Florida

This trip signified that the end is very much in motion.  And by that I mean I have been looking forward to my little jaunt to Miami for the Fourth of July for the last two months but I also have been dreading it slightly. Since it meant that my best friend Matty left Boston for a much better future somewhere else (SanFran, though I hope he realizes its coldest month is August) and the Florida trip was a pit stop on the way there.  I have also been dreading it since when I return (which I now have) I need to full blow throw myself into moving to NYC and I have 26 days to find an apt, pack, and move.  All beginning NOW. 

The trip though was a fantastic time, as expected.  The weather was perfect (not incredibly hot like we were thinking), the boys were sizzling, the alcohol flowed, the dancing/beach/bathhouse were brilliant and I left feeling not as incredibly bummed/sad/emotional as I thought I was going to be.  It all began in Ft. Myers which seemed to be nearly devastated still from a hurricane nearly two years ago now.  There is still a FEMA housing complex (trailers) and parts of the city are just devastated lots.  Sorta weird, but we ended up hanging out and having a good time seeing Matt's hometown (not devastated Ft. Myers), playing mini-golf (which is where I took this pic - NO, I would never stay in a motel unless it was just to have sex lol), walking on the beach and some everglades like hiking path late at night where I seriously thought a panther was going to eat us alive.  The following day we drove for three hours across the incredibly FLAT state of Florida to the other better side to hit South Beach and Miami which I think is the only part of the state I could stand for more than 24 hours.  This pic to the right was taken in the cross-state turnpike nicknamed "Alligator Alley" which is incredibly boring and incredibly long and uninhabited.  And then you pull onto some other scary road and then you entire the Miami area.  The one noticeable thing, which I tried to take a pic of, is how many large buildings they are erecting.  It nearly seemed like photo's of Shanghai at times.  Rarely ever does one feel in the United States that we are building at a rate to save our future.  Check in, showering, a margarita by the pool, and we were ready to hit Lincoln road.  After eating at SushiSamba for dinner where we got rocked off three caipirinha's each and drooled over straight boys, we headed to Score for some July 4th weekend party with DJ Rosario who is Rosabel from Alegria.  It was mad packed and mad hot and mad slutty, haha.  I kinda fucked it up with a boy who looked exactly like Jake Gyllenthal from Brokeback Mountain when I made out with another boy but oh well, it was only my first night out.  Tisk.  The music was fantastic though.  And all we had was a redBull and the drinks from SushiSamba.

We headed to the beach all day Saturday where I felt like a little boy twig.  Everyone on the beach was massively beefy which was sorta hot but the majority of them looked like they sat in the sun too long.  oh well, they were still somewhat hot, haha.  After the beach, it was time to get in our car and head up north to Ft. Lauderdale.  After dinner in the Aventura mall (haha, this is what happens in the suburbs, you eat at the Cheesecake Factory) we headed to George's Alibi where I really thought I was in bar where gay men go to die.  I am sorry to anyone who heads there often but OMG ... it was scary sad and to think we drove around looking for parking (this is what people do in the burbs) for like 20 minutes.  Manny Lehman's cross country Babylon tour was in town for the night and he was pretty good, though I think he is getting tired.  Mariah Carey should no longer be played.  Cafe con Alegria should be played non-stop.  Anyways, we noticed when we were in Coliseum (the main club in Lauderdale) that college students (young boys) don't go out anymore, people are obsessed with their phones all the time now, and people smoke cig's in Florida like fiends.  Chimneys in the dead of winter in Iceland actually.  I really think the smokers in Florida give the French a serious run for their money.  It was just gross, and I really haven't really noticed how better it is not to have smoking anywhere in a civilized city.

Back in Miami on the night before the 4th, after a night of sleeping in and recovery, laying on the beach for two days, shopping, and seeing Devil Wears Prada, we headed to Amika which is some funky loungy club that was throwing a gay night.  The gay night turned out to be an OMG afterhours with tons of people doing drugs, tons of dancing, and tons of hot boys SINCE they (get this) SCREENED at the door.  By screened I mean, they chose on whether or not you were good enough to get in.  lol, seriously.  We stayed until nearly six a.m. with no substance help again.  I say this because I was so proud of myself, haha.   And we only left because the smoke was like burning my eyes and giving me a mega headache and they changed DJ's and the latter became a little too gay.  I did meet this boy though, who I called my future ex boyfriend a few months back.

Fourth of July was another day at the beach though getting up at 2pm sorta screwed that up.  At night we headed to a super cute Mexican place for dinner which was delicious before we sat on the beach to watch the fireworks.  The Fourth of July in Miami Beach was a totally different feeling than experiencing the 4th in the Northeast which is where I always have.  I have always been in Boston, Ptown, Rhode Island, or D.C for Independence Day which are all steeped in Revolutionary 1776 traditions with the 1812 blaring, bunting, an overdose of red white and blue, et all but being in Miami Beach was an entirely different experience all together.   It was incredibly Brazilian really.   First, you can buy fireworks in CVS and grocery stores, which sounds cool until you realize that the NEast doesn't let you shoot off a firework because you might stupidly lose your hand.  I don't think I saw "red white and blue" once that entire day.  It was much more about your family and the community than about the spectacle of the whole thing.  Families came to the beach in droves to shoot off their own little firework, eat hamburgers, and drink (some heavily).  You could look up and down the beach and see home shot fireworks everywhere with the bigger displays in Aventura, Lauderdale, South Beach, and Miami going off around you (at one time basically).  It was totally wild though I really did miss the 1812.  Once the main sets went off, families kept shooting off theirs and you could just walk up and down the beach enjoying them, walking around teenagers making out in the hidden darkness while the ocean pot scented air blew down the beach. 

Ironically afterwards, we went to Latin night at Score, and as expected, Florida got to me after 4-5 days.  Everyone being a smoking bartender who is unable to hold a conversation for more than 20 minutes is only so much fun.