A Memorial Trip to Key West

I have been longing for a vacation for quite a while now. Between the stress from work, everyday life and the economy, I have just needed a break. The kind of break where I just chill out and relax, without access to email and the internet. This past weekend, El Hombre took advantage of the long weekend and headed down to Key West to see friends and have a mini-vacation.

If you don't already know, it is virtually impossible to be stressed out in the Keys. That vibe just doesn't exist there and that's why I love going. This was actually my third time staying overnight, but I had many first-time experiences. Including trying oysters, which I have always been too grossed out by the texture to even try them. But I wasn't given a choice. El Hombre and I went with one of his friends to Alonzo's Oyster Bar and got a medley of tasty, very fresh seafood. There's nothing better than sitting down at a table overlooking the water after a blistering hot day, having a glass of wine and chowing down on sesame seared tuna, conch ceviche, crab claws and oysters.

Fishing, as evidenced by this pic, is a huge pastime and industry in the Keys, so you know your seafood will be good:


While there we rented bikes to get around, which is the best, and arguably the only way you should see Key West. Forget scooters, you can get horribly injured, and parking a car is a nightmare. With bikes you can get around everywhere, tie them to any loose pole and explore. Riding at night is my favorite, once the temps in the 70s and 80s, the wind blowing and the only sound is the occasional creak of the bike, the crickets and the frogs.

While there we also got to see one of my favorite bands, Suenalo, play two nights at the Green Parrot, a local dive on Whitehead Street. As usual they were awesome. I dance half the night away, hurt knee and all. Saturday night the bar was packed, so we stood outside. The rain opened up, cooling off the whole scene, and the band played on, through the thunder and lightning. It added a whole different vibe to the atmosphere as everyone packed in.

On the way to the Green Parrot from Alonzo's, I had to stop and be a total tourist. It's just in my nature:

The most photographed and most stolen sign in Key West

Another restaurant we tried was Bo's Fish Wagon. This place was built up all weekend, and we were not disappointed when we finally tried it. They had the best conch fritters I have had so far. Super delicious. They also have a blackened cheeseburger and a fried grouper sandwich, both are awesome. This is a small building, built off a wagon across from schooner's wharf. It started out as an actual wagon on Duval, but about 10 years ago the owner moved it across from the West Marine Store. I highly recommend it. Plus it's cool looking:



And on Memorial Day I finally got to go boating. I have been in South Florida for 5 years and have not been on a boat yet. It was amazing. The water was perfect, the weather was perfect. We boated out to a sandbar and hung out, swam and repeatedly coated ourselves with sunscreen with a few other people who apparently had the same idea:




And on our way back home to Miami, I saw the greatest sign ever.

The three things you always need to get in drive through, right?

Bike Miami Days

Last Sunday was the last Bike Miami day of the season (whatever that means) and for the first time I was actually able to go. After living in Charleston, SC for four years without a car, I am a big advocate of alternative means of transportation, particularly via bicycle.

We parked the car on South Miami Ave, close to Key Biscayne and biked into the city. First of all, South Miami Ave has a nice bike path, but it needs to be longer. But it's a pretty drive, especially on the weekend when traffic is light.

Biking through Brickell and Downtown is cool because you see the city from an entirely different perspective. It was a hot day with a nice breeze which was both cooling and added resistance to the ride. We stopped by displays to sample empanadas and iced tea, saw some bands, and witnessed the dance-off for the free bicycles, proving once again, that people will do anything for something free

One nice little touch was the communication via chalk on the sidewalk, old school style:






Speaking of the river, these are some pics I snapped from the bike. I have never really explored the river area and I liked it.



And in case you haven't seen the video yet, these people pulled a Ford Fiesta with a bike. I bet his legs were hurting later!




And before we biked back to the car, we rode down to the bay to check out the boats by Bayside and relax by the water:




And as tempting as it was, we didn't stop in on our way back... But I never realized how brightly painted the building is...

New Blogger alert

Well not really, but I want to let everyone know about the addition of my friend, Midtown Chic-a to my blogroll. She's a super cool chick, and she covers a wide variety of beats in Midtown Miami.

