The Florida Everglades - Tamiami Trail Edition

I love to go away to see different eco systems and wildlife, but let's not forget the wildlife on our own backyard - the Florida Everglades.

Everglades National Park Everglades National Park, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, boasts rare and endangered species. It has been designated a World Heritage Site, International Biosphere Reserve, and Wetland of International Importance. In a nutshell, it totally rocks - where else can you hike around and be about two feet from an alligator with nothing between the two of you but a sign that is a man feeding a gator with a big red slash across it? Gotta love it!

Admission to Everglades National Park is about $10 but an annual pass is a great deal at $25. I especially like Shark Valley - about a 45 minute drive from Miami Beach - just head west on Tamiami Trail. Shark Valley has a 15 mile paved loop to bike or walk with an observation deck at the halfway point. Bring a camera, because alligators, frigates, hawks, egrets and other species of birds are commonly found. Shark Valley also has an interpretive guide program, a small gift shop, bicycle rentals and a tram tour that will take you through the loop with a guide.

Just across from the Shark Valley entrance is the Miccosukee Restaurant where you can get breakfast or lunch, including a totally rich pumpkin bread served warm that's more like a giant pumpkin pancake.

Still in the everglades, but not in the national parklands are the roadside attractions and airboat rides. I prefer the ones run by Miccosukees but any airboat is worth a try - loud and crazy a pure Everglades tradition.

Further up Tamiami Trail lies the Big Cypress preserve, start of the Florida Trail, which offers miles of hiking. We've spotted wild turkeys, deer and many panther tracks (alas no panthers yet). The hiking is non-technical, but can be wet during rainy season. Remember to watch your footing, keep an isle on the trail blazes, bring water and wear insect repellent.

All in all, The Florida Everglades offers a wild experience without the plane ticket.

SoBe Tourist for a Day

Once in a while I decide to be a tourist in my town. I live in South Beach, Florida, but not only do I live there, I live in THE touristy part of South Beach. My condo is actually the only residential building in the neighborhood. In fact, I can't purchase a parking pass to park on the street because our building is in a non-residential zone.

When I walk my dogs in the morning and the evening, I feel like the local concierge. I guess that someone with dogs is a dead giveaway for someone that is a local and since I'm walking said pups smack dab across the street from The Shore Club and the Setai Hotels. So I make restaurant recommendations, suggest activities and provide directions (Lincoln Road is three blocks this way. The beach is right behind you).

So when I woke up this morning I decided my husband and I would be tourists for a day. We would do everything that the tourists get to enjoy and us locals never get around to doing. We started out by walking to Lincoln Road and stopping by Pasha's to have a little breakfast. I had the Mediterranean Breakfast and lemonade and Jack had an eggsellent wrap with spicy harissa sauce. The food was light but satisfying. Fortified, we walked to the beach for a nice beach walk. We then went back to our hotel (the lovely ocean view chez Doss better known as our apartment) and changed for the rest of the day. We then walked over to the Holocaust Memorial which was very disturbing and powerful. We then lightened up and reflected on nature's beauty at the next door Miami Beach Botanical Gardens.


Lizard rests in statue's crotch at Miami Beach Botanical Garden

Walking back toward Lincoln Road, we decided to go on a Duck Tour. The Duck Tour is a truck and boat in one. It's about a 90 minute tour that takes you to places like where Scarface was filmed, Gloria Estefan's house and tell some good stories about Miami.

We then shared a pizza at Spris during their Beat The Clock time - between 5:30 and 7:00 you have a choice of three pizzas where the price you pay is what time the order goes to the kitchen - so we paid $5.45 for a Pizza. We also shared the most fabulous spinch salad with corn and shaved Parmesan cheese.

We decided to take in a mov-ay and went to the Lincoln Center Regal Cinemas where we bought tickets for "The September Issue". With some time to spare, we did some shopping at The Gap, Macy's and Pottery Barn and took advantage of Doraku Sushi's Happy Hour (Lychee Martinis are delicious).

We then saw the movie which was great. We walked back on Lincoln Road and stopped at Zeke's Roadhouse for a cold beer at the bar ($4 for any of over 400 international brands. I had a Tusker from Kenya).

Finishing the night by people watching on the way home, we were reminded of what a great city South Beach is for tourists - even if the tourists live here.

Hemingway and I

I am a complete and total animal rights activist. I want animals to be protected and to live out their lives free from hunting, torturing and being caged. I could no more think of eating a burger or wearing a fur than I could eating and wearing my dog. It's that insane a thought.

So it always seems strange to me that I am so fascinated by Earnest Hemingway. There are some reasons - we share a birthday (July 21st), we share a fascination and love of Key West, Cuba, drinking and the written word. I think we might have been friends, if he could be friends with a woman (and I think he could have. In fact I think contrary to popular belief he loved and respected women. If you read his books you'll know what I mean). But he was a hunter. A fisherman. He loved bullfights. I was in Key West, as I am in Key West every July 21st for OUR birthday (mine and Hemingway's). There was a thunderstorm of biblical proportions and we ducked into the local bookstore (Island Books - wonderful place). I looked at the obligatory Hemingway section and found "Hunting with Hemingway", Hemingway on Hunting", Blood in the Afternoon" and other Hemingway books on hunting, bullfighting, etc. So interesting.

After the rain stopped, I walked over to the Hemingway House. Hemingway left a trust for his cats and their descendants to be cared for. His biography said he never got over the loss of his dog, Black Dog. And that his cats were his sole writing companions. I spoke to Hemingway (it's said his ghost is attracted by the Hemingway celebrations during his birthday and comes back to the tiny Island City of Key West). I asked him why the duality?

Well, Ernest didn't answer me (though I did get an orb in my picture), but I think I got the answer on my own. Hemingway was a product of his time and so much more. I think he loved women and animals. I think he suffered from manic depression and had suicidal tendencies. I think he was very sensitive and sad and masked that with every macho thing he could do. I think he bought into the hunting to save the animals hoo haw. To be macho. To hide the pain.

Much has been written about Hemingway - good and bad. It's been written that he hunted hyena with a machine gun, but that he respected all the large cats he killed. It's been written that he adored all his cats and dogs and tried to save the stray dogs of Cuba. It's also been written that after two failed suicide attempts, his last wife unlocked the keys to the gun chest and let him know she did it.

There are many ghost stories about Key West. In Key West it's not only possible but likely that an author who had some good years in an island paradise should want to roam the town, stopping in to Sloppy Joe's for a drink and having a good chuckle about the Hemingway lookalike contests and the riding of the bulls down Duval Street even years after his death. If Hemingway does roam Key West, we'll meet someday. And I'll finally get to tell him my theory about him - that he felt way too much.....