You can take the GRITS out of Florida, but you can't take Florida out of the GRITS!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

A little Coral Gables

I have a few pics that I've taken around Coral Gables and thought I'd share some of them here. No history lessons today, though. I worked all day and I'm just too tired to start doing some indepth typing. So I'll just tell you what you're looking at and you can google to your heart's content if you want to learn more! This is my kayak at the wading beach of Matheson Hammock Park off Old Cutler Road. This was the first park procurred by the Dade County Park & Recreation Department and is probably the prettiest park in their system. I've been coming here forever and I never tire of it.




This is a sculpture outside the Coral Gables Library. It's in their butterfly garden (imagine that!).


Passionflowers at the Library. I think they're my favorite flower.


Coral Gables City Hall at sunset.











The Biltmore Hotel. The grandest place in South Florida.









Many famous and infamous people have stayed here. Al Capone once stayed in their "Everglades Suite" . You can stay there, too if you have around $1300 to blow! (and that's per night).The Biltomore is supposedly haunted. On Thursday nights, there is a storyteller who talks about the hotel, it's history and it's ghosts. I love this picture of the lobby of the hotel. I just know I got a ghost shot!










Sam chillin' by a fountain.








The memorial at the War Memorial Youth Center. This is a really busy park. Basketball courts, fields and a playground that is carpeted with indoor/outdoor carpeting! There is alot more to this park that I haven't checked out yet.













Some of my family etched on the memorial.














Banyan Trees!!! Beautiful and fun to climb, but I'm glad I don't have any on my yard!



The Merrick House. the founder of Coral Gables, the City Beautiful.







Front view of the Merrick House.


All that remains of Boy Scout Troop #7's original cabin. Believe it or not, this is located right on a golf course.





I took this picture when we went to see the Chihuly Exhibit at Fairchild Tropical Gardens.




Well, that's all for tonight. Hope you enjoyed a few views of Coral Gables. It's a real pretty place, but I don't think I could handle living in a place that fines you for parking a pickup truck in your yard overnight. Honest, they do. It's against the law. But that may be changing soon from what I've read in the paper today,

I promise to have something intelligent and worthwhile on here by the end of the weekend!

4 comments:

SophieMae said...

It really is a pretty place, but my pickup is always parked in my yard, so I'd be in a heap o' trouble. Is the Biltmore grander than Vizcaya? It's been many, many moons since I was down thataway, so the memories are dim.

Have you read Death in the Everglades? It's filled with lots of fascinating south FL history.

I took a quick peek at your genealogy page. I have some Mixons in my family, as well. Mostly from SC.

SwampAngel65 said...

I haven't read that...must put it on my list!

The Biltmore is a hotel and Vizcaya was a private home. I guess I should've said it's the grandest hotel in Florida! When I was little and we'd visit Vizcaya, I'd pretend that it was my home and all the people were my guests. (Yes, I was a weird kid) It's a beautiful place that can make your imagination flow... If you ever make it "down South", let me know and I'll go there with you!

It.z said...

These are some very nice pictures of Coral Gables. Thank you swampangle for posting them to your blog.

Corky has played the course at the Biltmore. I am not even sure if I was ever on the grounds.

SwampAngel65 said...

There is a terracache that requires you to walk into the lobby of the Biltmore, then out on the grounds. Sam and I did it. No one said a word to us! It was really memorbale since I'd never been inside before. It's a "WOW" place, for sure. You feel like you've stepped back in time...classy, refined, old Florida feeling. You've got to go in!