Kim Murphy Moment: “I am so excited to have my bday dinner with you guys! We have reservations at Animal at 7:15PM”

Destination: Animal and Miami or Miami Animal

Inspiration: Kim Murphy turns 31 – “I am so excited to have my bday dinner with you guys!
We have reservations at Animal at 7:15PM
Animal is located at 435 N Fairfax Ave. It’s across the street from The Dime.”

Actualization: Desperate for travel, football, and a challenge, I was craving adventure. Kim’s 31st sparked memories of my 31st travels so I booked a free flight to the SuperBowl with my United miles. No clue if I’d have a ticket to the game but I knew I’d be with my kind – fans, superfans, animals, and mascots.

Thursday night – Animals and party animals.  The fun begins.  Birthday Animal, Kim Murphy turns 31 and we have her birthday dinner at Animal.  There were no Saints at that table but definitely Miami fans and Kim prepared me for the town with her knowledge of the city, her home to sleep and some practice drinking for her 31st.

Friday – Fans and Superfans.  I made the 6am flight after Frustrated Fan Rembrandt called me 9 times between 4:30 and 5, called my brother for the address, pulled up in a taxi, and broke into my house to wake me up.  We caught up on sleep on the plane, and arrived in Miami with time to drop bags at the Shoreclub room of Superfan Rhiannon.

When traveling low budget, it’s always important to plan on inopportune flight times, mulitple sleepovers and constant change of plan.  I couldn’t even remember if I’d packed shoes but would have been happy with just flippy floppies for this trip!

Friday Night began and ended at the W Hotel.  Saints fan Jen Birn and I had cocktails in the lounge and popped by room 1003 to see the view.

Next we hit the Audi party where we drank champagne and mingled inside as a steady downpour of rain trailed the sides of the windows along the penthouse at the W. The room was an attractive one so we didn’t mind-Kellan Lutz, Rob Lowe, Taylor Lautner, Jessica Alba.

Travel Job of the Day (and my favorite guest of the night) –  Audi’s CCO Jeff Kuhlman travels with media to try the new vehicles on roads all over the world.  He recently drove with a group of 20 from the middle of Australia up to the Northwest corner.  What a way to see the country with three days of driving and tents, can you imagine?  He flew in from a Spain roadtrip the day before.

Miami Day 2/Saturday – The rain had cleared.  It was a perfect morning for a run on the boardwalk followed by a day with the mascots at the DIRECTV Celebrity Beach Bowl.  We were Team Kellan in the corner. I loved that his friends had his name spelled out on posterboards to cheer him to victory. For me though, I couldn’t concentrate on the game, I just kept getting distracted by the mascots.

From mascots back to animals…Next highlight of the night was at the Miami home of Director, Michael Bay. The house was gorgeous and we entered into the party by crossing a pond out front, walking on squares of land that crossed in a diagonal pattern leading up to the entrance of his two-story home. The entire front was glass allowing us to see the roomful of guests but it wasn’t long before I found myself cold and ready to find someone to warm me up or head to the Maxim party.  I found that someone …nope not Michael Bay – Michael Bay’s Dog, Mason and well, yes, Michael Bay was there too!  Mason was def the hunk of burning love at that party and the burning love wasn’t sticking around so we headed out to burning loins Maxim. That sounds dirty but you know what I mean, it’s Maxim.

Realization: Superbowl time makes me reminiscent of college football fans and games. I thrive on that energy this weekend was buzzing with it. WHO DAT…to be continued….