I travel to Miami about six to eight times per year to visit my son, his wife, and their two children. This has been going on for about three years now.
I’m definitely a people watcher and an observer of my surroundings…and these are my observations…being from the Midwest.
About seventy five percent of the houses either have a tall fence surrounding the property, a twelve-foot high hedge, a concrete wall, or another type of barrier to protect themselves from intruders.
Now, attached to each of those structures is an electric gate across the driveway so nobody can get onto the property.
The first thing that comes to my mind is that these folks don’t want anybody, for any reason, having access to their property, which would give someone from the Midwest the impression that these folks simply are not social. With all those gates I wonder how they get their Amazon packages??
However, that’s not the case. Miami is very family-oriented, friendly community, and no matter where you go, if you run into someone you know, everyone greets each other with a kiss on the cheek.
There’s more planning of play dates among parents for their children than there is a desire to have an immaculate house. Most folks with the right income have a housekeeper to make sure the house is clean and laundry is done.
Surprisingly there is a lot of green space. Lots of parks every few blocks. And they’re always full of kids with parents, grandparents, or Nannie’s.
When my son and DIL were house hunting, I learned that you choose an area to buy according to the school ratings. That’s a huge deal there.
The majority of homeowners have a lawn service, and from sun up to sun down, the streets are littered with lawn service trucks and trailers…seven days a week. Most houses have a built-in swimming pool, therefore there’s no shortage of pool boys or pool cleaning companies.
If you have a dog it’s usually a small designer dog that goes everywhere with you. And I mean everywhere. Fido is either being carried, or pushed around in a mini dog stroller. They are seen in grocery stores, malls, department stores, banks, and probably churches. There are many mobile dog grooming companies that go house to house to make sure Fido looks good and smells good.
And let’s not forget about the mobile car washing vans that come to your house to porter your vehicle.
Traffic is very interesting. It is non stop. In the Midwest where I live, I know I can drive to work in about 8 minutes if I make all the lights…and that’s to go about 4 miles. You are never going to go anywhere quickly in Miami. It just ain’t going to happen. One of the most mind-boggling things I’ve observed is any stop light where you need to cross US 1.
US 1 is a major thoroughfare. If you’re traveling on US 1, the longest you will wait at a light is two or three minutes. If you’re unlucky enough to be on a crossroad, with a stop light, and you need to get to the other side of US 1, plan to wait…and wait…and wait. I’m talking at least five minutes and that is a very long time to wait for the light to turn green. On the average I’ve noticed only about five cars are able to make the green light before it turns yellow, then red. It is a rare occasion if there are less than fifteen or more cars waiting to cross US 1, therefore you could be sitting at that light for a very, very long time.
At least ninety percent of moms are pencil thin, all moms wear leggings whether they’re pencil thin or not, their wedding rings are ginormous, they drive high-end SUVs, they all have long hair parted down the middle, and makeup is done to perfection.
While the malls in the Midwest city where I live are always empty, the malls in Miami are always packed…the valet parking they offer to shoppers and diners is a bustling business. Restaurants are always busy as they are where I live, except I’m old fashioned and still like to cook dinner every night. I’m not a fan of restaurants.
So if you’ve been thinking about a vacation in Miami, you should do it once. Many parks, beaches, sites, entertainment, activities, a fabulous zoo, and so much more. The great year-round weather allows this city to offer great things all twelve months. Almost everybody is always doing something.
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