Shark Valley, Everglades National Park

Several cyclists just passed by our tram on the edge of the road and within just a handful of feet from this American Alligator. Animals like this only eat once a week or so and even then , despite the jokes of our tram-tour guide, people really are not on the menu.

--February 12 2019 at 13:24. Homestead, FL, United States

Our plans to take a 90-minute airboat tour fell apart. We do not know why. We found another way to explore a tiny part of the Everglades National Park - I suspect we actually saw more. We drove to the Shark Valley Visitor Center which is the northern most visitor center in the 1.5 million acre National Park and about 90 minutes from Bal Harbor. While there may be other walks people can do we only explored the boardwalk and road near the visitor center before boarding a tram for a two-hour tour.

The Everglades used to be far larger than they are now. They have had a somewhat sad history dating back to the late 19th century. People tried to drain the swamp and Florida also saw rampant land speculation sometimes done by very shady people. Worse all of the development was done with little real understanding of what makes the Everglades work. Today the park still faces many serious problems most having to do with water management. However, what little we did see shows that the Everglades are certainly more than just a swamp and it is clear why Marjorie Stoneman Douglas called the Everglades , “a river of grass.”

We saw several anhinga nesting along the dark waters here in Shark Valey in the Everglades. I suspect the dark waters are created both because the mud the water flows over is very dark and tannic acid from plants is in the water.

--February 12 2019 at 10:45. Homestead, FL, United States

This Snowy Egret is rather close to an American Alligator. We watched the bird for a couple minutes and it clearly saw the alligator. It took off, rose maybe 10 feet into the air, and with a few great flaps of its wings flew over the basking alligator to land about as far from it on the other side as it had just been.

--February 12 2019 at 11:06. Homestead, FL, United States

This Roseate Spoonbill is actually pretty far away so the photo is not the best. The bird gains its pink feathers from iodine it absorbs from the shrimp it eats.

--February 12 2019 at 12:11. Homestead, FL, United States

This Wood Stork seems to be searching for food. I believe it prefers small fish.

--February 12 2019 at 12:41. Homestead, FL, United States

Between our walk and the tram tour I do not think I have ever seen so much wildlife. We saw a wide variety of birds including: anhinga, snowy egret, great blue heron, wood stork, and roseate spoonbill. Of course, we saw alligators. Lots and lots of alligators. The park has a population of, I think, 200,000 American Alligators (Florida has about 1.2 million). We saw a couple dozen alligators during our visit. While mammals from rats and bat to river otters and black bear exist we did not see them. You would be very lucky to ever see the mammals even the larger ones. The Everglades support a variety of plants from the ever-present sawgrass to willows and various hardwood trees. All this occurs on land that is pretty shallow. The water table is just a couple feet down and limestone is often encountered within a foot or two of the surface. It affects how things grow and that can be seen when you pass a hillock - a hardwood hammock (some can be over a mile long; I wish we had been able to walk through one). Alligators excavate around willows making deeper pools where all manner of life can safely congregate as alligators do not eat all that often. It is a remarkable place but like so many the nuance and beauty only become apparent if you take some extra time to look beyond the surface.

I am sure other Great Blue Heron were seen but this one was just posing on the grassy verge between the road and water.

--February 12 2019 at 13:48. Homestead, FL, United States

An alligator sunning part of itself while staying largely hidden in the water. They need to warm up during the day so they will be able to move about at night when hunting, I assume, is even better.

--February 12 2019 at 12:09. Homestead, FL, United States

Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden and the Porsches of Sunset Place

I picked up a hitchiker: a common morpho butterfly. As we were leaving the butterfly house , you pass through two airlocks, the door warden spotted a second hitchiker on my rear.

--February 10 2019 at 10:33. Coral Gables, FL, United States

We decide to visit Fairchild Tropical BotanicalGarden. Named in honor of David Fairchild who was a noted plant explorer who worked for the US Agriculture Department. The garden has numerous tropical plants including many types of palms, cycads, and orchids. It has a somewhat pricy admission of $25 but since we have an American Horticultural Society membership we got in for free. You do not visit this garden to achieve a sense of contemplativeness as you might manage in Morikami. Perhaps there are places where you can manage that feat but the paved walking paths do not really lend themselves to that. But you can enjoy strolling the paths and see and learn quite a bit. We found ourselves wondering how the palms manage to survive hurricanes. Palms have very shallow and small root systems but that seemingly tennuous hold in the ground is often adequate to keep them upright.

