Miami

Wednesday the 4^th of February was special for us because our adventure was on roads previously untraveled. As usual we shunned interstates and took local roads from Wauchula to Miami, a distance of 210 miles. After a short alignment east from Wauchula to Sebring we ran route 27 and then route 29 due south to the Tamiami Trail. We drove across the Everglades on the trail [route 41] seeing many alligators along the way. Our campground destination was just a short distance south of our return to solid ground in West Miami.

Miami Everglades Resort is very nice campground. It has all the amenities and activities needed to make it a destination resort not just a place to park. It is also very neat, with manicured grounds paved streets etc. We especially like the paved path that loops around the campground, its great for walking the dogs or biking.

Thursday was a rainy day so that changed our plans. I was going to Key Largo but instead we just ran a few errands. After finding a Best Buy for a camera part I needed we enjoyed an excellent early dinner at a Longhorn’s Steak house.

Friday we drove to the city of Coconut Grove where we parked the Jeep and started our two day bus tour of Miami. The first day we traveled on two of the three loops of our tour. We traveled thru all the mainland communities of Miami, Downtown, Midtown, Uptown, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Little Havana and probably a couple more I forgot the names of. 

Some of it was unique and interesting such as Little Havana; once a haven for Cuban immigrants they now only make up 15% of its residents. It is now mostly populated by Hispanics from South America. It still has a Spanish flavor and as such still attracts tourists who think everyone is Cuban, heck they couldn’t tell a Cuban from a Venezuelan anyway!

We also learned that Hispanics in general vote Democrat in Presidential elections. Cubans are the only faction of Hispanic Americans that do not vote Democratic. The reason for this is they will never forgive President Kennedy for abandoning them during the Bay of Pigs. According to many historians, the CIA and the Cuban exile brigade believed that President Kennedy would eventually allow the American military to enter the fray. He did let the CIA plan and execute the invasion but stopped short of using the US Military.

The emotions of the Cubans toward Kennedy are not hard for me to believe. Every Vietnam veteran that I know still hates Jane Fonda for going to Hanoi, where she aided and abetted the enemy going so far as to manning an enemy antiaircraft battery. As if her acts of treason weren’t bad enough she denounced returning POW’s as hypocrites and liars when they told of systematic torture by their captors. ……I gotten carried away and will get off my soapbox now but those of us who fought will never forget or forgive!

Downtown Miami from a distance is a sea of modern high rise buildings. Called Magic City and the Hispanic Wall Street it is vibrant and successful city. Down at street level for those not living in the opulent towers you don’t have go very far before it’s just another gritty city.

On Saturday we returned for the 2nd part of our tour. Same bus service, today we went to Miami Beach. It really is filled with Art Deco buildings some dating back to the 1920’s. A lot of it is under renovation, one in particular piqued my interest.

Back in Maryland along the Chesapeake Bay, building is very restricted along the water. Owners of existing cottages who want to build a new house often get a building permit for a renovation rather than a new construction permit and it’s restrictive regulations. It is common to see all but one wall torn down during these “renovations. Apparently they do something similar in Miami Beach. One construction site had a metal skeleton holding up part of an old building wall while everything else including the foundation was removed.

After our beach tour we boarded a boat for a tour of the rich and famous homes along the many islands in the waters between Miami and Miami Beach. It must be nice to have money!

Tomorrow we’re off to the Florida Keys!