So the night before we left to visit Anthony's family in Miami we told Isaac we were going to Miami. He then replied, "Yeah. We going to Your-ami." Still working on the pronouns.
We had a great time visiting with Anthony's extended family (his mom and dad are both from Miami). Though, this post might not reflect that. We didn't take even ONE picture with any relative! I have no clue how we managed to do that. Grandma Puccio (Anthony's grandmother) had just gotten out of the nursing home/rehab place, so maybe her concern over her hair was what kept the camera in the bag? Not sure, but it was fun nonetheless!
And as always a ton of photos (all non-familial of course)...
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| Hwy 27 South... Ahh Florida. Billboards on the right, flat sugarcane fields, and smoke from them burning the sugarcane. |
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| The last time we drove this road was 6 1/2 years ago going down for our honeymoon (a cruise that left from Miami). There were only 2 of us then... you can't see Zay, but you can see both car seats. We've gone a lot of miles since then! |
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| Palm trees, ranch-style homes with red-tile roofs, and canals... yep...Miami! |
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| First night's food. Cuban. After a call to my BFF Cara (who speaks fluent Spanish...bc she studied it, not bc she's Latino) steered me to the flattened chicken something-or-other. The menu was in Spanish! We loved it. |
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| Coconut Grove. Quintessential Miami. Shopping, $100,000 cars e'erbody got 'em, and weird people. |
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| Like Louisville with the horses, Lakeland, FL with the swans, Miami has painted peacocks everywhere. They were all way fun! |
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| Isaac with one of the peacocks. |
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| We came back here the next day. But I can't figure out how to move the pictures in blogger. |
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| Just because he's cute |
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| eating crayons at a sidewalk Arabic restaurant |
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| pictures of food...soooo good. Shewarma's! |
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| and baklava! |
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| El Cristo on Calle Ocho (8th St) The most Cuban part of Miami. More Spanish was spoken here too! |
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| Isaiah taking in the Cuban cuisine and atmosphere. |
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| Cafe Cubano! A potent little cup of coffee! |
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| I don't even really like coffee, but I love this! So sweet, so thick, so coffee, so small. An amazing little drink indeed. |
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| Back to the park the next day. It's preserved from the time when there were no roads down to South Florida and everyone got there by boat. Interesting to imagine! |
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| The home that a guy built way back when on Biscayne Bay. |
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| My loverly Mother-in-law! |
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| Random hole in the ground...read below... |
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| Biscayne Bay. Before the Everglades began to get drained, there was so much fresh water underground that it literally pushed up into freshwater springs in the middle of Biscayne Bay (which is saltwater). So sad that all those springs are gone. :( |
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| My men in the mangroves! |
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| The Barnacle behind us. What the guy named his house way back when...like 1887 or something! |
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| Fish tank while eating sushi. |
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| I have a better picture of my MIL using her chopsticks, but this one made me laugh. Anthony reaching in to take a piece! |
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| The drive back home... "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neal Hurston is a story about folks in Florida way back when. In the book the characters are caught in a hurricane around Lake Okeechobee (the BIG lake in Florida). The wind blew the water to one side then as the hurricane passed it released and all the water rushed back flooding miles and miles around the Lake (which really happened). After that they built a levee that runs all the way around most of the lake... |
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| ...so of course we climbed up the embankment and looked out. There's a canal close, but you can see Lake Okeechobee waaaay off in the distance. It's humongo. |
And thus was our weekend in Miami. I am so glad we got to go. I actually met a couple more people in Anthony's family I've never met before. We didn't have time to see them all or hang out as much as we all wanted (they live there, so they had to work) but it was good nonetheless. Miami is one of those international cities that you have to visit in order to understand what all the hype is about. Most of the party-scene that Miami is famous for doesn't interest us one bit, but the atmosphere itself...the tropical-ness, the Latin majority (I went to Dillard's and the sales lady didn't speak English), the food, even the weirdo people, all make it a very interesting place to visit (even live?!). Yay for Miami!
7 comments:
1. Yourami. HILARIOUS!
2. I've always LOVED the word Okeechobee. When my sister and I were little we found it on a map, thought it was hysterical, and have always had in imaginary Uncle Okeechobee. In my mind, he resembles OB One Kinobi. (sp?!)
3. When I think of Miami, I think of Horatio. Not that I watch that show. But still, in your aviator glasses, I imagined you standing next to him solving crimes.
I really wanna go to Miami now, even more than before. I never realized it would have history, and since I'm a nerd about history, this intrigued me. Oh and the Cuban food. I could live on Cuban food alone.
I have been to Lakeland though. Random fact about me.
April- So how do you pronounce that big ol' lake? "Oh-kuh-choh-bee" is how we say it, not "Oh-key-choh-bee" like it looks. Maybe not how the Seminole Indians said it, but it's how the Hardee High Cheerleading squad pronounced it when we played them. I have a pic from our honeymoon in a white pants suit (with my super long curly hair)...we call it my Miami CSI look. When Anthony tells people overseas he was born in Miami they usually say, "OHH! Miami CSI!" to which we reply, "Yes. Exactly like that."
Emily- You'll love it! We only had 1 full day and 2 half-days. We didn't even hit any of the beaches or tour any of the art deco buildings. Something to behold indeed! Get James to take you on a cruise, and stay a couple days there before you go. Anniversary in May right?
I <3 Your ami...so glad beefa could help!!
And...Anthony is drinking his cafecito wrong...the pinky MUST be up with a cup that small!
Hey! Sounds like a fun trip, woohoo for south FL ;) Taking 27 through the Glades can get quite redundant though!!! Justin took me to see Lake Okeechobee once and I was so disappointed that you could hardly see the lake due to the canal :(
I love it. Yes, you guys have covered a few miles (literally and figuratively) since your honeymoon!
The Cuban food looks AWESOME - even better than Havana Rumba?
Saw your countdown on the blog...!!!
(Bethany Moore)
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