Miami Nice

We had a great visit in Miami having good weather and staying on the go the entire time. On Wednesday (1/26) we went to the Coconut Grove area and visited the Fairchild Tropical Gardens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Tropical_Botanic_Garden, one of the world’s best tropical gardens featuring palms, cycads, flowering trees and shrubs, vines and fruit trees.  
               
We arrived in the morning and spent a couple of hours in the garden and took the guided tram tour.  A number of sculptures adorn the gardens including  “Icon” (below) and other flower sculptures by Will Ryman
 
                 
                               
Then we biked Old Cutler Road about four miles into Coconut Grove
                 
where we had lunch at the Jaguar Restaurant which we had seen reviewed on a Miami public TV program called “Check Please South Florida.” The Jaguar is known for its cerviche dishes, but we chose the ahi tuna sandwich and chicken and cheese quesadillas.
    
After lunch we continued biking north and came upon a big marina, and to our surprise we also found there the Miami City Hall. Frankly, the building looked like an airport terminal. We asked a local, and sure enough this building originally was the Pan Am Clipper Ship Terminal where flying boats provided service to South America.
               
               
The marina office had old photographs of the terminal and the flying boats.
                  
     
We biked back to Fairchild and spent more time in the gardens and saw the three glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly including “End of DayTower.”                                
                                        

Key West Sights

 

Looking through our photos from Key West, it became apparent that we needed one last post for a few “Key West sights” – those things that distinctly say KEY WEST!

                 

                                                             

                

 

                 

                                      

    

          

                      

Sandcastle on the beach at the Casa Marina Hotel

Centennial of Overseas Railroad to Key West

 

A nice serendipity of our visit to Key West this year is that it coincided with the centennial celebration of the arrival in Key West of Flagler’s Overseas Railroad.  The Key West Extension of the railroad from Miami was fraught with a multitude of challenges including a couple of significant hurricanes, but it still was finished a year ahead of expectations.  Prior to the railroad, travel to Key West was by boat only, and the arrival of the train was welcomed enthusiastically. 

                                    

Key West History Museum (formerly the Custom House)

The centennial celebration, recalling this enthusiasm, began with a parade followed by a ceremony on the steps of the Key West History Museum (the former Customs House) at which “Henry Flagler” (an impersonator) addressed the crowd.  After a ribbon cutting, the museum opened for their new exhibit “Flagler’s Speedway to Sunshine,” an excellent exhibit featuring a re-created Florida East Coast railcar, a replica of a section of the Seven Mile Bridge, vintage footage of the journey from the Middle Keys to Key West and a film recounting Flagler’s story and the arrival of the first train.  We especially enjoyed the film showing the train arriving in 1912.

                 

                 

                 

                                   

“Henry Flagler” cuts ribbon to open the museum’s centennial exhibit.

After the 1935 hurricane the railroad was closed because there was so much damage to the tracks, but the railroad bed and bridges were converted to a highway.  All of the old railroad bridges were replaced  by 1980, but sections of many of these old bridges are maintained as fishing bridges.  Also, the bridge to Pigeon Key where we bicycled in Marathon (see Jan. 10 post – En Route to Key West) is a section of the old original Seven Mile Bridge converted from the railroad bridge.  Part of it is also seen in the photo below, taken through our windshield as we drove north approaching Marathon.

                              

Key West–We’re here!

 

Key West is the Mecca of bicyclists. Seems like half the population is on a bike. We biked almost every day into town and paraded down Duval Street going and coming. We even made the trip at night once on our return from the sunset festival on Mallory Square.

           

           

Parking in Key West is rare and expensive, and the streets are narrow. It is so much easier getting around on a bike, and there are never any parking fees. We like to make multiple stops all over town like the cruise ship dock, lunch, and a visit to the bakery.

            

And speaking of bicycles, there are all kinds in Key West.

                  

 

    

Even bicycle “taxies.”

             

The weather was great this year. Warm during the day, and cool enough at night to have the windows open without A/C. One of our favorite activities is checking out the cruise ships which call almost every day. Our favorite was the Disney Magic, a large ship that we were able to see dock.

            

            

            

En Route to Key West

 

After spending 3 days at Sebastian Inlet SP, we headed south toward Key West, stopping one night south of Miami and one night in Marathon, about halfway down the Keys.  Our stop in Miami on Saturday was at John and Penny Thompson Park campground, a large county park.  We bicycled in the park which is in an old avocado orchard and got great Cuban food from a nearby restaurant for dinner. 

                 

We arrived the next day at Knights Key RV park in Marathon shortly before noon.  When we had parked the coach, George said, “Let’s get on the bikes and go to the Keys Fisheries for lunch.”  So we lost no time in doing so.  Irene enjoyed one of her favorites – peel and eat shrimp – and George had a delicious fried soft shell crab.  Of course, we found a nearby place for ice cream to complete our meal. 

                 

                 

By this time we were pretty energized so we headed for the bridge to Pigeon Key, a great place to bicycle.  It was originally part of the Seven Mile Bridge for Flagler’s railroad to Key West and was later converted to car traffic. After the new Seven Mile Bridge was completed in 1982, the section of the old bridge to Pigeon Key was maintained.  We enjoyed our bike ride in sunny breezy low 70’s weather and then headed back to our RV park just across Highway 1 from the bridge,

                

                

A very pleasant day in Marathon ended with the sunset by the Seven Mile Bridge.

               

Sebastian Inlet State Park

 

We spent 3 days at Sebastian Inlet State Park south of Melbourne. It’s a beautiful park off A1A and our camp site overlooked the water. It was sunny and warming up after the cold front that came through the southeast right after the New Year. We enjoyed bicycling and seeing the birds and just enjoyed the tranquility of the park.

          

After we arrived on Wednesday we went to Countryside Citrus to get fresh squeezed orange juice and navel oranges.  Both are delicious!  We’ve bicycled in the park and also in the nearby town of Sebastian where we had lunch at a good restaurant with the unappetizing name of Squid Lips.

            

We’ve enjoyed photographing birds at the park which is a popular birding site as well as a popular fishing location.

                                

A Great Egret

 

           

Wood Storks:  Only beautiful in flight

 

           

    Pelicans on the jetty at Sebastian Inlet State Park

                                                                                                                                                  And we’ve enjoyed the daily amazing sunsets out our window. 

                                 

                                 

Sunrise . . . Sunset on the St. Johns River

 

We departed Jekyll Island airport and headed south to Huguenot Park which is situated on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the St. John’s River. Huguenot is a Duvall County park which offers primitive RV sites with no hookups. We were amazed and delighted to find ourselves parked facing a large body of water – the St. Johns River – through our windshield again. We were close, too, and though the sand looked soft, it was not and supported our fifteen tons well.

                  

We enjoyed watching the gulls that nearby campers were feeding.  George got a photo of the gull that caught the food being pursued by the others.  We walked over to the Atlantic beach side of the park before returning to the coach for another sunset over the water.

                  

                  

Across the river we could see Naval Station Mayport which is the Navy’s third largest fleet station.

                  

We awoke the next morning to a pretty awesome sunrise. 

                 

After Huguenot we spent two nights at a commercial RV park just south of downtown Jacksonville. We had intended to bike the down town river walk, but an arctic front and gale force winds made it too cold and windy for biking. Tomorrow we head for Sebastian Inlet State Park below Cape Kennedy, so we’re hoping for warmer weather.