13 February, Florida City, FL.
Cruised the beaches again
yesterday, this time Miami Beach and South Beach. Miami is much like the Gold
Coast, but again on an enormous scale. We chanced on the annual Miami Boat Show.
We were simply stunned! Millions, no hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of
boats sat side by side for 2-3 kms along the narrow canal that separates Miami
Beach from the city of Miami. We were dumb-founded when we found out that this
was only one of three locations for the show!
South Beach was on the agenda
because of its Art Deco buildings, the largest concentration in the world –
1200 or so within a few blocks. Remember ‘The Bird Cage’ with Robin Williams?
The beachfront is VERY cool and a very cool place to see and be seen.
Restaurants with valet parking line one side of the road and the beach side was
just impossible, so we parked some blocks back and walked up to the esplanade.
The beach was packed on a day when another major ice storm was hitting
neighbouring states of Georgia and Mississippi. The water was positively warm!
Motels around south Florida are
extremely expensive. This is their peak season so we had expected our bargain
run with motels to come to end. Our response in these circumstances is to go
for even lower quality motel than our usual ‘budget’ standard. Accordingly, our
last few nights’ motels have been ‘a bit tired’, even by our tolerant
standards.
Leaving the beaches for a while,
we struck off inland to explore what is known locally as the 90 mile prairies
of Florida. Although the reference is somewhat self-deprecating, it is a fair
description. Once away from the coast, the landscape changes to plains that are
very much like the cattle country further north in places like Wyoming and
Montana. The cowboys in this part of the world are known as 'crackers' because
of the sound of their whips. In the midst of this miniature prairie is the
small town of Arcadia. In its hay day the city boasted an Opera House and
extremely ornate Post Office (both still standing) and numerous saloons and
other establishments generally associated with the 'Wild West". Apparently
Arcadia saw many a gun fight, even as late as the 1910s.
Florida’s Everglades National Park
is one of the main reasons we have come this far south. Our images of alligator-infested
swamps and moss-decked trees were not too far off the reality. Plenty of
alligators, birds and swamp, but just a little more like an open plain rather
than a dense forest.
We joined a Ranger-led tour in
the park and were a bit stunned when he led the crowd within a few metres of an
alligator resting beside the walking path. Nobody else in the group seemed
concerned either, but we kept our distance - just in case. We learned later on
a boat cruise through the mangroves, that alligators and crocodiles in North
America are not man-eaters. Only Australian and Nile crocodiles are large
enough and aggressive enough to attack humans. Little wonder so many foreign
visitors end up doing the crocodile roll in northern Australia!
14 February, Naples, FL.
Another day with the ‘gators
today. We have always wanted to ride an airboat. Today was our chance. A
beautiful day again, warm and sunny, so we hit the Safari Airboat rides on
Highway 41. It is outside the National Park, which doesn’t allow such tourist
ventures, but still in the Everglades. Great fun and critters everywhere. Not
surprising when you realise that there are estimated to be 1.2 million
alligators in Florida, approximately 1 gator to every 20 people! It is peak season
in Florida at the moment so most attractions are crowded and the motels are
edging up in price.
All this tourism and farming on
the Everglades is at the cost of the environment. Over 100 years ago the whole
of the tip of Florida was a massive swamp. Lake Okeechobee, at the centre of
southern Florida, then fed water into the whole of south Florida when it
overflowed. This water gradually flowed out across the broad plain and seeped
down to Florida Bay, supporting a vast and complex environment. Late in the 19th
century, canals were dug to drain areas of land for farming. This continued
into the 20th century. Eventually, an enormous levee was built
around the lake to stop the flow south and drain more land for farming.
As with many of man’s
interventions on this scale, the whole thing is now an environmental disaster.
The natural flows through the Everglades have been reduced to the point where
wildlife is seriously threatened. The aquifer that provides water to the 16
million people who live in southern Florida is becoming increasingly saline as
the fresh water flow is restricted.
It is too late to totally reverse
these impacts, but some efforts are being made to re-open flows that provide
water to the large Everglades National Park.
15 February, Punta Gorda, FL.
President's Day long weekend has
pushed motel prices through the roof! Our usual 'budget' motels have moved from
$40-$50 to over $100 and to make matters worse, Valentine’s Day fell on the
Friday of the long weekend. We spent the morning exploring Naples. It is a very
posh city with beautiful houses and gardens manicured to within an inch of
their lives. Beautiful, but a little like Noosa on steroids.
Just up the coast is the more
working class city of Fort Myers. Quite a contrast. Light industry and a much lower
middle class housing standard. Best described as 'gritty' by Florida standards.
The city's main attraction is the Edison Ford Estate. Thomas Edison and Henry
Ford were close friends and in the early 20th century, they owned adjoining
holiday homes in Fort Myers.
