What I Love About Florida

Since I've spent lots of time kvetching about South Florida, I thought it best for my own peice of mind to find things about it I like/love and begin focusing on those things. Fed up with spending the weekends doing nothing or close to it, I got up early this morning, got myself and our daughter up and ready to go out the door, and went online searching for something to do. I came up with Vizcaya- for the next couple of months Sundays will be free, and you can't beat free. Into the car and off to Miami DH, Bebe and I went. Vizcaya is located in Coconut Grove; to get to it you have to drive down streets lush with Palm trees and tropical vegetation. Million dollar homes line the roadway, gorgeous mansions of various styles-Spanish mission (one of my personal favorites), Key West, etc. , painted white, pink, terra cotta, light blue, and occasionally light green. The sun beamed down for the first portion of our trip, washing the whole scene in its brilliant light. We took the tour inside the mansion (which is really more like a palace) and wandered briefly outside before the rains rolled in. The showers were soft but the lightning was feirce, and lightning is nothing to mess around with in these parts. If you want to check out this beautiful place for yourself without booking a ticket to Miami, here it is: http://www.vizcayamuseum.org/. There are lots of places to eat in the Grove, although one should take care when driving through the area because a wrong turn can land you in a very bad neighborhood VERY quickly.

On another note, DH and I went to see Sicko on Saturday night and I highly recommend it. There are some who like Michael Moore and some who do not; I am one who likes him quite a bit. The movie is a bit upsetting, but since I've watched it I've seen evidence that at least some of what he said is completely true ( I mean, how can it be legal for pharmaceutical companies to lobby politicians? Doesn't that bias the politicians just a wee bit in their favor when it comes time for laws to be passed which could benefit said companies and cost us all more money than we really should be paying to buy their drugs????) A great movie which should be watched with an open mind for full effect.