Mom's Visit to Miami: Tour of Miami and the Everglades

Mom took a red-eye after getting off work on Friday to come down to Miami and see me.  Her flight was almost a half hour early so she had to wait for a few minutes for me at the airport.  Once we got back to my apartment, I made breakfast and I took her out to see the ocean.  It was a beautiful morning.

We decided to take a tour of Miami and the Everglades so we waited just outside my apartment and the tour company came to pick us up at about 9:30.  I can't believe what a trooper Mom was.  She barely slept on the red-eye flight and yet she was ready to go.  The bus picked up other patrons at their hotels and then we drove through South Beach.  I didn't get too many pictures of South Beach because the bus wasn't able to stop as much.  I did get one picture of a sculpture that I drive past at least one per week.  It is from the Holocaust Museum.

After finishing up on the beach, we went to Key Biscayne.  The following pictures are from the marina there.   

This building was the home of Transamerican Airlines, but had been converted to a Miami City Hall Building. It was right in the marina and it was beautiful.

After going to the marina, we headed to Coco Walk, which outside of South Beach is probably the second hottest hot spot for young people.  There is shopping and clubs.  We had a limited amount of time there, so we walked around a bit then headed to Johnny Rocket's for lunch.

After Coco Walk, we toured through some beautiful neighborhoods.  I just kept trying to figure out how much the houses much cost.  We were in city such as Coral Gabels and Coconut Groove, which are unbelievable.  Other than living on Star Island and Miami Beach, many celebrities call these cities home when they are in Miami.  We went to the historic Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.  It is beautiful!  Below are pictures of the outside of the hotel, which from the Metrorail stands like a yellow beacon in the distance above the green tree tops, the pool and the lobby.

Here are birdcages in the lobby.  You can see the marble pillars behind the birdcage.  

This is the CIA boat house in Coral Gables.  There are plenty of canals in Coral Gables and I guess the CIA had offices there (I am not sure if they still do or if this is from the Cold War era only).

Coconut Grove's old Bahamian Cemetery, where they filmed Michael Jackson's, "Thriller."  It is above ground cemetery so if there are any floods, the corpses will float down the road. 

Here are pictures of Venetian  Pool, also in Coral Gables.  The pool is actually filled with water from an aquifer.  It is beautiful.  We didn't have time to look around for too long, but here are the pictures:

Next, we headed to Little Havana.  We had Cuban coffee and watched the domino players in the famous domino park.

To play dominoes in the famous domino park, Maximo Gomez Park, you must be a member.  Here are some pictures of the players.  Our tour driver said they may look mean, but they love having their pictures taken.

This is the pedestrian roadway next to the domino park.

After finishing up in Little Havana, we headed to the Bayside Marketplace.  Some of the tour goers were only going on the morning portion of the tour and some were going to tour the bay on a boat.  We had about a half hour to walk around.  I didn't really take any pictures though.  After loading up the bus, we drove about 40 minutes west (past the airport) and headed to the western part of the everglades: Gator Park.

We went on an airboat ride first.  It was really fun.  I was a bit afraid thinking about it...the gators could jump in the boat, but once we were there, I was having too much fun to be scared!  The first pictures are of the boat.

That was the first gator we saw.  They all responded to their names as the tour guide called them.  They swam around and ate some bread.  They were beautiful animals (as long as they stayed away from me).

The birds even responded to their names.  It was amazing.  This was my favorite bird, but I am not sure of the species.  The tour guide said that this species mates for life and often dies of a broken heart if their spouse dies.



Here is a baby alligator.  They have the yellow stripes until they are bigger as a warning to other animals.  I think this one was about a year and a half old.  They are hatched from eggs the size of chicken eggs.

This was a 7-foot alligator!  He was sure friendly!!

After the tour, we had time to walk the grounds before the animal show.  Here is Mom sitting in front of a beautiful tree.


Here is the animal show.  The first animal is a skunk!

Here is a baby alligator who was only a few months old.

The big alligator that the tour guide was going to wrestle.  I wouldn't have done it!!!

First they jump on the alligator's back because gators only have peripheral vision and cannot see right in front or behind them (well obviously, they can't see directly behind them).

Next, he grabbed the jaw shut.

Then he secured it with his chin.  In the old days, this is when they would tie shut the mouths.


I did it!  I held the baby alligator.  Okay, he wasn't exactly a baby he was three years old.  I can't believe I did it.  I hate to say it, but the first thing I thought was that he felt like an expensive purse.  But please don't think I am a changed person, after holding this lizard, I was scared by a little three inch gecko near my apartment.

There were many animals at Gator park, including a group of peacocks.  One even put on a show for us.  It was beautiful.




After the tour, Mom and I were beat.  We were going to to out to dinner, but the little cafe ran out of what we wanted for dinner.  We walked around on the board walk and then decided to order from David's Cuban Restaurant, which has free delivery on South Beach.  We headed to bed early!  It was a long and wonderful day!