Miami #7 - Art In and Around the Office

More on my adventures in Miami. I really like sculptures and art so I tend to take several pictures of such things.

This was a fairly large sculpture called Slide Mantra that was at the Bayfront park near the Bayside mall. Looked like it could be fun to slide on.


I liked that they had so many plaques telling about the sculptures and statues.

Unfortunately it's under repairs so I had to stay back a bit while looking it over.

This wall hanging was outside one of the three restaurants in the hotel we stayed in. I suspect it's rather old as it has been patched--very well mind you--many times.

Cute little statue of three riders in the hotel lobby.

There were several of this boxy, squiggly sculpture around the lobby of the building where Shadowowl had to work.

They seemed to have a boxy theme on much of their art.

They also had this really nice and really large pot that could have fit me and half of Shadowowl.

And it was really impressive the way they had it displayed in the lobby with a wall behind that almost matched the color of the pot.

Miami #6 - Atlantic Ocean

This is my first time by the Atlantic ocean. If you allow yourself to only look out across the water it is very beautiful. Just don't look too close to the rocks along the coast because the litter there is just depressing. The little crabs and odd bugs (I'm not sure if they were bugs or some kind of crustacean) were nifty but sadly, I did not manage to get any pictures of them as they were very fast and very shy. I don't think I was looking at them hungrily at all. Honest.

You can see a sailboat off in the distance.

Near the Bayside mall they had a "beach" with chairs and palm trees. Felt very manufactured. The kind of thing a non-creative parks and rec department might put together. I will give them credit for trying though.

Ahoy mateys! Too bad I didn't have this post together yesterday for International Talk Like a Pirate Day. It looks like you can ride a "pirate" ship out here.

Up on a balcony at the mall.

This spot was just two blocks from the hotel.

And this post rides off into the sunset.

Miami #5 - Bayside Mall

Here's some of the non-construction sights from our walk to the Bayside Mall. I swear this looks like maybe it's Gumby's brother.

This is a different lion entirely but there seemed to be a surplus of lions at doorways. Very popular theme.

Good old Christopher Columbus. Maybe he's praying he found the right place. The plaque talked about how God guided him. Whatever (say that with attitude). Sheesh! He didn't even find what he was looking for. Anyways, it's still a nifty statue and he did find the Americas and so here we all are ... for good or bad.

Hey Lex. Do you know this guy? Just kidding, why would you know every monkey in the world just because you're a monkey? They had a couple of these lifesize statues in this shop at the Bayside mall. Nice shop but a tad expensive.

I admit it. I like the penny squishing machines but I wouldn't want to work in one. This panda looked so peeved to be in this machine. I figured I'd at least give him some work since he was there. Briefly I thought I broke the machine when a penny slipped and didn't go through the machine. I ran another and it all worked (and I have a half smooshed penny). I was so glad. Didn't want to make him lose his job even if he seemed to hate it.

This mall seemed to have a thing for putting stuffies in "cages". Kermit here is either trying to get help or doing his Grover imitation. I'd better watch my step or might end up in one.

After walking around a bit we were getting hungry so we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe.

This globe rotates around. On the back it says "Save the Planet". This girl came out of the restaurant in a rush and almost knocked me down. Had me worried. I say, "Save the Owl First."

Just inside the Hard Rock Cafe they have this statue. Very nice start to dinner. Almost mystical.

Stopped again on the way back to see "Gumby's brother". He must have been getting ready for a party or something with the way he's all lit up. I think the people in the car nearby must have thought I was going to make a mess of their statue. Kept looking at me funny.

Here we are back at the hotel. Here's that previously promised lit up version of the JW Marriott logo.

Miami #4 - Buildings

I like looking at buildings. To me they are often just like big art. In Miami, as I keep mentioning, there was a lot of construction. Though it sure seemed like some of the buildings weren't even being worked on.
Saw this one while we were walking to the Bayside mall. Let me just say that some routes were better than others. Some would probably be scary at night. All horror movie and the like.
I found their raised tram system to be interesting. Seems to go all over.
This building looks almost like a set of stairs stood on end.
Three very different buildings. The one on the left with all the color caught my attention.
This one, also under construction, was made to look like a ship.
The Maurice Gusman Center for the Performing Arts was a nice older building with a lot of the detail I like.

Miami #3 - Brickell Drawbridge

As we were walking to the Bayside Mall we came across the Brickell drawbridge. Here I am looking out off the drawbridge. The Brickell family seems to have been very important in this area.
On each of the pillars of the bridge were plaques with some animal. I don't know if the other side of the street also had plaques because there was construction and we weren't allowed there. Here are the manatees.
The herons.
The eagles. (Isn't that a band?)
The alligators.
The owl.
Me and the owl. He wasn't very talkative.
Here's a statue of the Brickell archer. I don't know what it signifies but they use the image on street signs too.

This was on the way back but because it was the Brickell family I thought it kind of belonged here. The pillar was covered with Brickell names. Big family.

Miami #2 - JW Marriott

Took a taxi to the hotel, mostly for Shadowowl's sake, but I wasn't complaining either. I mean I did fly all the way from Denver and boy were my wings tired... er, yeah. Couldn't resist. Actually, I was really thinking that the taxi would be welcome relief from the humidity outside the airport. Unfortunately the driver didn't believe in air conditioning and was just teasing us with a window only barely down.

We got to the hotel, dropped our bags off and got settled in. I had to check everything out.

It was a nice view of downtown clear up here on the 18th floor.

They had a computer and Internet in the room but they charge ten bucks a day. Outrageous! But also the norm, it seems, among the more expensive hotels. The cheaper ones seem to include it. Probably to get you to stay there.

The bed was super comfy. Especially the pillows. And from here I had a great view of the ...

... giant LCD TV hanging on the wall. Woohoo! (Not that we watched much.)

After we cooled off and got our stuff settled Shadowowl decided it was time to go for a walk. He's such a masochist.

Once outside in the heat and humidity (did I mention masochism?) I figured we'd get a shot of the signage of the hotel.

And their logo. This looks pretty cool lit up as well but you'll have to wait until a later post for that.

I found it very fascinating that they have a copy of this statue here in Miami as well as in Denver. I may have to see what I can find about it's origins but I know the original is fairly old. I think I remember seeing a date from the late 1800's on the base of one of them.

More on our night on the town in another post. Stay tuned.