The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

Skunk apes

From lunch at Joanie’s Blue Crab Café (seen in the last post in this series), we continued down the Tamiami Trail to our next stop: Skunk Ape Research Headquarters.

Those of you not from Florida may be asking: “What’s a Skunk Ape”?

Simply put, it’s Florida’s answer to the creature of popular legend known in other places as Bigfoot, the Yeti, or Sasquatch. It’s described as a large ape-like creature with glowing eyes and a strong, unpleasant, skunk-like stink. Skeptics have said that it’s probably a misidentified creature, possibly a black bear or an escaped orangutan.

But not Dave Shealy, who’s behind Skunk Ape Research Headquarters. He says that when he was ten years old, he had his first of three confirmed sightings of the creature, and for the past 30 years, he’s been researching these mysterious creatures.

Depending on your point of view, Skunk Ape Research Headquarters is either an amusing sideshow tucked into the Everglades or an overlooked center of serious research. If you’re having trouble deciding between the two, ask yourself this question: how many places of serious research have a gift shop as their lobby?

The place also has a reptile and exotic bird exhibit, but we simply opted to stick to the gift shop, where I made this purchase:

I thought I might need it for a second line of work when this “computers” fad blows over.

More on Skunk Ape Research Headquarters:

• Skunk Ape Research Headquarters’ official site
• Atlas Obscura’s writeup of Skunk Ape Research Headquarters
• Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s video interview with Dave Shealy on the skunk ape
• Sasquatch Chronicles’ short documentary on the skunk ape
• Discovery Channel Canada’s Daily Planet on the skunk ape

Swamp photos

Another unexpected gem in the swamp is the gallery of photographer Clyde Butcher, who’s famous for his large-format black-and-white photos of the Florida landscape. If you’re ever going down the Tamami Trail, make sure to stop by the gallery and get a look at his gorgeous, giant photos that so wonderfully capture the beauty in this state.

We talked with the people at the gallery and learned that Butcher recently suffered a stroke. The told us that he’s resting, recuperating, and raring to get back to what he loves and does best as soon as possible.

This is a gallery in a swamp in Florida, so they’re entitled to a little swap humor in their gift shop. Perhaps I should’ve bought this T-shirt:

Further reading:

• Clyde Butcher’s Wikipedia entry
• Fine Art America’s selection of Clyde Butcher prints
• How to Do Florida’s “How to Do a Swamp Walk with Photographer Clyde Butcher” video
• Miami Herald: Everglades photographer Clyde Butcher in rehab after stroke
• Naples News: Photographer Clyde Butcher, recovering from stroke, set to head home

South Beach

The Tamiami trail evaporated into Miami’s suburbs, and soon after that, we were on the bridge to Miami Beach, where we arrived at our hotel, the Cavalier:

The Cavalier is one of the art deco buildings on Miami’s South Beach, and it’s gorgeous not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. Here’s its lobby…

…and here are a couple of shots of our room:

The Cavalier doesn’t have its own parking, so we had to put the car in a lot a couple of blocks away, which gave us a chance to quickly explore the neighborhood…

…but we couldn’t do it for long, because we had a dinner appointment.

Find out more:

• The Cavalier’s official site
• A video tour of the Cavalier
• TripAdvisor’s page on the Cavalier
• Expedia’s page on the Cavalier

Supper

We caught up with our local friends Bob and JR for dinner at the “wood fired, Asian inspired” restaurant KYU in Miami’s arts/hipster district, Wynwood.
KYU is one of the hottest restaurants in Miami; Miami New Times has said that it’s quite tricky to get a reservation between 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. at the place, no matter what day it is. Luckily for us, Bob and JR are pretty well-connected, and landed a table for the four of us at 7:15 on a Saturday night.

KYU gets its name from both the English word barbecue and its Japanese equivalent, yakuniku (it literally means “meat on the grill”). They have a lot of great food here — we ordered plenty and shared it family-style — but what I was interested in was the Thai fried rice. Here’s Miami New Times’ description:

A signature dish at Kyu is Thai fried rice, which pairs well with any of the barbecued meats (duck, brisket, baby-back ribs, and short ribs). Lewis didn’t want to fry the rice in a wok, so he took a cue from the Korean favorite bibimbap and decided to prepare it in a stone pot — then have all the ingredients mixed tableside. The result is crispy and crunchy rice with a lovely element of creaminess. Guests can enhance the dish with king crab or pork sausage, though the latter was devoid of any interesting flavor.

