Miami to the Everglades

Last week, I was in Fort Lauderdale for a writing event and took advantage of the drive across the state to visit a few places.

The Hard Rock Casino, Fort Lauderdale

Hard Rock Casino, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

They are in the midst of constructing a hotel shaped like a guitar. I stood in the parking garage watching them a huge blue window into place and thought that they probably have a thousand more just like that one to do. But once finished it will be unique.

The Frost Science Museum, Miami

Miami's Frost Science Museum has a three level aquarium which took my breath away. This is beneath the bottom in "The Deep" where hammerheads, rays and schools of fish swim above.

They also have a planetarium and a wonderful roof-top aviary with views of the Port of Miami

The Everglades

I stopped on my way across the Tamiami Trail in the Everglades and Big Cypress National Parks. The airboat ride was wonderful. The ride was fast in places and the turns felt most like sending a car into an intentional skid on ice. The propellers allowed us to slide over the surface of the eighteen inches of water that covers the 'River of Grass' this time of year.

Later on we spotted some alligators, fish and one very large turtle on the Loop Trail, a 27 mile unpaved road that curves through the cypress hummocks.

USA’s Smallest Working Post Office

The small but mighty Ochapee Post Office.

We stopped at Ochopee, Florida at the country's smallest operating post office. Oh, and you can also buy your bus tickets here. Unfortunately, we stopped on Columbus Day and so the USPS was closed up tight. The plaque beside it says that when the general store and post office burned down, this irrigation pump shed was called into service and has been operating from that day in 1953 until today. “Tourists and stamp collectors the world over” arrive to request the famed Ochapee postmark. I’ll have to go back for that!