Drove down for lunch with Mari at Miss Saigon in Coral Gables. Ginger chicken and lemongrass curried beef with rice noodles. Mari said she was watching the Juanes concert from Havana on Univision when they broke into the telecast to show two seniors duking it out in front of Versailles.
After lunch headed west on Bird Road, that fascinating stretch of Miamiana where every strip mall tells a story (usually in Spanish), until I eventually came to Jet's Florida Outdoors. Inside, it was a larger version of the old sporting goods stores of my youth, except that joining the mounted elk and deer heads on the wall was a large stuffed alligator. I found a knapsack in the size I wanted and when I asked about all the extra loops I was told they were for ice picks. "This is used mostly by climbers," the sales assistant told me, before going to search on his computer for something more suitable for hiking.
Drove up to Tamiami Trail and took it into downtown past more all-purpose strip malls, Spanish signage, restaurants with names like El Gallego, 50s motels. You could write a book or make a movie about Southwest 8th Street. Glided past Versailles, where everything looked peaceful, the Tower Theater, Dominoes Park, the Bay of Pigs Monument, the Alliance Francaise before hanging a left, crossing the Miami River and heading to the parking garage of Miami Dade College.
In my travel writing class we talked about Virginia Key - the subject of one of the students' stories - and then the MacArthur Causeway, especially that thrill you get driving toward Miami Beach on a winter's afternoon when the cruise ships are all lined up in a brilliant white row like in a vintage travel poster.
Postscript: At home I turned on the TV and caught the Marlins' come-from-behind victory over the Phils, Hanley Ramirez almost missing home plate in his rush to hug Brett Carroll who had just driven him in on an 0-2 pitch and was soon to be doused - during the post-game interview - with a triumphal shower of shaving cream and Gatorade. There are a number of teams that play better than the Marlins, but few that play with the same - to borrow a phrase from one of my students - joie de vivre.
