#tbt Spring Break: Miami with #MBsociallydriven

SPONSORED/ UNPAID

This is about the time I was detoured off US1 in downtown Miami and found myself in the Arts District by total serendipity! I guess my internal Art GPS was functioning.

What was I doing in Miami?
I was driving around the US -- literally! (Read about it here).
One could say that my March 27 - May 27 road trip was a VERY long Spring Break.

So, it's April 6, 2014, 8:30am, I'm approaching downtown Miami and US1 is blocked off. Oh no!
(My #ontheedgeUS mission was to circumnavigate the US on interstates and US highways as close to the perimeter as I could get).
There's a bike thing going on.
What to do?

After a few stops and starts, and lots of looking at the phone map, I figured out a route back to US1.
But then I started seeing wildly painted buildings:

Maybe I wouldn't get the Cuban breakfast that I'd been craving since I'd awoken, but surely there would be a decent coffee place. Artists REQUIRE coffee.

Success.
I found Panther Coffee.

I got Iced Coffee and a slice of Spinach Quiche:

Yum!
(linking up with Catherine's #saturdaysharelinkup)

I sat outside and soaked up the ambiance.

At the same table, there was a older man discussing "business" with a teen and her mom.
A family pulled up, and approached him, he asked them to wait, "I'll be with you in ten minutes".
All very strange.

Meanwhile, next to the bathroom, Panther had a wall where anyone could clip invites or business cards.
I added some of my cards:

Later, as I was leaving, the puzzling machinations of the mysterious man were made manifest.
I saw him with the teen, camera in hand.
Ah. Fashion shoot in the Arts District.

Legacy text about the #MBsociallydriven campaign:
So, what's YOUR version of [insert city name]?
If you live in or plan on visiting NYC, LA, Chicago, Austin, Miami, or Denver, Mercedes-Benz is inviting you to share your city in a simple and artistic way on Instagram. It's easy—you create a quick (but beautiful) animated album of 5 of your best geotagged photos and upload it to Instagram. Then, you share your album on your feed with the hashtag #MBsociallydriven—and your photos might be featured on the Mercedes-Benz website! Get busy, the deadline is March 5.
[OOPS. MISSED THE DEADLINE -- the app still works, though. Access it here from your smartphone YOU CAN CREATE A SLIDE SHOW FOR ANY US ZIPCODE!].
MB suggests these guidelines:
Because this is a Mercedes-Benz brand initiative, please avoid posting the following types of photos (as much as we love them): competing car brands, celebrities, outdoor murals and graffiti, images that primarily focus on tattoos, advertising, and profanity.
[OOPS Graffiti. Fail.]

I still have the link open for YOUR neighborhood slideshow over on my Los Angeles post.

If you don't have a smart device, a GIF builder is a good way to create a DIY slideshow.

I recently used Imgflip, it was easy.

The link-up here is for this month's #tbt: SPRING BREAK