The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
-Psalm 19:1

Do you know that God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?
-Job 37:15



Monday, June 16, 2008

A wonderful weekend in Miami!!!

Well, as I mentioned, bf and I traveled down to Miami for a long weekend, to attend his cousin's wedding. We had a terrific time!!! Here's the rest of the story... We left after I finished work on Thursday, traveled the 6 or so hours down to Miramar, FL, in our cute little Mazda 3 rental... we traveled among some heavy duty convection, as the sea breeze worked its way in, initiating on all the juicy afternoon heating. At one point, there was a substantial shelf cloud that caught my fancy... you know me...So, we arrived in Miramar, and crashed at bf's cousin's house... another cousin... and woke the next morning to some early sea breeze convection firing, putting some thunderstorms up to our south. As we were leaving, a momma duck and 5 little ducklings were waddling around the neighborhood like they owned the place. You know me, I went to town taking pics of that cute little duck family, wandering around the neighborhood like they owned the place. I was surprised at how close she brought her little ones to us... SO CUTE!!!... of course, I was quickly distracted by the NICE towers going up, while we were on our way to the National Hurricane Center...We quickly arrived at the NHC, which was a very short drive from the cousin's house, and I set up the tripod to capture pics outside the building, which is basically built like a bunker... don't guess they want it to blow away... look bad when the hurricane center disappears... We took our pics... ...then, bf suggested we go inside. No, they don't do tours during the season, no we didn't have an appointment or a point of contact. No, it wasn't Tuesday or Thursday from 10-2, but we certainly wouldn't get in if we didn't try... well, we walked in, which totally baffled the very helpful "police service technician" (a wuh???)... lol, who stumbled over his words letting us know that we weren't really supposed to be inside there... lolThat last shot is one of the blossoms on the tree outside of the hurricane center. Right now, Miami is colored in orange as all their Poinciana trees are in full bloom, gorgeously brilliant orange blossoms fill the air. Well, after having fun with the hurricane police, we headed on down to Key Biscayne, where we saw this cute little bird scurrying along the shore line.... and besides the arbitrary cone shaped funnel cloud that we just happened to stumble upon, that was about all there was to Key Biscayne... Oh, did I mention that we saw a funnel cloud?... oh, and while we were on Key Biscayne, there was a cone funnel that appeared in front of me after one of the turns... Did I mention that it happened to be the remnants of one of the 4 tornado reported "tornadoes" (in the entire CONUS) from, Friday, June 13th?!!! Let me tell you, there was some serious Happy Dew Dancing with that one. Unfortunately, with it being unexpected as it was, I didn't capture the cone... I only captured it at the dissipation stage. Bummer. I did see it though. WAHOO!!!I saw the end of a tornado!!!!! :OD The sky was actually pretty ominous looking for much of the afternoon.Then, we headed to the hotel to get fixed up for the wedding and reception. Bf and I had a terrific time at this Latin flaired reception, since the bride was Panamanian.











The next day was terrific, too. We got together with everyone from bf's family, and I got to learn about some things that are common in Miami, including the Poinciana trees and the Banyan tree, which is bf's favorite tree. They are so cool, they drop branches which eventually stiffen to form an extra support to aid the trunk. Very cool. I can see why they are his favorite.

