Newsletter 2002 - Trips
A Small Blue Heron on Ft Lauderdale's New River
We waited until November to take this year's trip. I had never visited Brian's mother in her Florida winter residence, we decided that it would be good to combine a visit with exploring yet another part of the US.
The journey was the first exciting part of the trip. I have been collecting Air Miles for years and in the middle of the year realised that I had enough to travel First Class with British Airways one way to the US (going to Florida rather than Philadelphia meant that I would have to come back Club Class!), but I didn't have enough for Brian to go too. That problem was sorted when I received a letter to say that I had spent enough on my credit card to get a free ticket for Brian. So, we travelled in the lap of luxury, but I have now decided that airport lounges aren't quite as good as I had anticipated, but it is still great to have peace and quiet (and a smoking area) while you wait for the plane.
However, once you step on board, you enter a different world. The first thing is that you turn left rather than right. We were very lucky in that we travelled on Thanksgiving and so the plane was pretty empty. Of the fourteen seats, only six were occupied. We managed to get a pair of seats beside each other and so could communicate during the journey. The wonderful service started almost straight away, as soon as we had settled ourselves in our seats, we were being offered a glass of Champagne! Shortly afterward we were taxing for takeoff. As we approached the runway, I suddenly realised that we could see out of lots of windows at once, and being in the nose of the plane, we almost had a 180° field of vision. It was wonderful to be able to see the plane in front of us take off. Isn't it amazing how such simple pleasures can warm the heart!
Throughout the rest of the journey, we were able to watch our own selection from the plane's stock of videos, eat when we wanted, use the interesting selection of lip balm, moisturiser, etc provided (mens and ladies versions of the pack are provided), press the buttons to raise and lower the partition between our seats and most importantly, press buttons on the seat and turn it into a very comfortable flat bed, with plenty of leg room. I had a wonderful deep sleep for a few hours and for once was oblivious to the noise of aircraft engines.
Brian's mother lives on the outskirts of Ft Lauderdale, which is just a 45 minute drive north of Miami. The main goals of the trip were to explore Ft Lauderdale and Miami, do our Christmas shopping, visit the Everglades and make numerous visits to the cinema. For me, apart from seeing Brian's mother, the highlight was the Everglades - fortunately, they were close enough to make two day trips rather than an overnight visit.
The Everglades
A canal in the Everglades
The first place that we visited was the Big Cypress Reservation of the Seminole Indians. The week of our visit, the only road across the reservation was being closed from 9 AM onwards for the filming of a chase scene for Fast and Furious 2. This meant that we had to get up early, but also there were very few visitors that day. There is an organised day trip that takes in much of what we did, but I have no idea how they can possibly fit it into 4 hours.
Our first port of call was the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum which highlights the history and culture of the tribe. Whilst the museum was very interesting, it was our guide who made the difference. He was only in his twenties and brought the whole thing to life. The tribe manages to maintain their culture as an active lifestyle and he described many of the exhibits from personal experience. Attached to the museum is a boardwalk which takes one through a 60 acre cypress dome. Here we had new guides, we had shared our museum tour with a group of workers and volunteers from the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary operated by the National Audubon Society (US equivalent of the RSPB). As we walked along the boardwalk, they explained much of what we saw and put the flesh onto the bare bones of the plant descriptions along the way. We must have spent a wonderful 3 hours at the museum, it was a great introduction to the Everglades.
From here we went on to the Billie Swamp Safari which is also operated by the Seminole. The big thing in Florida is Eco-tourism. It is hard to combine respect for the Everglades with the activities that tourists want, but the Seminole appear to have accomplished it.
Our first activity was on swamp buggies. These are vehicles with very large tyres and the vehicle is therefore very high off the ground. This means that they can travel through water. The water levels were pretty low during our visit, so we didn't have to go through too much water, but whenever we did, the vehicle slowed to a snail's pace to avoid damaging the environment. As well as vegetation, there were animals to view, unfortunately since the local animal population isn't too diverse, the Seminole have imported a few species which makes the whole experience a little unreal.
Can you spot the Alligator?
This was more than made up for during our second activity. Ever since I saw "Tomorrow Never Dies", I had wanted to ride on an airboat. They are banned for commercial use in the National Park because of the detrimental effect that they have on the ecosystem. Since the reservation is outside the National Park, the Seminole have taken the opportunity to provide what the tourists want. They have created a circular canal and give airboat rides. The experience is a stop start one. One minute, there is the wonderful feeling of speed and the next the engines have been cut when the pilot spots some interesting wild life. It was here that we saw the first of the hundreds of alligators that we we to see in the Everglades. We saw a wide variety of birds, went through areas of swap and generally had a wonderful experience, so good that we did it twice!
Our second visit to the Everglades came a couple of days later. This time we visited the National Park at Shark Valley. This was a very different type of trip. Here they have a seventeen mile private road into the marsh, with an observation tower half way round. There are three methods of getting to the tower - walk, cycle or take a guided tram ride - guess which we chose! The atmosphere was far more formal and educational than that at the Big Cypress Reservation. The guide was very friendly and the information he provided rounded out the picture of the Everglades that we had. Again we kept stopping to get an up close (but safe) view of the wild life. The area is mainly inhabited by birds and reptiles. There are no fences anywhere, there is nothing between you and the alligators! We saw countless alligators, ranging in age from this year's babies to adults. After the tram trip, Brian persuaded me to walk back along the road so that he could take photos of some of the babies. Not being a reptile lover, I didn't exactly jump at the chance, but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. Still, I have to admit that it was worth it when we came across a bird, in the undergrowth at the bottom of the bank of the canal, virtually motionless, inches away from the snouts of four baby (18 inches long) alligators.
Miami
An example of Miami Art Deco style
We made several trips down to Miami. This included the visit to Vizcaya, the palatial mansion of an early twentieth century industrialist. Stuffed to the rafters with Italianate style knock offs or more likely acquisitions (there's a few villas in Tuscany missing, say here and there, a wall, a courtyard, or a 15th century tapestry). The master bath had four taps offering permutations, hot and cold, fresh or sea water. The garden was fairly impressive, although probably at its worst that time of year. Lacking in colour, but the formal structure, which counts the most in that type was lavish. The atmosphere and setting next to the bay, as dusk approached, with hawks and vultures circling over the nearby mangroves was serene and lush.
We spent time wandering around South Miami Beach and then took an evening walking tour of the Art Deco District, provided by the Miami Design Preservation League. An evening tour in winter you might expect to be rather dark, but one of the signatures of the Miami style of Art Deco is an abundance of neon, best enjoyed at night. The tour also featured the lobbies of some of the hotels, and overall was interesting and an informative companion to our daytime wandering.
We also took in some of the countryside southwest of Miami, abundant in plant nurseries and citrus growers. We visited a Fruit and Spice park, which, despite again the time of year not being ideal for a garden attraction, was interesting as they had a huge variety of exotic plants and the bonus of being able to eat anything that was ripe (although, we let the guide offer us what she thought was edible). We tasted jack fruit and egg fruit amongst other things.