Best Picnic Spot in Miami?

A few months back we were flipping through the "Best of" issue of the Miami New Times and El Hombre clipped some of the things we wanted to check out. One of which was the recommendation for the "Best Picnic Spot in Miami." MNT reported this spot to be Black Point Park down in Homestead, so we went to check it out. Now don't get me wrong, it's not a bad spot, but I would never go so far as to call it the best in Miami.

We drove in and found some parking. We kept looking for the picnic area, and all we saw were some tables around the water. What was kind of cool about the spots is that you can see the boats coming in and out from the marina, but really that's not such a unique site if you camp out by the water.

What was nice was the little path we took all the way out into the bay. Alot of people were there fishing, boating, etc. We ended up sitting down on the ground and watching the boats and eating our sandwiches. It was a nice day and we did have partial shade but our view was somewhat marred by Turkey Point, and there wasn't a soft spot, we had to sit on a gravelly ground.

I won't complain about mosquitos because this is Miami and it is summer, but when you are writing up a recommendation spot for picnics, things to consider would be availability of soft ground, shaded picnic tables and the proximity to the water.

What I would recommend the spot for is fishing, boating and kayaking and canoeing (if you like ocean kayaking that is.) They also had bike trails, but I suspect the ones at Oleta are better.

But I did snap some pictures:





(That's some serious litter, and yes I did pick up and throw away a few people's litter)

Exploring South Miami-Dade (Part three)

Awhile back, while we were bumming around the Redlands/Homestead area, we passed a place called Cauley Square. Now, from US1, it doesn't look like much, but El Hombre remembered the area from his childhood, so we stopped by. Once you drive into the square, you are in this wooded area, with a smattering of shops.


The shopping isn't much, to be honest with you, other than the aquarium store, which was super awesome. But it's really pretty to wander around.





That is, until you stumble across the below-seen scariness:


Not even in North Carolina did I see people put gnomes in their yards, and NC is viewed as total redneckville by many here.
But wait! It gets even more creepy!


But Cauley Square redeemed itself for the creepy gnomes by giving us the opportunity to take REALLY cheesy photos:

Exploring South Miami-Dade County (Part two)

As mentioned in the previous post, our adventures down south also took us to the Homestead Farmers Market, off US1 and 244 St. You see the bargain market from the road and thats essentially where you turn. The farmers market is an open air market comprised of fruits, veggies, dried spices, fresh fish and plants. This is hands-down the best market I have been to. It's huge and insanely cheap. In addition, the people there were all very nice.



There are several plant venders, including the one below, which had a surprising name for Miami-Dade County:

More power to them, I guess. I would imagine that name doesn't get a good amount of business from the Cuban population, but what do I know?

But enough of that, here's the good stuff:













And this last picture is for Maria, over at Volunteering at Fairchild:


Seriously, I wanted to buy everything. We walk away with Mandarin Oranges, mangos, 1/2 pound of green beans, an onion and avocados and we paid maybe $5 for that.

Exploring South Miami-Dade County (Part 1)

I have been talking about going to the Homestead farmer's market for awhile now. I have been cajoling El Hombre to go with me, and we could never find a reason to drive so far.

Well, that reason finally came about with the seasonal opening of Knauss Berry Farms in the Redlands. Knauss Berry Farms is known for their baked goods, particuarlly their cinnamon rolls.

Nobody else had that idea:

After waiting in line, drinking our strawberry shakes, we got into the building. In addition to breads and rolls, they also sell some fresh flowers, jams and oddly-named veggies:




El Hombre and I bought some fantastic oatmeal raison cookies, honey wheat bread and cinnamon rolls, which we promptly took outside, sat in the grass and ate a few.


It was definitely worth the wait. mmmmmm

The Click Beetle

This creature fascinates me. I made my acquaitance with the Click Beetle, also known as elaters, skipjacks, snapping beetles, or spring beetles of the Elateridae family - thank you wikipedia, you're the best - a few weeks ago on my balcony. And HOLY JESUS it was frightening! The elusive Click Beetle as I am now calling it (this is an assumption that it is indeed elusive) was hanging out on the wall and after I finished up a phone call and watered the flowers I looked up and saw its green glowing giant eyes staring back at me. He was about an inch and a half to two inches long and his eyes were freakin' glowing. At least that is what I thought. It stayed on the wall for a bit, and then I heard a loud snap and the beetle was gone, into the night.


After reading up on this neat creature, I've found out that they don't have radioactive green glowing eyes, but that these diamond-shaped "eyes" are actually spots on the beetle's shoulders. I had to say, I was disappointed when I found this out, but it's still cool anyway. We don't have anything on us that glows green in the dark. The shade of green was really pretty and bright like a lightning bug but with a shade more like emerald.



Some time had passed since I first met the Click Beetle, until the other night. I was walking along the Bay and rounded some fountains when I heard a snap and on the sidewalk in front of me landed a Click Beetle. I'm really happy to have met these little guys and hope to see more of them. I don't have a farm or any crops to tend to so in my book these prehistoric beetles are ok. The people down in Homestead may say otherwise - which reminds me, I will be traveling down that way soon and I have a friend who drives tractors on one of the farms in the Redlands. I'll ask him what he thinks of the elusive Click Beetle.

disclaimer - i like to take all my own photos but unfortunately i was without a camera the nights i saw the beetles. so thank you to the people who took these. you can find them if you google search click beetle photos.

The Miami Metrozoo

I have to admit that I am completely amazed. Amazed by the Metrozoo. I had a bad impression of the zoo and for very good reasons: 1) It's a million miles away (that means down south near Homestead); 2) I heard it has lots of "land" which, in Miami terms means lots of swampy scruff land with some palms and lots of bushes and telephone wires; 3) I really didn't think Miami had its stuff together enough to actually plan something that made sense and 4) I heard the animals are so over it that they barely look at you when you gaze their way. I was completely wrong - again!

I went on a weekday which is highly recommended (No screaming kids, abnoxious kids taunting the animals - it was perfect). No one was around and it felt like we had the whole zoo to ourselves. The animals were curious wondrous creatures and there were so many species I had never seen before. I was spoiled in New Orleans where I lived a block from the zoo and could wander its beautiful paths anytime I wanted but found the Miami Metrozoo to be just as much fun and beautiful. The experience is like being in an animal park and an aboretum where you can see tropical flowers and vegetation growing like we live on the Equator. One of my favorite exhibits is the Meerkat habitat (it's no Meerkat Manor but it's close): http://www.nbc6.net/news/15033098/detail.html. The keeper feeds them worms and crickets and they dig around for hours looking for their meals. Sometimes, the keeper told me, people think that they are dead because they tire themselves out looking for their tasty morsels.

The Zoo is really a nice place to go. For $2 you can feed the giraffes. And right now there is a 3 month old there trying to figure out how to eat the leaves off the branches that you dangle in front of its face. It's adorable. You really have to go if you haven't gone before. I will upload some photos soon - and am contemplating becoming a member. Please visit the site and if you're in the area try to visit. If no one will go with you, I am always down: http://www.miamimetrozoo.com/.