On a balmy Tuesday evening, after some drinks at the bar of our South Beach hotel (our hotel was one of the refurbished Art Deco hotels), we strolled down Ocean Avenue in Miami Beach to our dinner at Quinn's Restaurant. The food was good and the company was great!
The next morning it was early rise for a drive to the Big Cyprus Seminole Reservation where we toured the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum. The museum features the nation's largest display of the life and culture of the unconquered Florida Seminoles through exhibits, rare artifacts and cultural displays. We also got a lecture on medicinal plants as we walked to the ceremonial grounds and the Seminole village.
From
there it was a short drive
to Billie Swamp Safari which opens 2,200 lush acres of its Big Cypress
Everglades Reservation to the public. We took an airboat tour into
reservation wetlands and
sloughs where wildlife abounded, sighting deer, water buffalo, bison,
wild
hogs, hawks, eagles and other birds and, to our delight, several
alligators. We also attended a lecture on Floridian poisonous snakes
and got to see them up close. The colors and rattles were amazing.
On Thursday morning
we visited the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Miami
Hurricane Center.
We learned about the airplanes that fly into hurricanes, we got information about
FEMA, and we got lots of details about the work that goes on at the Center when
a hurricane approaches the coast of the United
States and how such hurricane is tracked.
A good-bye dinner at Grazie Restaurant was another occasion to taste wonderful dishes and to spend some good time together. The next morning, after some of us took the guided art deco tour of South Beach, we all returned to our home towns all over Florida and further away.
Want to see the pictures we all took? Then go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com