My Travel Blog

I had always heard that the Pacific Northwest is an enclave of communists and activist left wingers in general. I am neither, in fact, I don't believe I fit any particular political label, so I don't mean this with any disrespect for anybody's political proclivities.

Thus I was not surprised to find a shop in the Pearl district Portland, Oregon called Cargo. The shop is a communist emporium, containing a vast variety of red paraphernalia, that will make a follower of Mao or Che Guevara cry and go on a shopping binge.

I found the place interesting due to the paradox of it all. The communist always took pride on being very pragmatic about consumption in general and being anti-religion. However, Cargo is stocked up with tons of useless goods, that seem to defy the communist consumption view and seem more fitting with capitalist merchandising and McDonald's giveaways, and it has an aura of religious temple, in which the main saints are the Maos and Lenins of this world.

I guess the joke is on somebody, I am not sure who!

Driving through Collins Avenue, in Bal Harbour, is very pleasant to me. I do enjoy the broad boulevard, beautiful trees and open spaces and gardens of that particular borough. The lights at night make it even more pleasant. However, if you are a visitor to Florida, or even a local, beware.

There is a traffic law in Florida, which I consider a good one, that calls for drivers to reduce the speeds of their cars when approaching a parked emergency vehicle with lights on. This is meant to protect the emergency workers, such as policemen, paramedics and firemen, as well as the people they are attending to. As I say, it is a good law, when emergency vehicles are actually serving the public in an emergency.

However, the local police likes to place on the southbound lane two police cars with lights on, which are not attending to any emergency. An officer might stop your car way before it even approaches the emergency vehicles, flagging you with a flashlight. Guess what? They will tell you that you are supposed to reduce the speed upon approaching/ passing an emergency vehicle, and give you a hefty $106.00 ticket. This has happened to me.

There are two things wrong with the scenario. First of all, it seems clear that the law calls for the vehicle to reduce its speed upon approach and passing of the emergency vehicle. If you are a couple of blocks away from the police car you are not yet approaching the emergency vehicle. The violation would take place if the driver passed the emergency vehicle without slowing the speed, not way before reaching the police car. The driver must be given the opportunity to violate the law, before being stopped and given a ticket.

The second wrong scenario is that this law exists to protect emergency personnel and victims, in actual emergency situations, not to make revenue for the city. Placing two emergency vehicles which are basically doing nothing, but giving tickets, erroneously amounts to a light version of an imoral sting operation.

I suppose out-of-towners end up getting most tickets, and I really have no idea whether these ever get paid. Locals mostly dispute these in local Traffic Clinics.

I do believe that with the current real estate market debacle this type of practice might be even more pervasive. Thousands upon thousands of real estate properties are going on the auction block, foreclosed, and who knows whether real estate taxes are being paid on time. I guess they are not. As these constitute the brunt of taxes collected by local communities, there will be strong revenue shortfalls across the board, most specially in South Florida, where real estate speculation ran rampant in the last few years. Thus the need to make up for the revenue shortfall somewhere...

The good thing about living in Florida is that there are tons of interesting short trips you can take, to diverse locales. I had always had a fascination for the Florida keys, so I had to visit Key Largo, having visited Key West a few years ago.

If you are a beach person only, don't come, you will be disappointed. The beaches in the keys are not that great, I guess they have been eroded away and destroyed by development. If you like the sea and nature, by all means, this is a nice place.

We stayed at a Ramada almost at the end of Key Largo. We booked the place for a couple nights on Hotels.com at $140.00. The rate was not bad. We were slightly shocked when we booked an extra night for $109.00, though. So much for the cheapest guarantee made by the website! The hotel itself was not a five star stretch by any margin, but the rooms were nice, with all amenities, and very clean. The swimming pool was small, but nice, plus they have a jacuzzi. I guess we will leave that for winter, though...

There are plenty of activities in the nearby keys, such as Islamorada. Tons of snorkeling and diving offerings. Make sure you book the best for your level of sea comfort.

There is a nice wild bird sanctuary nearby Islamorada, where pelicans walk beside you as if you are not there. Watch out, they might push you. If you are lucky you might get to feed them.

The Theater of the Sea is a must to visit. Beautiful surroundings, good shows and nice animals. However, plan on arriving before 3 PM, as they will not sell you a ticket after that time. It would be nice if their ads said so. Also, the swimming with dolphin adventure has to be better planned. Just don't think you are going to arrive there and one of 125 dolphins will be ready for you. Places are limited and will cost you $168.00 a pop. Don~t go there if you are allergic to cats!!!!

Make sure you visit Ballyhoos restaurant. The service is well meaning, but quite pitiftul and amateurish, the surroundings indifferent, but the fish is out of this world.