The garden is home to much more than native and exotic butterflies. We saw many iguana but this was probably the largest one.

--February 10 2019 at 11:16. Coral Gables, FL, United States

I do not think we have been to any place where we saw so many iguanas often just basking in the sun with little care about the people moving about nearby. Birds, ubiquitous and ruckus gulls , soaring hawk and no doubt much more were seen and heard. But the pinnacle of the flora have to be the exotic butterflies that have their own dedicated butterfly house. This house is entered via two airlock-like chambers. They don’t actually prevent butterflies from entering; I wonder if an air curtain would do the trick.
But door minders are on guard to capture intruders and put them back in the house. I am sure we saw a variety of species of butterflies but the common morpho was certainly easy to spot especially when one would open its wings and display its vibrant blue patterns.

Fairchild Gardens spreads across over 80 acres of land including 14 lakes and a butterfly house that is home to exotic butterflies. The common morpho is shown here and they seemed quite numerous in this house.

--February 10 2019 at 10:31. Coral Gables, FL, United States

When the common morpho opens its wings you are treated to apattern of vivid blue that is just glimpsed here.

--February 10 2019 at 10:33. Coral Gables, FL, United States

• You certainly can spend a couple hours wandering the paths and the garden has signs and literature that can help you learn. I suspect they have classes and programs if you want to learn more. They certainly have volunteer programs: we spoke with 4 highschool students who had information to share about palm trees and more.

• We learned that the Shops at Sunset Place might be a good place for lunch so went there. We passed through a nice nieghborhood of homes and schools before reaching the “downtown” where the shops are at. Besides finding lunch at a small falafel place we found easily a hundred porsche cars. Apparently this weekend someone put on an exposition dedicated to Porsche. I think other weekends other car brands have been featured. These cars sure are pretty to look at from the wheel hubs to the shiny paint job and sleek lines of the car itself. I can understand why people love their cars.

The Shops at Sunset Place are hosting this exposition of Porsche cars. I am pretty sure there are over a hundred cars here, and other kinds of vehicles are featured on other weekends.

https://youtu.be/-Hparqt-KYo

Facade of Garage in Miami’s Design District

The parking garage facade you see in the following photos has to be the most unusual I have ever seen. The garage is located across the street from Institute of Contemporary Art in what is known as the Design District of Miami Beach. Some of the artwork on display in the ICA is impressive, but overall I found myself less enthralled with what I saw compared to what we experienced at the Bass Museum and Morikami Museum.

We also learned, by pure luck, of a private museum just down the street (to the right as you leave the ICA) from the ICA. Built and owned by the de la Cruz couple it houses a fraction of their collection of art. They made their fortune (and I suppose still are) as distributors and bottlers of Coke products throughout the Caribbean. It did not do much for me but the building and collection are a remarkable testament to what a couple can do..

Wynnwood Walls

This mural seems almost etched isntead of painted. Perhaps it is.

--February 08 2019 at 10:42. Miami, FL, United States

(Opps. It is Wynnwood Walls. )

A neighborhood of apparently small industry and modest means that had been in decline for quite some time. In 2009 Mr. Goldman created an arts space to , I believe, help re-vitalize the neighborhood. The art space is Windwood Walls. Wall art sems pretty common in portions of Miami but Windwood Walls raises the standard of these murals several notches.

Lizards, Butterflies, and Bears - Oh My

This bear is called Why Am I Climbing This? He (or she) is one of several bears by Paoli Pivi. They all have personalities.

