The under-appreciated boardwalk

For a variety of reasons, my holidays were really rather stressful. I think they are stressful for most people, but this time was a little more than usual. So New Years Day, I finally convinced El Hombre to go with me walking on the upper part of the Miami Beach Boardwalk. When I lived on 23rd street, I used to walk this boardwalk all the time to relax, get some exercise and just enjoy the scenery.

In my opinion, this is an under-appreciated part of the beach. The boardwalk spans from 47th down to 5th street, where you can then transition to the beach and walk down to SouthPoint. But most people only walk from 15th street to 5th. In my opinion, the best part of the walk is from 23rd street (from 20th-22nd is closed off for construction) to 47th. It's a wooden boardwalk, where biking and rollerblading is restricted, and most of the people abide by this rule. You actually see the water and you get much more of a mix of locals who use the boardwalk to run, walk or just to get out and enjoy the scenery.

Here are a few pictures of our walk:


(ok, this wasn't on the boardwalk obviously, but right before we crossed Collins. Definitely an 'only in Miami' moment for me)


The kite surfers were all up-and-down the beach. You have to love an area where you can get in the ocean all year 'round! We actually sat on the beach and watched them for awhile.


There is much more foliage on the dunes, including large succulents and small trees. This was my favorite shot.

So, sometimes you see some really weird things...

I was going for a walk one evening in my neighborhood, and turned the corner and saw this. I was quite perplexed at the sight I saw. A HUGE purple and orange big rig was spurting out red Ferrari's out its backside and there were two flashy lookin' guys in suits and two (I'm not lying) mullet and moustachioed men standing around them - I think one of them was wearing something sleeveless, I'm pretty sure, but it could be my memory playing tricks on me. Then, one of the mustache-men got in one of the sporty cars and started driving up and down the street. Anyway, as I watched this go on, I neglected to see what the truck said and turned to look. On the side of the truck it said "STRAIGHTUP ENTERPRIZES" and to the right of that is the picture of a crucifix which says "He Never Let Go." I was amazed so I took a photo. But what does that mean, "He Never Let Go?" He never let go of hope or faith or he never let go because he was nailed to a cross and couldn't get down? I don't get it and still don't.

Then, it gets better, after I walked around for a bit I came back and they were starting to pull away, after the guys drove their Ferrari's around and loaded them back into the truck. It was starting to get dark so I noticed that there were red lights all over the bottom lining the truck. Red, orange and purple - what a fabulous color scheme (I'm kidding of course). Anyway, as the truck slowly droned down the street, I noticed the back - the bright orange door was all lit up - in the shape of a glowing red crucifix. I watched it pull away and watched it until the red cross disappeared on the horizon. It was really odd and I haven't seen them since. I was going to look them up to see what they are all about but haven't gotten around to it. Here's the only photo I was able to snap - I didn't want them to catch me in my amazement: