A group of eleven of my friends and I traveled down to South Beach to celebrate that three of us were turning forty. It was wonderful to take off and fly away from the freezing temperatures and huge piles of dirty snow taking up all the great parking spaces. South Beach offers all the fun of Las Vegas, minus the gambling, with an amazing beach. We stayed at a nicer hotel and decided we would just pile in four to a room, Spring Break style.
There are so many things to do in the Miami/South Beach area that the only trouble we occasionally had was organizing everyone. There are many museums, from Vizcaya, an amazing Venetian inspired home built during the Gilded Age to the World Erotic Art Museum in the heart of the South Beach Art Deco District. There is also shopping, I loved the Lincoln Road Pedestrian Mall, there were unique shops and great people watching. Our group almost motivated off the beach on the first day to Gator Park to go on an air boat ride through the Everglades, I think I should have kept to myself that they could get muddy and wet. In the end, we spent most of our time on the beach, we had three wonderful dinners and managed to spend one entire day at the pool bar at the Fontainebleau where the bartenders were extremely entertaining.
I do want to point out the restaurant we went to on the second night, The Meat Market on the Lincoln Road Pedestrian Mall. From the outside looking at the menu, I was initially a little disappointed thinking it may be a typical chain type steak house. It was anything but typical or chain-like, the food was unbelievable. What made it even more special was being immediately welcomed by the owner, having the menu explained with their specialties pointed out and advice given on how to proceed with such a big group. We managed to sit there for hours enjoying not only great food, but also wonderful service and attention.
With a long weekend away like this, I can hardly wait to turn 50!
