Bienvenido a Miami

Last weekend and half of this week saw me in Miami Beach, Florida for another work conference. The conference didn't start until Monday afternoon, so I decided to fly out a couple of days early and spend the weekend exploring the city, since I hadn't been to Miami before. It was a great time! Miami was humid, muggy, and mostly rainy during my trip, but it was a lot of fun to visit and see a new place. I wandered around Miami Beach on Saturday and said hello to the Atlantic with a walk along the beach. On Sunday, I took the bus over to downtown Miami and spent the day along the waterfront and in the amazing Wynwood neighborhood. Enjoy some photos below:

Miami Beach

Some of the Art Deco building facades on Ocean Drive, in South Beach.
The architecture was gorgeous!!

'Twas a blustery winter day at the beach, but still warm, and quite nice to be by the water.

"... with eyes like the sea after a storm." :)

Downtown Miami

The Freedom Tower. This building reminded me a lot of the City Hall tower in downtown LA!

Inside the building was a really cool (and free) modern art exhibit, filled with these awesome fabric/bead boxes!

Lobby - I was loving the architecture and design!

Excellent, old-school elevators

Wynwood neighborhood

I had heard from a random person in town that Wynwood was the place to be in Miami, and boy, they were not lying! Wynwood was incredible!! That neighborhood was filled wall to wall with the most gorgeous, intricate, beautifully-done street art I've ever seen. It was great to explore, admire the artwork, and try out tasters of delicious dark beers at the three main breweries there. There were also tons of food trucks, cool art galleries, a display of fancy sports cars (both old and new), and many anti-ArtBasel activities going on. It was a fantastic afternoon, and it was actually sunny! If anyone goes to Miami, I highly recommend checking out this neighborhood. You own't be disappointed.

McLaren!

I loved this scene, with the contrast of the cool old car and the anti-capitalist graffiti in the background.

Zoolander even made a Pop Art appearance! I loved this!!

Cool story, Hansel.

Interior of the excellent, Star Wars / Marvel Comics-themed J. Wakefield Brewery.

These beers were SO GOOD. The "Puft" one was marshmallow flavored, and the stout was made with hazelnuts-
some of the very best dark beers I've ever had (and that's saying something)!!

Old Lady life goals

Funky art display at the Concrete Beach Brewing Co. tasting room.

Tools of the trade

 

These guys were awesome. I took the photo and they asked if I was going to give it to the police.
I told them, "Don't you worry, it's for my own enjoyment only!"

And with that, Miami made it to my list of awesome cities. I certainly wouldn't want to live there (too humid, and hurricanes!), but it was an absolute blast to visit and explore. I'm looking forward to next year's conference and the chance to re-visit and check out some new places (like Little Havana!). Hooray, work travel!!