Miami Parks

El Hombre jokes that I always write about farmer's markets and street festivals and I realized, he's right. But it makes sense because I love to be outside, I like people watching and I like to browse among potential treasures, making these things so easy for me to capture. But I never write about parks. I like parks, I always enjoy going to them, but I never actually go with the intent to blog about them. Which is interesting because I feel like Miami actually has a pretty strong "park culture." People go all the time to grill out with friends or family, and anyone who has been to Tropical Park knows this is the case.

The other day I was on my way to downtown for work and I got there half an hour early. So I elected to drive around, and I rediscovered this park close to the Arsht Center. I have driven past it a number of times, but never actually walked it. It's a well-manicured park on the bay with areas to grill, a playground and basketball courts. I walked back and forth on the boardwalk, looking at the water, and snapping pictures.


The entrance




These three chairs were sort of balanced between the northern, center and southern parts of the park, along the boardwalk.

The boardwalk:




These hunched over trees are awesome


This is only one of the fantastic views from the boardwalk

A Belated Happy Birthday

Happy Belated Birthday to 305 Misadventures!

Misadventures was born on May 6, 2008 and since it's inception, we have covered a wide variety of topics in South Florida, from weather and food to art and festivals.

Since I started up this blog with El Capitan, I have uncovered many sides of Miami that I wouldn't have otherwise, and I've enjoyed sharing my escapades with you all.

Thanks for supporting us!

Cuban sandwich update

1. Havana Harry's
2. La Palma on 8th Street
3. Sergio's on Coral Way
4. Puerto Sagua on the Beach

more to come....

Nostalgia

Yesterday El Hombre and I went to the beach. Normally we try to vary where we go, but I was exhausted from karate and bellydance, so we settled with the usual spot at 7th street on South Beach. I'm not sure why, because that's our default, but yesterday was a different experience because it reminded me of coming to Miami on vacation right after college.

To give you a quick history of "Christina's decision to move to Miami," I had been to Miami on vacation four times before I elected to move here. But three of the trips were not your typical, "WooHoo! I'm a college kid on vacation in South Beach! Let me drink my face off!" vacations. I stayed the first time in Coral Gables, the second time in South Beach (spring break) and the third and fourth times in Homestead. Excepting my spring break trip, every time I had been here before, I was here for karate. I decided on that first trip, when I was 20, that I was moving to Miami after college. That was it.

Somehow yesterday brought back the memory of my last trip to Miami that cemented my decision to move here once and for all. I came down in a crappy Ford rental car from my college with my two oldest friends, Stacey and Laura. That trip was amazing, I had just graduated, I was with good friends and we explored much of South Florida. We went to Key Largo and Key West, Coconut Grove and South Beach. We met and flirted with cute boys, ate amazing food and chilled on the beach. I was there for my first big karate test, and between the stress of graduating college, the test and all the worldly problems of a 22-year-old with no idea what she was going to do next, I just wanted to have fun.

On my last day of that trip, Stacey and I took the car and drove to South Beach between my karate trainings. We were laughing at the radio because they kept talking about how it was a dark day. Yes there were a few clouds, but they dissipated by the time we got to the MacArthur. We parked at 7th street, grabbed our towels and camped out on the beach. To this day I will remember sitting on the beach with my friend that I have known since I was four, laughing at the aged yogi behind us who was meditating in the sand and thinking, "yes, this is where I need to be." We jumped in the water and swam out to the end of that sand bar and stood facing the sand, and at that point I had a moment of clarity.

Somehow in that moment I realized that I wanted an adventure. I wanted to move to this place and make it work, come hell or high water. I realized that life is constantly moving and changing, and all that matters is to make the most of it, because you will never know what you will be doing in the next 5, 10 or 15 years.

And somehow that was the foundation on which this blog was built, at least for me.

The Search for the best Cuban Sandwiches

Here is the list so far:

1. Havana Harry's (delicious!)
2. Sergio's on Coral Way
3. Puerto Sagua

Beach snacking

One of my New Years resolutions was to spend as much time on the beach as possible. This is probably the only resolution I have/will keep this year.

Normally I don't take pictures of the beach because, well, it's the beach. I only do that in the winter to tick off the people who make fun of me for living in hurricane land.

