This and That Around Coral Gables

Visiting Tom and Janet brings such reliable pleasures that we really look forward to when visiting. Walks around the neighborhood are some, beautiful architecture, gardens, no two homes alike, parks, huge banyan trees in the medians. Here's the Biltmore.

A princess party in the local park.

Allen and Tom got in some tennis.

A distinct highlight of this visit was a simul-wallcast at the New World School for the Arts in Miami on a breezy, perfect winter evening. Tom and Janet packed a picnic basket, chairs, and blankets (thankfully), and we joined thousands of others in an outdoor wall-cast venue designed specifically for that purpose, amazing sound system and all.

This spiny-backed orb weaver was our gate watcher for most of our stay.

A morning walk to Roma for coffee Cubano and to watch Cuban community mainstays sit around and chat. They are always so kind to us, the only ones there speaking English!

Saturday morning's agenda always includes a walk to the Coral Gables farmer's market, a see-and-be-seen place full of health and delicous-ness.

Tom designed this pool for their yard space.

"My" beloved bougainvillea

Janet's orchestra gave a concert at their Coral Gables Congregational Church while we were there, lucky timing for us.

I sat in the back, because, as now seems to be the rule for when we're in Florida, I got a cold.

Post-concert Japanese meal

Everglades and Big Cypress (February 8-9, 2016)

No trip to South Florida is ever complete without a trip into the Everglades. This trip we decided to drive to Naples and back along Alligator Alley. First stop was Big Cypress Wildlife area HQ for orientation and alligators.

Naples is a fancy town, expensive, lots of traffic, Gulf-front homes that allow for little public beach access. We did manage to watch the sunset from one public access, along with a crowd of others enjoying what little "public" there was.

We were interested in "doing" Big Cypress, so hit a mile+ nature trail in the morning, lots to see and learn.

We also drive a 20-mile park road that was dirt, went through amazingly wild areas, former agricultural areas now left to grow back into Mother Nature's plan. Delighted to see so many birds and groves of blooming epiphytes, the air plants.

White herons

White egret

Night heron

Snowy egret and night heron (?)

Snowy egret

Visited Shark Valley area of the Everglades later in the day, rented bikes for an hour.

Anhinga showing off his mating plumage

Around Shark Valley are the Miccosukki tribal areas. Looks like each family, hundreds of them, has a house built in the exact. same. style., many with all sorts of swamp toys in the front yard. There's a casino on the east side of the area that I suspect funds all of this.

A Day in Downtown Miami with Janet, and TTFN, South Florida! (February 11-12, 2016)

Our last full day in South Florida was a beauty. Janet and I headed to downtown Miami to the new Perez Museum of Modern Art.

The museum features these fantastic botanical hangings around its exterior, striking, huge, beautiful.

Inside the museum were numerous school/student groups of all ages, K-adult.

Stuff I liked, like this giant embroidered-in-gold dish towel...

This day was also Day 1 of the Miami Boat Show, so there were a few big'uns around.

We looked up this one. Owner is a Pakistani billionaire now living in Illinois who supplies all tailgates and other auto parts to Toyota worldwide.

We also visited the nearby Freedom Tower, originally where all Cuban immigrants were processed upon arrival to the U.S. It's now owed by Miami-Dade College and features a museum about the Cuban immigrants.

Views from Freedom Tower...

Last morning, dominos square in Little Havana, near Tom and Janet's house.

And that afternoon in Ft. Lauderdale, from where we flew home. We had cold weather for most of the trip, and found it a bit ironic that our last day in Florida was totally Chamber of Commerce picture-perfect ;-)