You might wonder where people who live on a Florida beach go for vacation. The answer is simple: They go to a different Florida beach!
I grew up in Miami. It was very different from the Miami of today. It was quieter, less crowded, calmer. Absolutely beautiful. I grew up in paradise, and I knew it. We traveled a lot, which I loved. But I was always glad to be home too.
Living a few blocks from Biscayne Bay, with just a short hop over the causeway to Miami Beach, is like living in a vacation. Even so, at vacation time, my parents needed to get away from work, from daily chores, and enjoy a change of scenery. You’d think we might have gone to the mountains or somewhere different. Nope. We just went to a different Florida beach. And I loved it!
When I was young, we had two destinations we would alternate between. One was Sanibel Island off the west coast of Florida. The other was Islamorada in the Florida Keys. Both were so different from Miami, and as a kid, I really felt like we were away on an adventure.
Sanibel Island sat in the Gulf of Mexico, which was totally different from the Atlantic Ocean that swept onto Miami Beach. The Gulf was very shallow and calm, and I could walk way out in the water. I’d never experienced anything like it.
We stayed in a little cottage right on the beach. It was amazing to watch the sunsets over the water. I was into collecting seashells, and I found a beautiful variety of shells I’d never seen back home.
Our other vacation destination, in the Florida Keys, was very different from Miami as well. The Keys had an eclectic culture. I loved driving from island to island and seeing the coral reefs.
Islamorada was our hub. We stayed at the Breezy Palms Resort right on the beach, with a swimming pool and lots of palm trees. Amazingly, the Breezy Palms is still in operation today. It’s one of the rare places in the Keys that has a sandy beach. Most of the Keys are known for rocky limestone beaches.
Staying at the Breezy Palms, I learned you don’t necessarily want to sit right below a palm tree, especially when a breeze is blowing. Not only can a coconut drop all of a sudden, but those palm fronds can too, and they weigh a lot. A woman came within inches of getting hit by a falling palm frond, right in front of my eyes. That was scary for all of us, and we made sure to give the palm trees a wide berth.
On one of our two-week visits to Islamorada, we were going back to Miami on that Saturday for the wedding of one of our friends. We were raving so much about our vacation that the family of the bride decided to stay there with us the following week. That was great fun because I loved that family, and they had a kid my age. I enjoyed having our own little community there.
Whenever we stayed in the Keys, we took side trips as well. I remember taking a trip over the reef in a glass-bottom boat. I loved seeing all the colorful marine life. That wasn’t something we could see back home at Miami Beach.
At one time, we went for dinner in a lighthouse on Key Largo, where they had great key lime pie. We enjoyed it so much that we went back again a few times for dinner with our church group from Miami. Key Largo was only about an hour drive from Miami.
Those trips really stirred my love of the ocean and sea creatures. To this day, I love any chance I get to visit the ocean. If I had my career to choose over again, I would probably become a marine biologist. To satisfy that longing, I am writing a novel about a family of marine biologists and some sea creatures. I don’t know when I’ll ever finish writing it, but I am enjoying the process. You never know how those early life experiences and memories will inspire you later on.
Exploring Generations 