Soaking it all in

  It’s November already and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. This will be our third turkey day without my dad at the head of the table. It still doesn’t feel the same. I can recall Thanksgiving dinners when we lived in the section of Miami known as Little Havana. Our house was just two blocks off the busy and bustling famous Calle Ocho (S.W. 8 street also known as the Tamiami Trail). Thanksgiving was a family get-together and my family is HUGE. There was the table for the adults that sat roughly 20 people. And there were three more tables for the kids. If folks had too much to drink, they stayed overnight. It was a pretty big two-story house, so there was plenty of room for everyone. The women spent the day in the kitchen. Cooking, prepping and gossiping. The men set up a table in the back yard and played dominoes, talked about work and drank beer. The kids ran around the entire neighborhood playing, Hop-Scotch, Red Rover, Cowboys and Indians, Hide-n-Seek. We had turkey, dr...

  When I was a little girl, my Dad used to take my Mom, brother, and I on frequent weekend trips to the Everglades. We had a pull behind camper and there was this dirt road we’d always take which dead-ended on a huge lake. This spot was a frequent stop for weekend campers like us. It was like having a cool secret hideaway. There was no signs or posting showing you the way, you just had to know how to get there. I remember how we would travel along the Tamiami Trail, the main corridor that literally runs from Miami to Tampa. Once you left the City limits of Miami and West Dade County you entered into a whole different world. Along the Trail there was the tiny town of Cooper City, population 10 and known for their touristy airboat rides and sales of frog legs. The further west you drove you entered into the Miccosukee Indian Reservation and Big Cypress National Preserve. This was before they built their resort and gaming casino in 1983. Along the way there were several places to take...

  As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, there’s not much I miss about living in Florida, other than the friends I grew up with and had throughout the years, the Florida Keys and just a few other hidden gems. Driving over the seven-mile bridge was always my favorite part of a Key West road trip. Surrounded by the ocean, you knew you were that much closer to paradise. Also on the Gulf Coast, but closer to the panhandle, is a small, welcoming place called Cedar Key. It is not the touristy, barfilled, rambunctious and in-your-face place Key West can be at times. On the contrary, Cedar Key, while just as laid back, offers a more unique visitor’s experience. It is the clam capital of the state. The main attractions are the tranquility of the Gulf waters, with plenty of porpoises and loggerheads, art and crafts stores and boutiques, just a few dining facilities and the best sunsets in the state. The Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuge is a group of small islands with trails and rich birdl...

  Adding to the exploits I wrote about in last week’s column here are a few more interesting, weird and just plain silly Florida Man adventures. In April a Florida man from Lehigh Acres was arrested after he was found naked, humping a tree and later running down the road in the nude. The story mentioned police believed he was high on something. Ya’ think? It gets better, as he attempted to run away from the cops, he was nearly hit by a car. Once apprehended he allegedly punched a cop in the face. That same month in Hernando County another Florida man was arrested and charged with grand theft auto after he allegedly stole an ambulance from a hospital. The man jumped into the ambulance as EMS officials walked a patient into the hospital. He supposedly drove it down a road where it got stuck in the mud.  Karma is truly alive and well as one Florida man can attest. In October of 2016 this pathetic piece of poopy Florida man was attempting to shoot to death some of his puppies. One...

  There is always something funny or unusual coming out of my home state of Florida. Just the other day, a “Florida Man,” washed ashore in Flagler County after he encountered some problems while trying to, “run to the Northern US or Bermuda,” on what appeared to be a giant floating hamster wheel. The man, Reza Baluci, said he was raising money to help the homeless, and raise funds for police and fire departments and the Coast Guard. Turns out that guy has his own You Tube Page and website: https://www.runwithreza.org/ It’s a great website to visit when you want to start going down a Florida Man rabbit hole. Seems to me this guy has done more for his fellow humans, with his feet firmly panted here on Earth or in the water, than billionaire Jezz Bezos has done.  But seriously there have been some truly weird headline throughout the years, some too funny to be believable, others too horrifying, yet true. One of the first headlines I can recall was back in 2012: Florida Man chews ...

  Years ago, when I worked for the American Red Cross in Miami, one of my duties was to teach first aid and CPR classes. I don’t remember what year it was, but I was asked to travel to Anguilla, in the British Isles, for an entire weekend to teach the staff at the Cuisinart Resort (now called the Aurora Anguilla Resort and Golf Club). Passport in hand, and packed up with clothes, books, CPR mannequins and whatnot, off I went. If I’ve never shared with you my terror for flying, welp, here it is. My first plane trip, in my early 20s, was from Miami to Philadelphia. I was going with a friend and we were going to check out Atlantic City, visit her mom in Cape May, New Jersey, and drive back down to Miami in an antique Cadillac limousine. As we circled the airport in Philly, there was a bad storm. Several planes had to circle until the storm slowed, and it felt like we were circling the airport for a lifetime. The turbulence had us all bouncing around our seats. I was white-knuckling my...

  It’s been a long time since I took a long-distance road trip. Obviously, with the price of gas these days, it might be a bit longer before I hit the road and head west or north. About 26 years ago, I took the trip of a lifetime. I had accumulated so many vacation days that I was able to take a whole month off from work. Back then, I lived in Miami, worked for a natural gas company and was a personal trainer as a side hustle, and there was a huge fitness convention in Las Vegas I wanted to attend to update my training credentials. I took out my atlas maps — this was before GPS, Siri and Alexa — and created a plan. The first part was driving from Miami to Chattanooga to spend a few days with my brother. My best friend was my travel buddy. We packed up our stuff and headed out. After visiting my brother, we headed west along I-40. The next destination was the Grand Canyon. We took turns driving and stopped at Motel 6s if we needed sleep. We also took side roads. I-40 runs parallel t...