The first banyan tree in the U.S. was planted by Thomas Alva Edison in Fort Myers, Florida. It was given to Edison by Harvey Firestone after Firestone visited India in 1925 and was planted in the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. The tree, originally only 4 feet (1.2 m) tall, now covers 400 feet (120 m). Older banyan trees are characterized by their aerial prop roots which grow into thick woody trunks which, with age, can become indistinguishable from the main trunk. Old trees can spread out laterally using these prop roots to cover a wide area. ~Source
I was also thrilled to see parrots eating from the bird feeder. I had never seen anything like that before. We visited South Beach for some yummy Giradelli and art studio exploration and headed back to Miramar for the night. Then, it was time to head back, but not before meeting yet another team member, Jeff Gammons. We met up with Jeff in Fort Pierce, and he took us to this perfectly named chaser convergence spot called "The Original Hurricane Grill & Wings". Great food, great stories, wonderful time, beautiful water and as a night cap, a nice back building convective system started firing back behind us... I was amazed at the amount of beach erosion. Jeff had described it, but I guess seeing is believing sometimes... Oh, a funny story... this group came walking up with a HUGE fish in their hand... We thought, WOW! What a catch! Apparently, someone had caught it and handed it to this lady, saying she could have it. We were all cracking up at the little lady holding the monstrous catch.
All in all, a wonderful trip. We were even treated to a nice arch rainbow on the way home, which, of course, we stopped to shoot.
I am not up on local weather or anything... I'll get back into that tomorrow. I know there is a public severe weather outlook... here is the map if you're interested...Have a wonderful day!!!
~Dewdrop

11 comments:

  1. So many great shots I don't know where to begin..little duckies..amazing Banyan tree...tornado remnants..pretty cool. :)

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  2. Thanks, Beth. It was an awesome trip!!!! I didn't know where to start telling about it...

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  3. That was quite a series of photos! A lot was going on there! "Louis" sees that boredom was NOT an issue!

    Check out this Special Edition for Chuck Pefley.

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  4. Enjoyed the afternoon with you guys. That pic with the lil lady and the fish came out great!

    We'll have to do it again soon...in a cane!

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  5. A fantastic read Dew.. I mentioned your 'enthusiasm' in the post below.. well I think it is there in all your posts and that is what really makes my visits here special.. oH! I love the pictures and all the weather stuff.. and all I learn about it.. but through all that comes your enthusiasm.. it makes my day.

    Tom

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  6. Louis, Boredom doesn't seem to be an issue for me at all, anymore. We had a terrific time.

    Jeff, It was a terrific afternoon. It's great to hear bf retell it as we talk to friends. My weather geek in the making... lol. The man with that lady sent me an email back saying they forgot to cut the tail and drain the fish, so it was horrible to eat, and they had to throw it away, but they thought it was great and enjoyed the pics. We'll absolutely have to do it again, the cane way. Chasing a cane Dew style... should be interesting.

    Island rambles, Never seen a post like this...? Wow, I am honored. Study me, like a rare exotic bird... do you think we could get grant funds for chasing??? (Hey, it was worth the shot...) So glad you enjoyed my post. Glad you enjoyed the pics. I join in all the blogging games that I can. Cheers!!! ~Dewdrop person... love it.

    Mike, thanks. It was terrific!

    Tom, Glad you can sense my enthusiasm through my posts. I know I feel it, so glad it's conveyed. I am touched. Truly. Glad to make your day. Coincidentally, you make mine.

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  7. Sounded like a neat weekend. The birds look more like conures than parrots, but I'm no pro! They would be cool to have in my back yard!
    T

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  8. Hi Dew!

    Wow.. That was a good read... Seems like you really had a great time there! The pictures are always awesome! The little ducks are sooo cute! :D

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  9. Teresa, You inspired me to do research... according to Wikipedia:

    "Conures are a diverse, loosely-defined group of small to medium-sized parrots. They belong to several genera within a long-tailed group of the New World Parrot subfamily Arinae. The term "conure" is used primarily in bird keeping, though it has appeared in some scientific journals.

    Description
    Conures are either large parakeets or small parrots that are found in the western hemisphere."

    So, same thing, apparently. Bf's uncle's house is listed as a stop on some bird watching tour for the parrots/conures... We had a terrific time!!!

    Ice, indeed, a truly great time, and I am so glad you enjoyed the pics. I enjoyed capturing them. :O)

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  10. Since I'm a birder I love seeing different species. Those little guys looked very much like "Mike". I'm going to look them up and find out what their called. Last year I saw some parrots flying around St. Augustine, FL. It's amazing, I think that some of those storms that you get "wild" about has been the reason that we now have those parrots flying freely. Escapees!
    T

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