Miami and the Keys

Honeymoon part II. First time I've been to Florida. First time I've gone away for Christmas. Flew to West Palm Beach, drove to Ft. Lauderdale, then Miami Beach, then the Keys, then the same in reverse. It was hot and sunny everyday. We swam, tanned, ate and drank too much, played countless rounds of Ticket to Ride (Nordic edition!), read, snorkelled (or tried), and drove. Not much else.

An unassuming but perfectly cozy little inn in Ft. Lauderdale, Canadian owned. At night we swam in that pool in the sweet, warm air, with Bing Crosby Christmas carols wafting over us, and it was strange and lovely. An unexpectedly successful blend of tropical bliss and holiday sentimentality.

In North Miami Beach we stayed in a tiny but cute Art Deco studio with this pathway to the beach just outside the door. The water was perfect, albeit a tad calm for my taste, and I had plenty of glorious swims. Every vacation should have at least one day where you stay on the beach til dinnertime, baking and soaking, baking and soaking.

I'd never heard that Ft. Lauderdale and Miami were so Venetian. But the canals (and I wish I had taken some decent pictures of them) were so numerous that land seemed almost an afterthought. Every waterway was lined with outrageously decadent mansions and over-sized boats, almost grotesque in their palatial dimensions. Truly obscene wealth in stunningly copious quantities. Impressive, beautiful to the eye, and disturbing.

Art Deco infinito! Well, for all I know, these buildings are MiMo - didn't quite figure out the difference. I have to say I quite like Art Deco. Slick! All bright colours and soft lines, like a crisp white linen suit on a hot day. Interesting features that draw your up eyeward. Nothing too extraneous. I could live in a city like this, if I had to live in a city. And not just because of the architecture and the proximity to endless beaches, but because of the multiculturalism as well. We stayed in a neighborhood where you could walk around the block looking for dinner and have your pick of Cuban, Mexican, Argentinian, Peruvian - you name it. People speaking Spanish everywhere, making me itch to start learning that language again.

Down in the Keys now - water everywhere. Shallow water - less than 6 ft in most places. We looked at a map with nautical soundings, and were pretty astonished to see that you could practically walk from one key to the next, sometimes in water only up to your knees. The houseboat we stayed in was moored way out in the Bay, so we imagined that we'd be cannoning off the sides. Nope - the water around it was 4 ft. deep. Really pretty though.

We spent two days on that boat, making only one quick trip in the skiff to pick up beer. We watched pelicans. We read, we wrote, we played games, and we just sat and looked at the water. It was so nice to be away from land, from people, from cars and shops. Always the sound of the water lapping and the wind, and the continuous gentle rocking motion.

We drove down to Key West, had lunch and wandered around. It has a reputation for being quirky, for being a place for misfits and creative types. I could see that might be true of the locals, but the place was too packed with tourists off the cruise ships to tell. I loved the beautiful old homes amidst the tropical greenery and the bright, humming energy of it. But a couple hours was plenty. We peeked at Hemingway's House through the tall fence and long line-up of people waiting to pay for a tour (were surprised to see that the ol' guy must've made some decent cash from his books) and then headed back to the Upper Keys.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at a campsite on Long Key. The water (again, super shallow) was just right there. There was something bittersweet about sitting in sunshine on a beach on Christmas. On the one hand, I was sick of Christmas. (All the inflatable snowmen on lawns under palm trees, the peppermint mochas, pedestrians in Santa hats - in Florida it was even more off-putting than usual. At home, Christmas mostly seems to be about brightening up a dark and dreary time of year. All that 'comfort and joy' stuff, the images of cozying up round a fire with chestnuts roasting - it's feels so absurdly out of place in a land of bathing suits and sunscreen.) On the other hand, I was nostalgic and homesick, missing family and traditions. I like the idea of forgetting about Christmas, getting away, doing something different. So I was surprised to find myself wishing I was home on the 24th and 25th and playing out the same rituals that I've taken part in all my life.

And yet... the sunsets were so beautiful.

A Christmas Eve walk through a mangrove swamp. A gorgeous bird almost hidden against the mangrove roots. And our first real run-in with no-see-ums.

Christmas morning canoeing around a lovely big mangrove lagoon. Surprisingly, we didn't see much wildlife on this trip, but I accredit that to the fact that we didn't have a boat, time to explore, or time to visit the Everglades. If I returned to the Keys, it would have to be with a boat. I think it would be a boating paradise out there. From shore, it's hard to do any swimming or snorkelling - it's too shallow and the bottom is often really spongey and marshy. To me, that's torturous - all that beautiful water, and no good swimming? Yeesh. Couldn't complain about the climate, though. Perfect weather, every day, hot and always a cool breeze off the water. 

As always, it was so good to travel to a new place. I think it's so important to do that - to change up the lenses through which I see my life and the world. It was really great to give myself a shake at Christmas, and see what came up for me. And it was great to have time to just observe and think. Lots of ideas for the New Year.