I've been to the land of alligators and mosquitoes for a two week conference our company put on in Miami, Florida. Not the most pleasant of places to visit in mid-June, but interesting anyway.
The Miami area was a place I visited often as a child as my grandparents retired to and lived in Hollywood (just south of Ft. Lauderdale). The last time I'd visited that part of Florida was in 1988... so yes, it had changed some.
It was pleasant to have a day off in the middle of a 17 day trip to see some sites I hadn't seen in 20 years.
It was fun to visit their former home -
- and to visit the cemetery where they are now interred.
It was fun to visit the beach I used to go to as a kid -
- and to drive for miles south on A1A.
It was also fun (although extremely HOT!) to stand on the tip of the land mass of Florida from Everglades National Park and look out into Florida Bay -
- and also not fun to be on the lunch menu for multitudes of mosquitoes.
But, after logging more than 200 working hours and missing my family and friends, it was still exciting to see what lurks in all that water... in fact, a 300 pound relative of the specimen below was apprehended about a mile from our hotel the day before we flew back to Tucson.
Every day I drove past an elementary school on my way to Florida International University. It's nice to see they've selected an appropriate mascot...
I'm thankful I was able to be there!
