Greeting from Sara and Don Schultz

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Whenever Sara and I settle in at one location for a while, I like to get a map of the largest city in the area. Using the map, I try to figure out the “lay of the land” so to speak, locating the major attractions, places of interest and roads leading in and out of the city. I have scouted out such cities as LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Boston, Santa Fe, Atlanta and Seattle.

Nothing could have prepared me for the Miami-Dade county area. With a population of over 2 million the roads leading into and out of Miami are jammed from 5:30 am until about 9 in the morning. The rush begins again at about 4 pm until 6 pm.

We don’t even consider driving into Miami, about 25 miles to downtown, during those times. But it is the street system that is unbelievable. There is only ONE consistent feature of the street naming and that is that streets run east and west and avenues run north and south. After that it becomes a jungle of names and numbers. The Miami area has grown so rapidly that the original city along the shore is ringed with “sub” areas that run miles inland. Each area, Coconut Grove, Hialeah, North Miami, Cutler Ridge, etc has its own set of street names and numbers so that the same road that is a south west street become a northeast street as it enters that area. It is unbelievable. Even using internet mapping searches doesn’t help much.
We decided to venture into Miami for a tour of the city on Sunday morning at 7:30 am and planned to get out by early afternoon. The first stop was Miami Beach which is reached by one of many bridges from downtown Miami. The area is famous for its beaches which are beautiful although the lifeguard informed us of a jellyfish invasion and advised us not to go in the water. The southern end of the island, South Beach or Sobe as it is know to natives, is the home of the famous clothes designer, Gianni Versace who was shot dead on the doorstep of his Miami Art Deco home a few years ago. The talented designer, whose glamorous creations were popular the world over, had just released his new winter collection and planned a television launch for the Spanish Steps in Rome. The streets of Miami Beach are lined with channels docked with luxury yachts and boats.
Star Island is the location of the homes of the rich and famous. Sara and I drove out to the island to see Oprah’s estate only to be met by a guard house and burly guard with a clip board who wanted to know whose house we had been invited to. I remarked that, “we didn’t have time to visit with OJ, Gloria Estabon, Whoopie, and Oprah on the same day” and asked which one he would suggest we see. He saw little humor in my comment and told us to turn around and get out or he would call the police. We complied.
We then went to the Port of Miami to get a closer look at the many cruise ships that could be seen from the entire ocean horizon. These ships are massive and happened to be “disengorging” hundreds of passengers as we approached. In a virtual sea of taxis and tour buses, we looked for anyone who didn’t look like they had been consuming 30,000 calories a day for the past week. We found two.
Then it was off to “Little Havana” which was fascinating. We enjoyed the many sites, sounds and smells of this area. We watched the Cubans play dominoes and sip Cuban coffee in the famous Domino Park. It was fun to see all the familiar stores like McDonalds and UPS in Spanish. The streets however were very dirty and with the heat and humidity in this part of Flordia, the smells were pungent. We found a Cuban restaurant but upon reading the menu realized that we couldn’t determine what a single thing was. So we opted for a Cuban grocery store which wasn’t much better. It had a deli which had a variety of cooked and barbequed animal parts. There were trays of exotic looking casseroles, veggie combos, gooey desserts of which we had no idea of their contents. I did recognize what looked like chicken and was called “polco” something. Oh, God how I wished I had taken Spanish in high school. There were many Cubans around the cases all yelling at each other, and the lady behind the counter, as though they all were related to one another and were having a massive family fight. I wormed my way in and pointed to stuff until I had two plates heaped with a variety of goodies. The total cost was $7.37 and it was delicious. It is surprising how tasty something can be even when you do not have the slightest idea what you are eating. Sara was worried about getting sick but we didn’t.
We finished our visit to the big city with a visit to North Miami and the home of “Little Haiti”. This area was really depressing. The poverty was astounding. While waiting at an intersection, with the truck doors locked and facing Sara to look at a map, a homeless woman slapped the side window near my head with a cup wanting change. We both just about jumped through the roof.
One of the things that amaze us about most of Florida cities and the rural areas for that matter is the sheer volume of trash. It is everywhere and there is no evidence of any litter control or recycling. Even if you want to recycle, you can’t because there are no containers to separate your garbage. We feel so guilty. Wisconsin is decades ahead in recycling and litter control. People throw trash out of window of cars, on the streets, in the parks, almost everywhere without thinking. We see signs along the highways that indicate that you should report all “dumping” as though you need a whole load before it becomes an issue.
Well, enough for now. We are so looking forward to sharing Christmas with our younger daughter, Polly, who is flying from the Twin Cities for four days. Three adults and two dogs in a 36 ft RV will make for a very cozy Christmas…………..We hope that your Christmas is safe, peaceful and joyous.
More later…………………………….Sara and Don Schultz

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