Like many people, we are very glad to put 2016 in the rear view mirror. But as we do, to wrap up my first year of blogging, I thought it appropriate to do a post reflecting on how well we met some of our annual goals.
An important reason I wanted to start blogging was to prompt myself to get out of the house, look around my new hometown of Miami and learn more about Miami history — especially since my own family were Miami pioneers.
I definitely enjoyed finding out more about Miami history, ranging from possible pre-Columbian archaeological evidence to several of the women who founded Miami to more modern landmarks like the Freedom Tower. I’m glad we took the time to examine artwork both at a major museum and installed around town. I’m glad we stopped to see unexpected and unplanned events like a visiting oceanic science research vessel. Finally, I am happy to have spent some time working on my photography — and learning more features of my camera — in a few concentrated areas such as the Miami Beach Art Deco District and the plentiful butterflies and birds at Butterfly World.
We also hoped 2016 would be the year we finally went on more vacations. We started off strong with a January trip to Key Largo, where we enjoyed bird watching, kayaking and snorkeling, studying geology, and even beer tasting. However, the rest of our plans for the year were derailed by illness in the family. We are certainly hoping 2017 will be an improvement in this respect.
Now onto 2017! As usual, we observed our family tradition of going to bed early on New Year’s Eve and getting up to greet the sunrise of the new year. Unlike last year, when we made the mistake of visiting South Beach for sunrise after what was very obviously a night of hard partying, this year we stayed close to home for the sunrise. Literally. We watched it from our balcony.
We overcame years of feet-in-the-sand tradition after researching the promising public parks and beaches in the vicinity, and discovering that all the parks we wanted to visit do not open (and, more importantly, have physical barriers to prevent entry) until after sunrise. So this year my collection of sunrise photos features the urban landscape of Miami’s barrier islands, plus the artificially-enhanced island of Brickell Key, and, thanks to persistent clouds on the eastern horizon, very little direct evidence of the actual sun.
In gearing up for 2017, we have goals in a variety of categories: health/fitness, financial, skills improvement, but most of all we are hoping to do more blog-worthy activities. I enjoy the research that goes into scouting the locations, taking photos, choosing the best pictures and developing the post. Here’s hoping 2017 is filled with accomplishments!
The appetizers look great!!!