Today, a great little museum
presents the achievements of both men and gives visitors an intimate glimpse
into their personal and family lives as well. Edison had an interest in
producing rubber at the time he purchased his property here and he planted and
cultivated a wide variety of tropical plants that he experimented with. A
century on, the mature trees and gardens are magnificent, even in winter.
It is interesting to reflect on
the difference between the simple but comfortable houses these two giants of
American industry chose to build and the mammoth, almost obscenely ostentatious
edifices that the wealthy of today's America have constructed all along the
Florida sea front.
Today antique shops and
restaurants occupy most of the old buildings, but to the credit of the locals,
the character of the main street has been faithfully maintained. If you ever
visit this great little town, don't miss Wheeler’s Cafe. We stopped in for a
coffee and to take in some of the local atmosphere and, even though it was
after 10:00am and we had already eaten, we were tempted by the breakfast menu.
One enormous half inch thick ham steak, eggs and hash browns (Paul) and a slice
of chocolate peanut butter pie (half of which was also eaten by Paul) later, we
were stuffed. Cost $11.50!
18 February, Brooksville, FL.
For the last couple of days, we
have been enjoying the hospitality of 'in-laws' Joe and Mary. The easiest way
to explain our stay is simply to say that Joe and Mary are Irish! Late nights,
loud voices great food and drink and lots of laughs.
From their beautiful home in
Sarasota, once we were fortified with a hearty breakfast, we ventured out to
the Ringling Museum. The Ringling Brothers were the proprietors of the
'Greatest Show on Earth’ - the most famous American Circus. The golden age of
the circus ended in the 1950s when the cost of mounting such spectacular events
and the competition from movies and television eroded the circus share of the
entertainment market. The circus was once an enormous enterprise. Fifteen
hundred workers travelled with the Ringling Brothers' Circus on special trains
that moved them, hundreds of animals and equipment across the country. One of
the main attractions of the museum is an enormous scale model of a circus as it
would be set up in the 1940s. Built by one man, Howard Tibbals, this has to be
one of the largest and most detailed models we have ever seen! As is the norm
in America, the presentation was just fantastic.
The circus museum wasn't all
this complex offered. John Ringling and his wife Mable were great collectors of
art and on his death, John left their remarkable collection to the city of
Sarasota. Housed in a Venetian-inspired gallery, amidst beautiful gardens, the
gallery and the waterside home that the Ringlings built are an incredible
legacy that is clearly enjoyed by the good folk of Sarasota.
St. Petersburg, the Florida one,
not the Russian one, is the twin city of Tampa. Now, a not too well known fact
is that Tampa, Florida and Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, share an almost
identical climate. Today, with the mid-winter temperature hovering in the mid-20s
C, it is easy to believe. We made the journey out to the peninsula city of St
Petersburg, because reputedly the best Salvador Dali gallery is located here.
Another good call! The collection was spectacular and the audio guides spot on
in assisting us to understand the work of a man who said of himself...
"the difference between me and a madman is ... I'm not mad".
19 February, Port St Joe. FL.
Cruised the Florida 'panhandle' and
the Gulf Coast today. Vastly different to the affluent beaches of the east and
west coast of Florida, many towns away from the coast were almost ghost towns.
Closed up businesses, deserted farms and houses were common along the highway.
Along the Gulf Coast though, nice beach houses, built on a scale more like
those in resort areas at home, were scattered amongst the pines and native
palms. The area promotes itself as the Forgotten Coast. Hopefully, it will
remain so and avoid some of the intense development that has occurred along
both coasts of the Florida peninsula.
Tomorrow we leave Florida and
return to Alabama and Mississippi. A different world and almost a different
country. In many ways we are looking forward to it. Everything is cheaper, folk
are mostly a little friendlier and life moves just a tick more slowly.
20 February, Pensacola, FL.
Didn’t quite make it out of
Florida as planned today, due to an unscheduled pontoon boat ride on Dead Lakes
near Wewahitchka. We drove into the State Recreation Area for a quick look at
the lakes, a spooky morass of Spanish moss-covered Cypress trees that, this
time of the year, are just grey sticks. While we wandered about, a young guy
who was loading up a boat for a tour of the lakes approached us and asked, that
since he had two no-shows, would we like to come along for free. Silly
question!
This wasn’t a crowded waterway,
like some of the others we had toured in southern Florida. We were the only
people on the lake and Matt, the young owner, was a well-informed and extremely
friendly guide. It was only a small
group and we had an extremely pleasant hour or so chatting and cruising about
with a handful of very nice folk from all over the US.
Lunch in the south can be a bit interesting at times.. this is a ham sandwich?
No comments:
Post a Comment