Time marches on!

February 25 2016

Life goes on here in South Florida, nothing really exciting to write about. The most interesting events being our visit to HM-69, a Nike missile site and going to the theater to see West Side Story.

One day last week Millie and I drove over to the west side of Florida City to find a produce stand we had been told about. Called “Robert is here” the market's name originated in the 1950's when 6 year old Robert was left on the corner to sell produce from his families farm. Probably no less than one half dozen government agencies would be all over you if that happened today.

Anyhow it has morphed into a roadside attraction with a small zoo, kids water splash park, and exotic flavored milk shakes. I was most impressed by the signage in the produce section that describes the flavor and texture of the exotic fruits and vegetables that most of us have never seen or heard of.

One old goat feeding another

After our produce stand visit we continued west to the Everglades National park. Driving through the Everglades it looks like expansive fields broken by hammocks of trees. Closer examination reveals the pastures are covered with water. That said, most of the recreation in this park is boat oriented. Kayaking is probably the biggest participation sport.

The Everglades

There are a few hiking trails on the high ground, that would be one to four feet above sea level. There are an untold number of residents in the park that want to eat you. Visitors are warned to wear protective clothing and use of repellents. That's for insects, you're on your own with the crocodiles, alligators, rattle snakes, panthers and Burmese pythons.

 

Yes, that is a live crocodile! 

 

Cold war era nuclear missle site in the Everglades

While in the park we detoured on a side road to a deactivated missile site, arriving just in time to join the guided tour. This relic of the cold war housed Nike Hercules missiles armed with nuclear warheads. The plan was a 40 kiloton air burst from the Nike would take out the entire fleet of Russian bombers coming from Cuba.

Nike missile

If the idea of bombs three times the size of Hiroshima's going off somewhere overhead wasn't scary enough; the base commanders, mostly young army captains had authorization to launch the nukes if the enemy was seen approaching our coast. The reasoning was we are so close to Cuba there wouldn't be time to get permission to launch from the chain of command.

Our tour group at the Missile site

Seriously now, the air defenders of south Florida regularly saw Soviet and Cuban piloted MIGs on their radar screens and it is only through their skill and restraint there was never a knee jerk launch of nuclear nightmare. Our Cold War veterans deserve a lot of credit and our thanks for protecting us during that time.

We recommend touring the Nike base if you ever get to south Florida. You have to go during the colder seasons, Everglades National Park is closed in the summer, too many blood sucking insects. Now that's scary!

On Sunday we went to Coral Gables to the Actors Playhouse theater. It is in the downtown area known as the Miracle Mile and features high end shopping and fine dining. Don't ask me how, because I don't have a clue, but I was able to purchase two front row tickets for the final performance of the musical classic, West Side Story. 

The setting is on the west side of New York City in the last days of summer, 1957. The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. The Sharks are the new kids on the block and are from Puerta Rico. The Jets are a white gang who are not happy about the newcomers to the neighborhood.

West Side Story

Of course there has to be a love interest to complicate things and that is provided when Tony, a former member of the Jets and best friend of the gang leader, Riff, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. The dark themed story of cultural clash and forbidden love does not have a happy ending, other than the presumption of an end to the rivalry between the gangs.

Riff and Maria

West side story has been around for a long time and has been presented from the Broadway stage to a Hollywood movie and just about everywhere in between. In our humble opinions, The Actors theater production was about as good as can be, we enjoyed it.

Millie and our tour guide at the Miami-Homestead NASCAR track

Around town; we've gone shopping in a Hispanic grocery store called Sedona's, eaten out a couple times (Sonny's BBQ and Cracker Barrel), Washed and waxed the motorhome, taken the Jeep to the dealer for service, took a tour of the Homestead-Miami Speedway, went exploring to the parks on the coast east of Homestead. Mostly we read, ride our bikes and enjoy life in the tropics.