A last day at the (South) beach

We wrapped up our last full day in Miami by taking in South Beach one more time. This time, however, we actually stuck our toes in the water and enjoyed the sand and surf...for about 10 minutes. I picked up a shell, a friendly local took our photo and all seemed right. There is nothing, nothing I tell you, like spending a week away from it all and getting to know all the little parts of another part of the world. And, as they say, the nice thing about Miami is it's so close to the United States...

Hopefully we'll have another adventure or two in us yet. But, as some of you know, we're expecting our first child in February. Who knows, maybe we can take the little one on those adventures with us...just not to Key West (until they're 21!).

Thanks for reading and for future updates, pictures and the like with what's going on with our unborn child and it's mother, remember to check back here.

Back in Miami, at the monastery

After two and a half days in the Keys we returned to Miami for another day and a half before we departed back to reality in St. Louis.

One of the places we made sure to hit was the Ancient Spanish Monastery. Located in North Miami, the Monastery is the oldest structure in the United States. Tycoon William Randolph Hearst was in Spain and came across the building. He love it so much he purchased it and had it broken down, stone by stone and shipped to the United States in 1925. About that time hoof and mouth disease was running rampant and the boxes were broken open and the hay used to keep the stones packed was removed and burned. The workers did not put the same stones back in each of the marked boxes.

The broken down monastery stayed in pieces and in storage until 1952. Heart's financial trouble forced an estate sale and the monastery was purchased by two gentlemen as a tourist attraction. Assembling the monastery took 19 months and over a million bucks. And when they were done putting it together there were pieces left over (but, really, who hasn't been there before?).

In 1964 the Diocese of South Florida purchased the monastery and it has been in its care ever since.

We enjoyed our visit to the impressive structure. It was absolutely beautiful and, as you'll see, very photogenic.

For pictures click HERE.

Key West...in a day

We decided to dedicate one day to see as much of Key West as we could. We made the two hour drive down US 1 to the southern most point in the continental United States.

First we hit the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. It is, by far, the most beautiful beach I've ever stepped foot on. The water was aqua blue and warm, the beach was bright white and the people were friendly and clean (no trash cans, whatever you bring in, you must take out). It cost us a few bucks to get in to the park but it was totally worth it.

After showering off we found a place to park (no small feat) and decided to hoof it for lunch. We found a nice dive, shanty looking spot that came highly recommended in our Lonely Planet guide. The food was great, it was the best burger I had on vacation and the mahi mahi earned a thumbs up from Lisa.

Next it was off to Hemingway's house. There we viewed many of the famous six toed cats as we took a guided tour of the famous authors home. At one acre, it's the largest piece of personal property on Key West.

Once we got our fill of Papa Hemingway's cats, it was off to the southern most point in the continental United States. You've probably seen the buoy looking thing that marks it (see photo above).

The rest of the evening became a sample of the local taverns. I had a few drinks at the Green Parrot and Sloppy Joe's (Hemingway's prefered bar of choice). We watched the sunset and then hit the road for the two hour trek back to Key Largo.

It was a hurried trip, a busy trip but it was an awesome trip. I'd move there tomorrow if it wasn't for the whole making a living thing.

For photos of our adventure in Key West, click HERE

On to Key Largo!

After venturing out to the Biltmore, walking up and down the Miracle Mile and getting caught in a wicked thunderstorm (OK, so I got caught in the storm and had to have my lovely wife come pick me up at the bookstore) we woke up bright and early the next day, the Fourth of July, and headed to Key Largo.

It took about an hour to reach Key Largo from Bill and Ginny's place (who were so sweet to allow us to spend our vacation in their home). It would have taken less time if I wasn't chasing a cup of coffee and if there wasn't construction on the only road into the Keys (US 1).

Because the four lane road was down to two lanes (one each way) and the road was packed with holiday travelers, the trip took a little while longer than we thought.

The ride was, however, beautiful. As you hit a bridge all of a sudden there is nothing but ocean on either side.

We reached the motel, a lovely little place Lisa dug up online. It had a small dock for fishing and boating. There was a tiny beach to slip into the water and go for a dip (on the Gulf of Mexico side or "Bay" side as they call it). The room wasn't big but it was air conditioned, with cable TV, a mini fridge, queen size bed and an excellent shower. It was just what we wanted.

We found a nice place to eat lunch (thank you again Lonley Planet guide!), did some shopping, enjoyed the hammock at the motel and headed out for dinner at the Fish House (another good idea from the guide!).