This, however, amused me somehow.



Who wants some ceviche on the beach? Forgive me, but I somehow doubt the refrigeration system is, well, up-to-par.

Shake that!

Those of you who either bellydance or just have an interest in it, probably know that this weekend is packed full of awesomeness because of Spirit of the Tribes

Those of you who don't know anything about bellydance should know that this is the largest tribal fusion dance fest on the East Coast. Tribal style and tribal fusion dancers are not your typically pink, shimmery, shiny belly dancers. They are more earthy, strong and may fuse bellydance with hip hop, industrial/gothic or international styles of dance. Basically it's just plain awesome. And two of my teachers will be performing. Alina and her crew from Lotus Dance Studio and Alicia of Bellycraft.

The only thing that stands in my way of a full weekend of pure bellydanceocity is the fact that I am also packing in a karate camp. Monday I will be broken. LoL.

I will leave you with some vids of my fantastic teachers:
Bellycraft


And Lotus (they are American Tribal Style, not fusion)

Cinco de MiMo

Happy 6th of May!

I don't know why, but Cinco de Mayo is always a huge party, no matter where you live. Miami was no exception. But what's interesting to me is not necessarily drowning in Corona and tequila, but going to some of the off-beat parties and festivals. One such festival was the Cinco de Mimo on the upper east side of Miami. We went on Saturday to catch the farmers' market, where I learned my favorite ceviche guy is going to Las Olas on the weekends, and walk up and down and see the artists, try some food and scope out the vintage venders. It was a pretty relaxed scene, with a huge variety of people also wandering the streets, perusing the side carts.



The food from Michy's. Cause nothing goes better than red velvet cupcakes, shrimp and wine. El Hombre had the shrimp and enjoyed it. I was still munching on ozzarella, zucchini and pesto from Wine 69 so I passed.

One thing I like about MiMo are all the old-school motels like this one:


And of course the Vagabond:


Many of the outdoor venders were selling art, antiques and mod-style clothing and furnature:



And then there was this treasure:


Along the way, El Hombre made some friends:


Of course you will find vintage cars in many festivals in Miami:


And when you walked back to scope them, you found some tasty treats:


When we walked back into the Upper East Side Garden, we found a bunch of hipsters selling handmade clothing and items out of recycled materials. Like this bag:


As we walked around, we saw artists (including Alex Yanes,who apparently designed the Publix calendar) and this guy:


We also saw this historic landmark:


I don't know if I mentioned it yet, but it was a hot day. Of course because it's May and this is South Florida. But some came up with their own solutions to handle the heat, and everyone stopped to stare:

On the Hunt...

For Miami's best Cuban sandwich. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. I have decided to scout out the best places to get these tasty, filling Cuban delights.

Miami Seaquarium

Hey all, I'm back from the dead (at least that's how I have felt for the past two weeks)

I haven't been around much because I have been working alot, including weekends and have been way to exhausted to write anything coherent, much less entertaining.

Last week I went to the Miami Seaquarium on Key Biscayne for work-related activities, and actually had quite a bit of fun, though was left totally and completely exhausted. I haven't been to the seaquarium in years, not since my sister came to visit and it was still under reconstruction. It's a pretty cool park to take kids, they have alot of different exhibits and shows, all of which are educational without lecturing. My entourage of 2nd graders dragged me from exhibit to exhibit and show to show to point out all the things and scope out all the animals. I learned that if you take a quarter and rub it against the glass, eventually the dolphins will swim up to you. I also learned that once you become BFF with little kids, they force you to sit in the front row of every show. Including the whale show. They really aren't kidding at the Seaquarium when they say you will be drenched if you are in the bottom rows. Lolita (pictured below) sent a tidal wave our way. The kids who insisted on sitting in the front row? Yeah they ducked behind me screaming each time. Greeeeeat. My parents thought this was hilarious.



More pictures:

The dolphin was actually posing for all the pics.


The pelicans and ibises chill at all the shows so they can sneak into the fish supplies when people don't pay attention




The sea lions also enjoyed taking a hose and spraying everyone during the show.

From the bird exhibits:


These guys were shy