--February 07 2019 at 11:25. Miami Beach, FL, United States

Today we decided to explore a tiny portion of Miami Beach. After struggling to find a parking spot we walked to the Bass Museum of Art. If the exhibits we saw today are typical you will find a visit worthwhile whenever you decide to go. We saw works of art that are quite diverse in style and what they represent. The Haas twins had collaberative works of sculpture with intricate bead-work laid out on fabric and metal structures. The bead-work was done by ladies from South African villages (this is my understanding of what the museum guard told us) who were paid a Californian minimum wage plus a percentage of the artwork sale price. Probably a very lucrative reward for the beaders. The pieces are striking. Contrast those pieces with Paoli Pivi’s bears made of feathers that have distinctive personalities. Her spinning feather tipped wheels were also quite special.

This chaise is one of the less whimsical and less intricately covered in beads pieces by the Haas twins. They have trees with bead fruits, mushrooms, and creatures that look like they hail from Sesame Street. Photo by Judy Knight

--February 07 2019 at 11:01. Miami Beach, FL, United States

The bears of P. Pivi. She is reportedly afraid of bears and that was her inspiration for this piece. It really was fun to walk amongst the feathered bears and figure out what they are feeling. OK, sure, we are projecting ourselves onto them which would be a bad thing to do in you met one up close and personal in the wild but it is still fun to do.

--February 07 2019 at 11:41. Miami Beach, FL, United States

A visit to the 2.6 acre Miami Beach Botanical Gardens was enjoyable. A quiet respite from the busy streets with highrise buildings (but most are hotels) standing tall all around us. This garden spot doesn’t quite have the contempletive qualities we found in Morikami (yes, it is spelled with an “i” not an “a”) Gardens. It is still a nice spot to sit and relax in for a few minutes.

A lizard in the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. Seveal species of butterflies (see the video for one example) were also spotted. Photo by Judy Knight

--February 07 2019 at 12:16. Miami Beach, FL, United States

Top the visit off with a stroll along a part of the promenade that runs between the beach itself and the buildings. People watching is , for those who can enjoy it, no doubt going to be good here. I am sure the beach can be a lively place.

Morakami Gardens

Nearing the end of our exploration of the twisting paths in Morakami Japanese Gardens we paused to gaze out across the calm brown water. Is this heron hunting or just walking about? I wonder if it worries about aligators. --February 6, 2019 at 12:21 PM. Delray Beach, FL, United States

Morakami Gardens and Museum is about an hour away located in Boca Raton, Fl.. We visited there years ago but I cannot say I recall the visit. I think this visit should remain in memory. The museum and japenese gardens sit on land once owned by George Morakami who was part of a colony established in the early 1900s that did not succeed but I guess has still left a mark. My understanding is there was some idea of bringing Japanese-style farming practices to Florida to help improve the economy. It did not work. Morakami was one of numerous young men who came, planned to make a fortune, and then return to Jpan. While most settlers came and then left with likely little money Morakami remained and eventually , upon his death, gifted the land he had acquired to Boca Raton.

We first explored the Japanese art in the museum. The pieces were generally large sculptures made of plaster and hemp coated entirely by lacquer which was often inlaid with mother-of—pearl and other precious substances. I can’t really describe what we saw except to say it was impressive. The amount of work an artist has to put into a piece is extraordinary and the quality is evident even if you , like me, generally do not really absorb all the nuances of a piece.

The Morakami Japense Gardens are worth your time to visit even though they are a good hour from Miami. We explored the quiet, constantly changing scenery for at least an hour. You could certainly spend much more time contemplating plants like this Phillipene Fireworks plant ( Clerodendrum quadriloculare), the waterfalls, rock gardens, and so much more. --February 6, 2019 at 11:59 AM. Delray Beach, FL, United States

The gardens are just as impressive. You leave the main buildings to stroll along gravel paths and across wooden bridges spanning brown waters that seperate a wide variety of gardens. The gardens certainly do engender a sense of peacefulness. In many places you could pause , catch your breath, contemplate the surroundings. I think you can do that even though their are quite a few people wandering through the gardens with you. Perhaps you can stand on the zig-zag bridge and watch a turtle slowly glide on by, sit by an endlessly recycling waterfall, examine the zen rock gardens, or just amble along the pathways. We thoroughly enjoyed are stroll and no doubt could have spent more time exploring than we did. Ending the visit with lunch at the cafe was a fine capstone to the visit. The cafe can be crowded but the quality of the food makes the wait worth it.