The Fish House is, believe it or not, one of the handful of restaurants that continues to serve locally caught fresh fish every night. While I discovered they have excellent jerk chicken, Lisa reports everything she tried from the lobster bisque to the entree were out of this world tasty. The menu even gives those adventurous sorts the option of: "You hook it, we'll cook it."

We grabbed dessert at another sea side restaurant and managed to get caught in the traffic along the one road that connects the place (US 1) as people filed out of the local park after the Fourth of July fireworks.

We didn't stay up too late. We had a big day coming up. We were headed for Key West.

The beautiful Biltmore

After our day at the Fruit & Spice Park we headed back into civilization. We decided to pal around the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. It, shall we say, is fabulous. We'd like to one day have the good fortune to actually spend a night (or a few) in this national landmark. It's an incredible structure that was built in 1926 in 10 months for $10 million. It has the largest continuous pool in the continental United States. The place is said to be haunted by the ghost of one of Al Capone's victims as he was often a frequent quest at the place and, legend goes, whacked somebody right there in the posh resort.

It was amazing to walk through, incredible to look at and stunning to think it's been standing for the better part of 83 years.

If you're so inclined there is a highly rated golf course, restaurant and bar on the premises. Plus it has its own Culinary Academy for all you chefs.

For a look at this marvelous place click HERE.

Our fruity day trip

If you're ever in Miami and have a hankering for something exotic, we highly recommend the Fruit & Spice Farm. Located about a half an hour south of the city of Miami, the Fruit & Spice Park is exactly that, a fruit and spice park.

They grow all kinds of fruit from all over the globe on the premises. For about $10 each, you can either walk through the park or, at certain times of the day, take a guided tour. We missed the tour by 20 minutes (I was chasing a fresh cup of coffee) so we decided to hoof it through the park, which was actually quite enjoyable.

Before we set off on the concrete path through the park, we were allowed to sample some of the different fruits they grow at the park. There was dragon fruit, coconut, banana, plantains and something called ice cream fruit which was fuzzy but actually kind of had a creamy taste to it like ice cream.

They tell you that anything that hits the ground and you know what it is, you can eat. You can't go picking things off the tree and you can't go eating something if you're not sure what it is (did you know that unless cashew nuts are roasted they are poisonous?).

We meandered through the park, snapping photos and enjoying the late morning steam bath that was the weather.

I did drag Lisa to the back of the park, off the beaten path, to the mango grove but it was totally worth it...at least that's what I kept telling myself.

They even had a section of poisonous plants that were behind a fence. We did, however, see an adventurous rabbit nibbling on the grass back there.

To see more photos of this lovely place click HERE

A day at the (South) Beach

We spent our second full day in the city on the southern part of Miami Beach, AKA South Beach. The locals call it the "Billion Dollar Sandbar." We called it the home of the most obnoxious hosts and hostessess you could possibly imagine.

The eastern side of Ocean Drive (the main drag just off the beach) is loaded with hotels, bars and restaurants. Most of the places have large umbellas or awnings to keep the sun out and misters blowing cool, moist air on those that walk down the sidewalk. The only charge for this? Every time you pass a business there is someone trying to hand you a menu and asking you to check out their "specials." It was the most unbelievably annoying thing you could imagine. Then again, with so many foriegners walking the streets, you could say nothing, give a quizical look and move on and they'd go right on hawking their wares to some other poor schlub. And, we agreed, it beat walking in the record breaking heat with the sun beating down on us.

We did manage to find a place that came highly recommended by the travel guide Lonley Planet (which if you're going anywhere we recommend you pick up a guide, it never steared us wrong) and Lisa was able to enjoy a gargantuan serving of snow crab legs for half off the regular price. Not too shabby. Too bad their beer special and burger weren't all that great. But hey, half off a plate of snow crab is no small feat.

It was an incredible scene as we watched people from all walks of life, all different nations taking in the SoBe (as they call it). We heard at least 10 different languages from English and Spanish (the main ones) to German, Swedish and maybe even some Arabic.

We took a ton of photos, most of them are of the buildings along the strip. We also threw in a couple of us enjoying lunch at the News Cafe (what do you want, I'm a news guy!). The food wasn't great, the service was OK and the tip was included. It would appear that Miami has taken to including a 15% gratuity on ALL of its checks. While annoying, most of the servers we encountered were friendly and effective.

Click HERE to see the gallery. I recommend watching it as a slide show (upper right corner of the page).