Miami Beach

Thursday, February 1, 2024 - Today we left Monument Lake in Big Cypress for a long weekend in Miami.  When I was booking this trip a year ago, I found a state park in North Miami (Oleta River State Park), which looked like a fun spot with biking trails, kayaking and a nice beach.  There wasn't any camping but they had 14 tiny cabins for rent ($75/night).  I checked in with a few friends to see if anyone wanted to meet us in Miami for some sightseeing, but no one took us up on it.  While I was waiting to hear from people I forgot to book it.  It was a bit shocking to check in at the ranger station and be told, that cabin #6 was not reserved for Jennifer Anderson.  Luckily we're good at finding last minute spots, even when it's the weekend.  We decided to stay at the Hard Rock Casino Hollywood, and Kevin was happy since he hasn't had any chance to play poker this trip.  I've also wanted to get a Harvest Host membership and decided now was the time to try it out.  It costs $85/year and there are about 10,000 locations in the US and Canada.  Most locations are vineyards, breweries, farms or attractions.  The hosts let you park in their parking lot, field or yard and you support them by purchasing something from them.  We'll give it a try!

Friday, February 2, 2024 - We slept well in the casino parking lot and decided we'd spend the morning getting chores done before heading to Oleta River State Park for the afternoon.  We debated about trying a distillery in Fort Lauderdale for our first night using our Harvest Host membership, but settled on the Hard Rock again.  

The parking lot we woke up in.  There were quite a few other RVs and a few semis, as well as cars of people still gambling at 7:00AM

Who doesn't want to do their laundry at Laundry Heaven!?

It was also time for an oil change.  We always look for a Jiffy Lube that has an in ground bay, since our van is too big to put up on a lift (and there is too much stuff under our chassis - generator, tanks and assorted lines). The guys here were so excited to talk to us about our travels.  One guy said he'd never seen snow and the other guy was extremely interested in hearing all about our trip to Alaska.

biking at Oleta SP

Cabin #6 that I had picked out to rent for the weekend.  Maybe we'll give it a try next time we're in Florida

Nice bike trail in Oleta River State Park

We had to try out the novice mountain bike trail

Oleta SP is on the Biscayne Bay

should we go for a swim?

Tiny is soaking up some sun and charging our batteries

The State Park had a nice (but small) beach.  We enjoyed the view and a crossword puzzle

Back to the Hard Rock for night #2

 

Pretty view when Kevin came back from the poker table

Saturday February 3, 2024 - We got up early this morning and headed for Miami Beach.  It was a 35 minute drive at 8:00AM and we were happy to find a great parking spot in a lot close to the beach.  We had breakfast in the lot, and then went for a bike ride along the beautiful Miami Beach Ocean Walk.  We also biked along Ocean Drive and enjoyed seeing all the old art deco hotels and buildings.  We also stopped in at the Art Deco Museum ($7) which gave a brief history of the Miami Beach area.  We had Cuban for lunch and then headed out of Miami to our first Harvest Host, at a local church in Homestead. This will put us in a good location to head back into the Everglades on Sunday for a night in the Long Pine Keys Campground so Monday morning we're only a 2 hour drive from Bahia Honda in the southern Keys.  After our crazy weekend in Miami we'll be happy to have 14 days at Bahia Honda SP.

We followed this skater, who took up an entire car lane for quite a few miles.

The Miami Beach Ocean Walk was a great spot for a bike ride (but a bit crowded in spots, since it was a beautiful Saturday morning)

View of Ocean Drive from the bike trail

The beach volleyball courts were hopping

we rode back on Ocean Drive

We enjoyed the small Art Deco museum.  This is an architectural model of the Hotel New Yorker built in 1929

Art Deco Beach Patrol Headquarters building

Miami Beach is a really wide, white sand beach

Each of the lifeguard stands was quite unique

and colorful!

Miami Beach is a really beautiful beach

the next lifeguard stand we happened on

a rainbow lifeguard stand

and rainbow crosswalk

interesting architecture

Lunch at Havana Vieja on Washington Ave

nice outdoor patio and great Cuban food.  We split a Cuban Sandwich and beef croquettes

more bike riding

and more beach views

even the Miami Beach fire house has interesting architecture

Downtown Miami as we leave town

we passed by the Miami airport right as a plane was landing over top of the highway

Our Harvest Host was on Krome Ave in Miami, but close to Homestead

Sunday February 4, 2024 - From our Harvest Host we're only a 30 minute drive to Long Pine Key in the Everglades.  We stayed here a week ago, and just needed a one night stay before we travel back to the Keys, tomorrow for 2 weeks at Bahia Honda SP and 2 weeks at Curry Hammock.  

