One of my mom's home remedies for sunburn is fresh aloe from the garden. She slices off a leaf and peels the skin off one side and then you just rub the jelly-like inside on your bod. I don't know if the aloe does anything to prevent additional peeling but it sure does feel nice, especially if it's been kept in the fridge, ahhh cool and refreshing. It does have a weird odor at first but that completely disappears when it dries leaving you silky soft! Meg and I are both peeling just a little bit. How could this happen? We’re Italian for goodness sake! Well, I’m half Italian and Meg’s one quarter, but she looks more Italian than I do and we NEVER peel… until now.We can’t stay away from the beach forever so we head out to explore some of Miami’s other beaches. We load up sunscreen and cover-ups and leave later in the day when the sun isn’t so damaging.
Megan is very interested in marine life so we decide to visit Matheson Hammock. The main beach there is an atoll, kind of a big salt-water pool. My family spent many Sunday afternoons there in the late 1950’s and one of the very cool features was the coral rock building that housed a snack bar where, as a special treat, I could get an ice-cream cone or some other frozen delight. I’m sure there were changing rooms and such also but my memory stops at the snack bar!
Meg is not at all impressed with the beach, the snack bar is closed and the rest of the coral rock building has been converted into a fancy restaurant. The mile long sandbar that used to be on the ocean side of the pool seawall is gone too. My last chance to salvage the day is a side beach that has tidal pools and a lot of interesting sea life. The sign for the beach access road is missing but I’m sure that I remember where to turn so we venture down a familiar if unmarked path. The road hasn’t been maintained and I comment on how deserted the area is which is odd as it used to be quite popular and now appears to be abandoned. We park the car and as I am about to get out and walk down to the beach Meg says, “Wait, let’s see what that sign says.” 
Eeek! No wonder no one is on the beach! We drive around for a bit peering into the mangroves but we don’t spot any Crocs and neither one of us want to be bait to entice them to come out so we leave.
Most of the beaches in Miami don’t allow dogs. The only one I know of is along the causeway to Crandon Park. It’s very rocky with little sand but it’s a beach and we want to see if Iggy will like the ocean.
Although he’s an excellent swimmer one quick paddle to shore is enough for him and he is not at all interested in splashing along the shoreline. 
Get me outta here!
Poor baby! We wrap him up in a towel and soon he is sleeping peacefully.
I have to say that even though I have fond memories of Crandon and Matheson, as those are the beaches my family usually went to when I was little; Miami Beach is by far the nicest beach we visited. It’s very clean, the waves are nice and there are no crocodiles running around ;-) 
1 comment:
You brought up some great memories of places we used to frequent. I remember taking the kids for a drive through Matheson Hammock when the land crabs were out. You could not drive your car without squishing them as you drove. Most would scurry out of the way...it looked like moving ground there were so many. So much wildlife within the mangroves..fun to watch. We always loved the beach at the end of Key Biscayne...miles and miles and at low tide was so fun for the kids to play in the little pools left behind.
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