A day spent in Miami is a day spent among tall buildings, and where in Key West La Concha retains the century old title of tallest building in Key West, in Miami it is a piker, as far as height goes.
My wife's rheumatologist has an office near the hospital in South Miami near Highway One, which in this city looks nothing like the Highway One seen meandering through the Keys. Around here it's six lanes of hectic traffic, empty sidewalks with a light rail system on elevated tracks as though Miami suddenly were someplace Up North with an "El" (..evated railroad).
There are people in Key West who don't get off the rock ever. Some treat a boat ride to get out fishing as away time, but for quite a few the occasional shopping trip to the Big City three hours north is a requirement from time to time. I am the only person I know who doesn't actually mind the drive. I enjoy the cut and thrust of knowing the Overseas Highway block by block, where to linger, where to pass and where the cops like to lurk. I enjoy the views over the water and the communities one passes through to get to the big ugliness of the giant city. Cheyenne takes it all in stride and is always curious about everything, including elevated light rail.
It is a common sight in the US to trip over people discarded and sleeping their days away in open spaces. They ignored us and we tried to ignore them though Cheyenne thought they smelled interesting. It seems so boring to be homeless and so sad to become used to being invisible.
I have been on ride alongs with officers in Key West, as part of my training for dispatch, and I fear I could not bring myself were I an officer to roust some little old lady and all her possessions from Bayview Park in Key West at two in the morning to move her along. I remember her muttering "Where do I go?" over and over again as she shuffled around her shopping cart. But parks are meant for the well heeled and respectable not the down at heel. 
The City of Miami itself is a very small municipal entity at the north end of Biscayne Bay, Dade county actually consists of lots of cities, a criss cross of streets with several different names each as the travel though various and assorted jurisdictions one indistinguishable from the other. I defy you to parachute into south Dade County and identify whether you are in Kendall, Perrine, Cutler Ridge or South Miami.
Dade County was renamed a few years ago (quite a few I think, 1997?) Miami-Dade because the people in charge feared no one outside the county knew where anonymous "Dade" was. Major Dade commanded a group of soldier sin Tampa and was ordered to march them to Ocala in 1835. He took a wrong turn, headed south into a Seminole ambush and only three survived as they fumbled in the frigid winter air (60 degrees) to sort out their weapons. He seemed like a good man to memorialize from the Second Seminole War so when they carved out this chunk of Monroe County, which in those days covered all of uninhabitable South Florida, they named it Dade and called it good. 
Miami was first called Fort Dallas, built on the swampy nasty buggy land next to Biscayne bay then Julia Tuttle of Cleveland decided to build herself a city, the first woman to lay out a major metropolitan area in North America and it was voted into existence in 1896 by 400 male residents. Women didn't get the vote of course until 1920. Nowadays everyone tries to distance themselves from the huge metroplex that is downtown Dade County, home of Spanish speakers and gaudy TV crime shows. 
My wife's rheumatologist has an office near the hospital in South Miami near Highway One, which in this city looks nothing like the Highway One seen meandering through the Keys. Around here it's six lanes of hectic traffic, empty sidewalks with a light rail system on elevated tracks as though Miami suddenly were someplace Up North with an "El" (..evated railroad).There are people in Key West who don't get off the rock ever. Some treat a boat ride to get out fishing as away time, but for quite a few the occasional shopping trip to the Big City three hours north is a requirement from time to time. I am the only person I know who doesn't actually mind the drive. I enjoy the cut and thrust of knowing the Overseas Highway block by block, where to linger, where to pass and where the cops like to lurk. I enjoy the views over the water and the communities one passes through to get to the big ugliness of the giant city. Cheyenne takes it all in stride and is always curious about everything, including elevated light rail.It is a common sight in the US to trip over people discarded and sleeping their days away in open spaces. They ignored us and we tried to ignore them though Cheyenne thought they smelled interesting. It seems so boring to be homeless and so sad to become used to being invisible. 
I have been on ride alongs with officers in Key West, as part of my training for dispatch, and I fear I could not bring myself were I an officer to roust some little old lady and all her possessions from Bayview Park in Key West at two in the morning to move her along. I remember her muttering "Where do I go?" over and over again as she shuffled around her shopping cart. But parks are meant for the well heeled and respectable not the down at heel. The City of Miami itself is a very small municipal entity at the north end of Biscayne Bay, Dade county actually consists of lots of cities, a criss cross of streets with several different names each as the travel though various and assorted jurisdictions one indistinguishable from the other. I defy you to parachute into south Dade County and identify whether you are in Kendall, Perrine, Cutler Ridge or South Miami.Dade County was renamed a few years ago (quite a few I think, 1997?) Miami-Dade because the people in charge feared no one outside the county knew where anonymous "Dade" was. Major Dade commanded a group of soldier sin Tampa and was ordered to march them to Ocala in 1835. He took a wrong turn, headed south into a Seminole ambush and only three survived as they fumbled in the frigid winter air (60 degrees) to sort out their weapons. He seemed like a good man to memorialize from the Second Seminole War so when they carved out this chunk of Monroe County, which in those days covered all of uninhabitable South Florida, they named it Dade and called it good. Miami was first called Fort Dallas, built on the swampy nasty buggy land next to Biscayne bay then Julia Tuttle of Cleveland decided to build herself a city, the first woman to lay out a major metropolitan area in North America and it was voted into existence in 1896 by 400 male residents. Women didn't get the vote of course until 1920. Nowadays everyone tries to distance themselves from the huge metroplex that is downtown Dade County, home of Spanish speakers and gaudy TV crime shows. I can think of nothing duller than pleasant living, but I suppose compared to the core of the actual city of Miami they may have a point.
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