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.

           

           

FDR’s room in the Ferdinand Magellan also contains the wheelchair that he used on the train, small enough to pass through the narrow doorways.

           

Eleanor Roosevelt’s room:

           

George and the director of the museum who led the tour of the Ferdinand Magellan stand in the dining room.

           

Presidential china:

           

 

The sitting area at the back of the the car includes newly renovated leather panels above the windows. 

           

Our tour of this historic car ended just in time for us to ride the train!

           

A train fan since childhood, George loves riding trains – any trains.

           

Marathon Again

Marathon is only about an hour’s drive from Key West, but it does a good job of breaking up the slow drive to Miami. We got there early enough to make lunch at Keys Fisheries. We biked two miles there from Knight’s Key campground. George had marvelous fresh swordfish and we both loved the tart homemade key lime pie.. From Keys Fisheries we biked back to Knight’s Key campground area and then biked the two miles out the old bridge to Pigeon Key and back.

         

         

Our first trip to the Keys in 1979 was in a new car make: a Honda Accord. It was way smaller than the current models, and it’s a good thing because at the time few of the new bridges had been built. The old bridges were very narrow – just a deck atop Flagler’s old railroad tracks. (The bridge on the left is the “new” bridge; on the right is the Pigeon Key bridge built on the railroad track).

         

Key West We Love You

You kept us warm and sunny for two weeks while Rome and Atlanta froze. We biked almost every day either along the Atlantic or the Gulf. We didn’t come here last year and realized how much we missed it, so it was good to return to the southernmost City that we have been visiting since 1979.

In recent years we have been staying at Boyd’s Campground which is well run but very crowded. We couldn’t get a reservation this year, but luckily got in down the street at El Mar RV Resort that has only ten spaces that are very roomy with concrete pads. We got a reservation at El Mar in July only because someone cancelled. We had a beautiful waterfront lot that is arranged for coaches to park head first, thus having a water view out the windshield. We enjoyed it so much that we went ahead and put in a request for a reservation for next year.

         

         

George and the boss enjoy the water view.

         

Key West has to be the best bicycling city anywhere. It’s because the city is small and has      the dimensions of a New England village. The streets are narrow and parking rare and expensive. Getting around town on a bike is definitely the way to go. Our typical daily pattern would be to bike along the Atlantic beaches on the A1A route,

          

past the Casa Marina Hotel, then into town and down Duval Street, the main drag of town.

There are a lot of “pedicabs” on Duval that are slow and hard to pass in a car, so many cars take one of the parallel streets instead of Duvall, but not all.

         

Here Irene is trying to find her bike in the bike parking lot of the Key West Artisans’ Market.

         

On the other end of Duvall we would make our obligatory visit to the cruise ship docks to see who is in port. The Holland America ship in this picture is the one we were on last February when we sailed to the Eastern Caribbean. On days when one or more cruise ships are in port, the streets of Key West, especially Duvall Street, get very crowded. Biking down Duvall is definitely the best way to see what’s going on.

         

After checking out the cruise ships we would then typically bike to a lunch spot like Paseo Caribbean Food located in an old gas station. They are known for their roasted corn which is unique and very good.

         

         

         

The water front bistro at the Westin is one of the most scenic places we like to have lunch.

         

Typically after lunch there would be an urgent need to find an ice cream place. Matheson has a larger serving and a slightly lower price than Kilwins or Hagen Das. We’ve been to them all.

                   

After ice cream, we might pedal to Cole’s Peace Bakery for fresh bread and a marvelous chocolate chip cookie to eat later.

Rick the street artist

One of the first things we wanted to do was check to see if we could find our street artist friend, Rick, who did a painting for us one year. Yep, he’s still on his favorite corner near the Casa Marina. Rick is a tradesman from Connecticut. Not long ago a girlfriend must have noticed something about Rick and suggested he take an art course at the college. The rest is history. Rick is retired, and in the summer he runs a hotdog cart back home.

          

Key West Man

We always love to see what we call a “Key West man.”  That is typically a man on a three wheel bike, and usually they are carrying one or two dogs in the basket. The Key West man we saw this year looked like a junk collector, but oh yes, no doubt, he is a genuine “Key West Man.” His three wheeler is adorned with every possible decoration. It is such a visual blitz that you can’t tell what anything is except the American flag.

                        

         

Even local craftsmen have business slogans unique to Key West. Several years ago we saw a roofer who advertised, “We’re smarter than the water.” This year we saw a new one, a heat and air van claiming, “Licensed to Chill.”

Also, while biking in Key West you never know what you’re going to see along the way: This guy makes the Key West cemetery home.

         

Key West Haircuts

Before leaving the next day, we both went to a hair salon for what now appears to be a “Key West Haircut.” Oh no, there aren’t  going to be any pictures. Irene describes her cut as “froufrou.” George’s reminds him of the fifties barber shop where there would be a selection of “tonic” bottles that the barber would liberally shake into your hair. However, he got an updated version that came out of a plastic tube like sunscreen. We had asked for a stylist who had some experience, and we were assured that Cissy had been there forever. Now don’t get us wrong, Cissy knew how to cut hair on a man and a women. We just both need a good shampoo. What really added to making this a Key West haircut was Cissy herself. Don’t get us wrong here either, Cissy was a really warm and nice lady who hugged us as we left, but with every breath there was a shit, damn, and SOB. Again, nice lady, but she was raised in Key West and most likely around some sailors we expect.

Port St. Lucie

 

       

Our stop at the Outdoor Resort at Port St. Lucie was partly a service stop. This is a beautiful motor coach resort full of high end coaches. This is where the coach detailers go because this is where the coaches are. We had our coach detailed here last year and were pleased, so we had it done again. They do an especially good job on the aluminum wheels.

We joined up with friends George and Jan, Jack and Gerry, and Jack and Mary Lou. We endured a lot of rain here…12.6 inches. It rained really had for 24 hours.Once the sun came out, the birds did too.  We could see these sand hill cranes (top photo) and ibis from our coach.

                        

                        

The sun was shining and we bicycled with Jack and Mary Lou.  We also went out to lunch with the group at a restaurant on the Atlantic called Shuckers, a favorite of Jack and Gerry. 

         

After lunch we went to a family owned fruit farm to get navel oranges and Plant City strawberries.  Both were great!

The next morning we had a group picture of the four couple before we left heading further south.  You’ll notice that it was a very windy day!