BusBloggers: Miami my Amy

Just like Keith Whitley sang, we were bound for Miami - to a nice Dade county park known as Larry and Penny Thompson Park in south Miami. It was built on the site of Naval Air Station Richmond, one of the old WW II Navy blimp station sites. There were several blimp stations around the country that the Navy built during WWII after the Goodyear company convinced the Navy of their utility in tracking Nazi submarines that were menacing the Atlantic coast.

Coconut Grove

In our first bike foray we headed to Coconut Grove, a community with a hip reputation. After first running into traffic and routing problems due to a marathon race, we finally made it to Miami City Hall and parked. Miami City Hall is in the old Pan Am seaplane port at Coconut Grove..

We had lunch at Scotty’s on the water.

After lunch we biked north towards Miami and saw some interesting homes.

Coral Gables

We started our ride in Coral Gables in the downtown district. We rode west along the north side of the Coral Gables golf course and made a stop at the water tower.

Then we made a pass by the marvelous Biltmore Hotel built during the 1920’s and now beautifully restored. We visited there last year and took a tour.

We then headed for the Venetian Pool which is carved out of bedrock coral.

Then on to the Desoto Plaza fountain.

Old Cutler Road Ride

We decided to ride from the Deering Estate north to Matheson Park just south of Coconut Grove. George forgot to check the mileage, and on the way over Irene came up with 3.6 miles, a nice little round trip ride of 7.1 miles. The information was wrong and we wound up riding about 16 miles. Nonetheless, the highpoint was Matheson Park. We reached a point where we had a beautiful view of the Miami skyline and saw sail boarders plying the bay. We included one of Irene’s pictures as our current theme pic.

Here is a map of the ride:

Gold Coast Railroad Museum

On our last day in Miami we visited the Gold Coast Railroad Museum which we first visited a number of years ago. It was subsequently damaged by Hurricane Andrew, but has since been restored. Of special interest was the display about the old Naval Air Station Richmond, a blimp facility during World War II, largest of all the U.S. blimp stations. The site is now the home of Larry and Penny Thompson Park and the Miami Zoo as well as the railroad museum.

The museum paid homage to Henry Flagler’s ambitious dream to build a railroad from Jacksonville down the east coast of Florida all the way to Key West – the Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC). The FEC logo depicts the miles of overseas bridges required to build the line to Key West.

In another FEC logo we see that people of that era loved the same things we love about south Florida – palm trees and sunsets.

The California Zephyr beaver tail - dome car brought back many good memories for George of America’s streamliner era of the 40’s and 50’s This car saw service on the crack streamliner “The California Zephyr” on the Western Pacific line. The train ran between Chicago and San Francisco during the streamline era and was one of America’s greatest luxury streamliners. The car had a limited number of private rooms plus a lounge area and was and is a rare car.

The most famous car at the Gold Coast RR Museum is the Ferdinand Magellan which was specially outfitted for President Franklin D. Roosevelt during WWII complete with armor plated walls and 2 escape hatches. It was built by the Pullman company and is an end observation car, ideal for presidential campaigning. Presidents Truman and Reagan also used this beautifully restored car.