Portland the day before I left for Miami. It was 105 in Portland! I was so glad that we chose to go to Miami for my Girls Trip instead of Seattle - where we were originally headed - because I would have been quite disappointed to pay upwards of $600 to fly to the PNW to find it over a hundred degrees all weekend! It's a never-before-seen hot spell there that I'm glad I didn't stick around for much longer than the 3 days for my work. Pee-Nut should be getting frequent flyer miles for all this traveling!