[Ed.
note: As I write this, the entire world is engulfed by the social distancing,
many deaths and general misery resulting from the novel coronavirus
COVID-19 pandemic. It feels trite to recap the second part of our trip to
southern Florida. Even so, my inner voice tells me to never mind because
memories are the best souvenir to bring back from a trip. And fond memories are
a salve amid unhappy times.]
Miami Nice
During
our first day in Miami the Rising Daughters™ went to Jungle Island with their
mum. I’d been digitally waylaid by a work thing and was marooned in our hotel
room. They returned, elated by the warm air, animals, and outdoor fun. We
decided drive around and view the sunset, and gawk at the beautiful houses and
wild vegetation of Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood. It’s a place of tropical greenery framing houses and verdant undergrowth. We saw enclosed
quasi-mansions with roundabout driveways lining the parkway next to the
ocean. Driving toward the shoreline was a revelation: Latin flair while a
moist Yuletide spirit flavored the air.
Christmas with alligators and the ocean
More
anecdotes...
Viva Boxing Day
Even
when traveling we seek out flea markets; it’s part of the Rising Family® DNA.
We soon sniffed out Flea Market USA. There were plenty of sundresses on sale.
Marina bought one for a good price. Then we drove down to Key Biscayne to round
out the afternoon. We stopped at a Winn-Dixie supermarket to buy lunch. The
parking lot was packed with people driving around in golf carts. We drove to
the Bill Baggs State Park and discovered its parking lot was populated by overfed
raccoons.
M. and Naomi fed the round little rascals and, later at our beach
spot, Marina pitched pieces of bread to the seagulls.
My main memories of this
day are thus rich retirees and raccoons.
We
joined the Millionaire's Row Cruise offered by Island Queen Cruises. It was a
pleasant tour of the artificial islands and the multimillion dollar homes
of famous Miami-based actors/actresses, singers, athletes and criminals. My
favorite was seeing the mansion where the movie Scarface was filmed. While
onboard the ship, a guy named Alex picked me out of the crowd because I had
filled out an info card on a lark to see what would happen. It was catnip for a condo buying marketing promo. The lure was a family trip to Cancun. We
got excited by the well-established bait of getting something for nothing
(greed!). It’s easy to grasp how these things can suck people in. I think the
salesman sensed we wouldn't bite on anything he said and suddenly our
“interview” wasn't possible. I got my interview deposit back. We backed away
from each other with wary smiles.
Tropicana Flea market
This
is a true local flea market; usually they’re the best kind. I bought a beach
towel, Marina found a Lego set she liked, and that provoked her budget crisis.
(We denied her credit request.)
Afterward, we drove north to the Opa Lacka Flea
market. How best to describe it? Expansive space, rock-bottom prices, and loud
mariachi music spun by an overweight DJ trying hard to get the crowd into it.
Truly fun!
We
spent our last night before returning to Tennessee at the Miami Zoo. It was
quite a pleasant experience to visit the zoo at night. Basically, Zoo Lights Miami is a night illumination trek around the zoo grounds without seeing
the animals, which were off-duty. It involved walking around the Zoo compound decorated
with LED animal figures adopting Christmas fashion.
We saw lots of
eye candy LED sculptures, my ladies ate free ice cream as we left, and
thus the family indulged in good post-Christmas harmony. It was another warm
night voyage, windows down, as we returned to south Miami. A fitting way to say
goodbye to Miami. We instinctively knew we’d miss the warm air.
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