Miami

By Bridget Marquardt on May 14, 2009 12:22 PM | Permalink | 14 Comments

This was my first trip to Miami. Of course I have been to the Miami Airport many times, but this was my first time actually in Miami and experiencing it. I loved it!! Miami is a place that I could see myself living … although I'm basing this decision after only being there for a week during Spring Break. Perhaps I should go back during hurricane season and see if I feel the same way ... lol. Plus, I was able to meet up with some old friends, fun celebrities and fabulous guides. My host for most of the trip was Miss Miami 2009, Jenice Fernandez. Jenice is a Miami native and her family is from Cuba.

One of the first things we did was to take a yacht ride along the coast of Miami. We saw the harbor, Star and Monument Island and the coastline. One thing I learned right away about Miami is that the weather can be very unpredictable. While on the yacht it went from sunny and hot, to cloudy and windy, to raining and back to hot and sunny again in a matter of minutes!!! The yacht ultimately dropped us off at the most famous and iconic hotel in Miami; the Fontainebleau.

At the hotel I met up with a Miami legend: George Hamilton. He was very sweet and spoke to me about the history of the hotel and gave me a tour of the pool area, which consists of many different pools and bars on varying levels ending right up on the beach! George was very generous with his time and a very good sport.

The next day Jenice took me to Coopertown in the middle of the Everglades on a fan boat tour with her friend, Miss Suncoast 2009, Rachael Todd. Jesse was our boat operator/tour guide. This was a very wild ride!! We saw alligators, baby gators and a purple Gallinule - a rare bird in the Everglades. This beautiful bird had no fear!!! It actually came right up to me and hung out on the boat. When we got back from our swamp tour we went to meet "Big Man" a giant gator - 14 feet long!!! Not only did I see him up close and personal, but I got to feed him too!!!! Back inside it was also feeding time for us. Jesse wanted us to try some Everglade cuisine, which consisted of frog legs, gator tail and catfish. To be honest … I really didn't mind the gator and frog legs but the catfish was waaaayyyy too fishy tasting for me!!!

Later that night, back in the city at Fontainebleau, we decided to have some drinks at the famous Bleau Bar. They have a professional mixologist, Michael MacDonnell, he showed us how to really shake things up … cocktails that is!

We started with white peach bellinis -- ice, water, champagne, and peach puree. Then I decided to try my hand at mixology. I made a strawberry drink with strawberry vodka, lemon sour, strawberry puree and tonic water … we decided to call it a Strawberry Blonde!

These drinks were just the warm up because we had some partying to do at the hottest night club in Miami: LIV. My friend, model and Playmate, Raquel Gibson, who lives in Miami, joined us. We danced on tables and couches, drank vodka shots straight out of the bottle and partied until the wee hours of the morning! The next day we were off to a bit of a slow start, but once we got going, Jenice took me to a local beach hangout at 5th and Ocean. It was a neat way to end the trip and spend it relaxing and hanging out with some of the locals.

Tags: bridget , miami , coopertown , everglades , george hamilton , yacht , alligator , raquel gibson , bleau bar