Our trip to Havana, Cuba was flanked on either side by time in Miami. I’d never been before but was very excited to explore a new city – especially with the Kimpton EPIC Hotel downtown as our base. While it was rainy and gray for our days there we still had a blast and got to do a lot. What a fun and vibrant city – we can’t wait to go back for a weekend trip soon.

Rainy landing in Miami on June 2 but still beautiful!

The view from our room at the Kimpton EPIC Hotel downtown was perfection. We just couldn’t get enough!

For dinner our first night, we walked a few blocks to a local Sushi/Brazilian fusion restaurant where we had yummy cocktails made with sake and fresh juices, salmon, hand rolls and sushi rolls. 

We sat on our balcony and watched boats come in and out of the bay with the city view in the background. So pretty!

Saturday morning was for sleeping in – this was vacation after all! 🙂

Sean’s main priority for our time in Miami was getting out to Funky Buddha brewery so we took an Uber out to Ft. Lauderdale and discovered the brewery was having its anniversary party. Not a bad thing but with a limited menu, no beer flights available and more crowded than usual, we realized it was going to be a different experience for us and that we’d want to grab lunch elsewhere. 

A quick search revealed a highly-rated El Salvadorian restaurant, El Calero, within walking distance so we headed that way. We ordered a mixed grill with steak, chicken, shrimp, rice and beans, and 3 different pupusas (masa stuffed with various ingredients) – the queso with jalapeno and queso with jamon were our favorites. This meal took a looooong time to come out – they were obviously making everything on-the-spot – but it was incredibly good and memorable. Yum!

Brewery fun at Funky Buddha before heading back to Miami for 90-minute body and reflexology massages. Yesssss.

After our massages, we walked back to the hotel and relaxed on our balcony before heading out to dinner and to explore. We loved all the colors in Miami and the funky, art deco architecture mixed with new, sleek glass skyscrapers.

We ate at Cvi.Che 105 for dinner and had another memorable meal! The food scene in Miami is fantastic – we were loving it. The ceviche we had that featured Corvina Sea Bass and lots of shellfish in a coconut-yellow pepper sauce was probably the best I’ve ever had. Could eat it every day, easily. Our main course was a special with steak, clams, mussels, shrimp, potatoes and seared tuna. It was also amazing. Highly recommend this spot and they another location out on Miami Beach, too.

On Sunday, we headed out to the Wynwood neighborhood at the recommendation of some friends. We immediately stumbled onto Wynwood Walls, an incredible outdoor space with graffiti walls and street art, with open air galleries throughout. Each wall was different and we took our time exploring this truly unique display. The whole Wynwood neighborhood has an artsy, industrial and transitional feel.

We found a local butcher shop and had housemade sausages and some local beer for lunch.

We spent a good amount of time at J. Wakefield Brewing after lunch, trying many of their delicious beers and even getting some tips for Cuba from a guy who sat next to us!

Concrete Beach Brewery was down the street and had a totally different vibe. We played on a GIANT Connect Four board and had a flight.

Then it was time to head back to the hotel to get our bags and meet our group for Cuba at a different hotel. When we arrived back at the Kimpton EPIC, it was wine o’clock so we grabbed a glass and headed up to the pool deck. This was the first chance we’d had to dip our toes in the pool with all the rain. Gorgeous venue.

Fast forward several days. We came back to Miami from Cuba and spent one more day and night. We wanted to explore South Beach, so we decided to do it in style and rented a Mustang convertible. Yeah! It rained most of the time but we did get to put the top down a few times.

I loved the art deco buildings and retro vibe of Miami Beach! It was unique and very cool.

We ate at Joe’s Stone Crab for dinner, even though we were out-of-season for the stone crab. The food was good but very expensive. Glad we tried it, but wouldn’t return – just FYI if you’re in the area. 😉

Bye, Miami and bye summer vacation 2017! What a great city with beauty all around and from up in the skies, too. <3