Al Porter and his wife Marion graciously invited the PFW contingent ....and their wives.....for a day of cycling and/or sightseeing in South Beach. You don't have to ask me twice! Bob Smith and his wife Meg decided to go as well.
Tuesday morning came early at 5 AM and I had to get the bike on the bike rack and drink enough up to make the drive to South Beach ( a section of Miami). My neighbors....Marci and Angela.... were great and offered to watched my two girls ( dogs) for me until my return late that night.
I met Bob and Meg at the Cracker Barrel off Exit 101 of Interstate 75 at 8 AM. The bike rack is not the easiest to work with but Bob figured out how to secure his bike in record time. The drive was easy and required only one stop along the way to stretch our legs at the rest area. We crossed Alligator Alley which connects the west coast to the east coast of Florida. I have to think it is named that because the road goes through the Everglades.
We cut across to Rt 95 on the Florida turnpike. There are tolls along this road but no toll takers. How do they charge you? They take a picture of your license plate and send you the bill. Guess it saves money but certainly does not add to jobs in the economy!
We arrived at Al's and Marion's place at 10:15 AM. Al had a parking spot for the car on the street and we fed the meter all day long. Hard to find parking in South Beach but Al assured me he would find a spot for the car. Thanks Al for a job well done.
We had some snacks to get ready for the ride. The apartment that Al and Marion rented until the end of February was beautiful and had a European flair. After all their landord lives in Milan.
Al and Marion and their temporary winter home. Beautiful!!!
Al, Bob and I suited up and we were ready to ride about 11:30. Al, our tour guide, took us along Ocean Avenue to see the South Beach night clubs and the hotels with their varying architecture.
There is a Holocaust museum in Miami as well. We only went past it but I asked Al to stop sot that I was able to take a photo of the fountain in front of the building.
Here is a link for more information on the museum
http://holocaustmemorialmiamibeach.org/visit/info/
We continued to ride through Miami as our destination for the day was Key Biscayne. Cycling through the center of Miami was a white knuckle pedal for me although it didn't seem to both Bob or Al. Too many cars on streets with very little room for bikes. Once out of the main part of the city we cycled over several bridges called the Venetian Bridges. The traffic was gone and it was a pleasant ride to the entrance of the roadway to the bridge over to Key Biscayne.
Once past this sign the bridge awaited us. It wasn't as tough as the Sanibel Causeway but it was windy which made the climb a little harder. There was a paved path which we took to get off away from the roadway...and traffic...to the other side.
Our rest stop was a few miles after the bridge. It was called the (Oa) Sis Cafe. There Al treated me to a cafe con leche. ( coffee with milk) Bob and I rested while Al placed the order.
Once caffeinated we headed out towards the end of the key which is a state park. Here is the link with more information on the park.
http://www.floridastateparks.org/capeflorida/
We headed into the park on a paved path and headed to an overlook. Here is what we saw.
There are homes on stilts in the water. Yep that's right. People live in these homes. There used to be 50 of them but there are only 7 remaining. It's actually a national park. I can actually say I visited another national park!
We had one more stop in the park before heading back to the apartment.
We returned back to the apartment again over the Venetian bridges and through the center of Miami. Traffic didn't seem so busy going home. 37 miles and another scenic ride. Thank you Al!!!
We arrived back at the apartment and learned that Marion and Meg had walked a good distance around the town of South Beach and too the $.25 bus back as they were tired. It was not a "walk on the beach day" as it was a bit chilly. They also fed the meter so I wouldn't get ticketed. $.25 gets you about 15 minutes on the meter so there was a lot of feeding going on.
Marion and Al graciously put out some snacks....of course which we devoured......accompanied by wine....which Bob and Meg brought as a gift. Marion and Al were happy to share it with all of us. We cleaned up and started talking about dinner. It was about 5:30 and we had decided to go to The Big Pink Restaurant which was about a three block walk.
I tried to get a photo of the place....it has a pretty unusual delivery car.....but I was not able to do so. Google The Big Pink and you will see some photos.
We all ordered Ahi Tuna sandwiches with house chips. Funny....five orders of tuna. We were not a hard bunch for the waiter to serve. We sat outside and by the time we finished Meg and I were quite chilled. We walked back and were glad to be going back to an indoor apartment. Bob and Al loaded the bikes on the car and we were on our way back to the west coast.
Bob and Meg kept me very alert by chatting with me for the two hour drive back. I dropped Bob and Meg off at their car.
Another great day with PFW cycling friends and their spouses. Thanks go to Al and Marion for being such gracious hosts to feed us and allow us to share their day with them!
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