The church was on a large lot, with a pavilion and playground.  There were two other RVers that spent the night.  We're looking forward to our next Harvest Host stay.

Today is supposed to be a rainy day.  As we drive through Homestead, we can see the storm coming in over the sugarcane

In the Everglades we see a lot of panther crossing signs

Tiny across the lake at Long Pine Key

a rainy afternoon

Big Cypress National Preserve - Monument Lake

 

Monday, January 29, 2024 - Today we were going to ride our bikes around the Shark Valley Loop, in the Everglades, which is about 30 minutes from our campground.  We did this bike ride 2 years ago, when we were here and we loved it so much we thought it would be fun to do it again.  We didn't get there until 1:30, and the sign out front said that the parking lot was full, so we had to come up with an alternate plan.  We hadn't been to the Big Cypress Visitor Center yet, so we stopped in there and watched 2 of their videos and then decided to drive the 24 mile scenic loop.  The loop isn't paved, so it was a long drive.  There were quite a few alligators, and birds, but we probably wouldn't do it again.

The sunrise over the swamp behind our campsite

Kev's ready for a morning walk

There was a boardwalk at the Big Cypress Visitor Center, where there were a lot of alligators.  I thought this guy looked especially comfy, just floating with his legs just hanging

Nice print of Cypress trees, at the visitor center

an alligator on the scenic drive

It feels like we're back in Alaska, with the condition of this road

I loved the Cypress trees along the drive

another gator and a bird, seems like they're a little too close to each other, but neither one seems to mind

sunset walk around Monument Lake

Tuesday January 30, 2024 - Today was a day for exploring.  First we went to Ochopee for lunch at Joanie's Blue Crab Cafe.  It looked like a great place for seafood, and I was interested in having some gator (which was quite good).  After lunch we headed to Fakahachee State Park, but the boardwalk we had planned to do, was under construction, and the only other thing was an unpaved scenic drive.  We decided we'd had too much scenic driving on gravel roads, so we headed to Everglade City.  There was a small grocery store there, where we picked up a few things, and then we went to the Museum of the Everglades.  This was a small free museum that told the history of Everglade City.  Baron Collier, who loved this part of Florida, (and bought a lot of property here) facilitated the building of the Tamiami Trail, which connected Tampa to Miami.  This was quite a feat, at the time, since a big part of this was through swampland.  A canal was dug and the dirt from the canal made the road.  It was completed in 1928.  Everglade City was where the workers lived that worked on the road.

Another foggy morning over the lake

sunrise behind Tiny

Our workout room

The Ochopee Post Office (the smallest Post Office in the US)

There's only room for one person to work at this post office!  It was originally an irrigation pipe shed, which was turned into the Post Office when the original one burned down in 1953.   It has been in continuous use since then as a post office and as a ticket station for the Trailways bus lines.

At Joanie's we started with fried green tomatoes

Then onto a plate of blue crabs & gator bites

we enjoyed lunch on the back deck

This was the front of the Museum of the Everglades, which was originally a commercial laundry built in 1927

We saw a few swamp buggies in peoples driveways in Everglade City

another beautiful sunset at Monument Lake

Wednesday, January 31, 2024 - Since we didn't get to do Shark Valley 2 days ago, today we got there at 9:30!  The parking lot was pretty full when we got there, but we found a spot.  There was a small visitor center there, and a tram ride that makes the 15 mile loop.  It's a wonderful bike ride, since there aren't that many people that ride the loop.  We counted 44 alligators on our 2 hour ride, a hawk, lots of blue herons and a few cormorants.  We stopped at the tower that's half way around the loop and had lunch and walked to the top of the tower with a bunch of school kids.  It was the perfect day for a bike ride, with a high of 73 and not much wind.  

 

When we started our morning walk this morning, one of the lake's alligators was right in front of our campsite

not too much fog this morning

we're finally riding the Shark Valley loop.  It's named Shark Valley for 2 of its estuaries, the Shark River and the Little Shark River (nearby waterways that are home to several shark species)

an alligator hiding amongst the lilies

this guy was close to the road

Kev's checking him out

There's the tower in the distance

Such a pretty structure, built in 1964

pretty grasslands

stay on the other side of the road when passing any alligators

We stopped at the Clyde Butcher Gallery on our way home from Shark Valley.  Butcher is a nature photographer who is famous for his photographs of the Everglades.  I liked his photography, but especially liked the alligator bench

Every day we've been here, someone from the park service goes to "work" using some type of swamp buggy and they unload it right next to our campsite.   Kev was especially jealous of this cool looking thing.