We had the king crab version, and it was amazing.

If you want to know how good the food at KYU is, take a look at these happy diners’ faces:

Bob, Anitra, JR, and me.

Bob, Anitra, me, JR.

Recommended reading:

• KYU’s official site
• Miami New Times: Wynwood’s KYU delivers fresh Asian Chow
• The Daily Meal: KYU: A Miami Hotspot That’s Living Up to the Hype
• CBS Miami’s video: Taste Of The Town: Asian Barbecue With A Twist At KYU
• Yelp’s KYU page
• TripAdvisor’s KYU page

Previous articles in this series

• Scenes from our vacation, part 1: Going to Miami

If you need fourteen minutes of funny/poignant time today — or if you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to grow up with brown skin in America (and I can vouch that yes, it’s applicable in Canada too) — check out this bit from Hasan Minhaj’s stand-up routine:

For the record, my Dad was cooler than Hasan’s. Dating was fine, as were movies (he took me to see Star Wars back in 1977 when I was 10, and wouldn’t stop doing Darth Vader impressions for a month), but his expectations were as high as Hasan’s dad otherwise. And both dads were amazingly wise.

But the story about the parents who were concerned about their daughter taking a brown boy to prom? That I know well. At my prom, I barely got one foot out of the limo when my date pushed me back inside so that her parents wouldn’t get a good look at me.

Go watch the video, and if anyone sees you near the end, just tell them: “I’m not crying! You’re crying!”

If you want to know whatever became of “Bethany Reed” (real person, fake name), watch his Netflix show, Homecoming King. It is a happy ending.

Before the vacation: The Blind Tiger Café in Ybor City

A day before our vacation began, I went down to Ybor City to meet with Roberto Torres, owner of iconic Tampa businesses Blind Tiger Café, Black & Denim Clothing Company, and Cowork Ybor, for lunch. We had lunch at La Tropicana Café and talked about all sorts of things, including opportunities to collaborate.

I met Roberto at the first Tampa Company Culture Meetup and later at a Dali Museum workshop where I and a number of local creatives helped brainstorm ideas for a local business. If there’s something happening in town that involves making Tampa Bay’s urban areas better places to work, live, and play (such as the recent Millennial Impact Forum, which he MC’d), chances are that he’s involved, and I want to get involved too.

If you’re in Ybor City or Seminole Heights (Toronto friends: imagine Parkdale just before the Drake Hotel opened, but with a nearby palm tree-lined river), make sure to visit Blind Tiger Café — I recommend the nitro cold brew. If you’re in South Tampa (Toronto friends: imagine a cross of Yorkville and College West), a branch will be opening there soon.

On our way: Traipsing down the Tamami Trail

We packed up the car and started out for Miami on the morning of Saturday, July 1st. The photo above is of us filling up near Naples, where our course changed from southward to eastward.

In southern Florida, the fast way to shoot between the west and east coasts is to take that part of Interstate 75 called “Alligator Alley”, which connects Naples to Fort Lauderdale. It crosses the everglades and offers little to see except swamp, swamp, and more swamp, and is meant to simply be traveled through as quickly as possible.

Then there’s the Tamami Trail, a two-lane highway built in 1928. This two-lane highway doesn’t offer Alligator Alley’s speed, but as a designated National Scenic Byway, it makes up for it in scenery and quirky roadside stops.

Among these quirky stops is the smallest post office in the U.S., located in Ochopee:

It may also be the post office in the U.S. with the most laid-back office hours:

We had lunch at Joanie’s Blue Crab Café, a local legend, and deservedly so. This place is known for its delicious down-home cooking and extremely friendly service, both of which we experienced there:

Anitra had the blackened catfish salad, while I had the soft-shell crab sandwich:

Joanie’s Blue Crab Café offers more than a feast for the mouth, but for the eyes as well:

Don’t worry, they also have toilets indoors. In fact, the men’s room is an art gallery in and of itself, featuring a delightful gallery of nude and motorcycle photos.

If you pass through this area, don’t hesitate to stop at Joanie’s Blue Crab Café — it’s worth it!

Here are the reviews:

• Yelp (4 stars)
• TripAdvisor (4 stars)
• Facebook (4.5 stars)
• Miami New Times
• Fodor’s

 

(In case you were wondering who the dude in the lower photo is, that’s R. Kelly.)

Want to know where the bigots are? Read the comments for this video.

If a Muslim drove a pickup truck through the front gate of a church parking lot, rammed a couple of cars and sped off, you’d see the story everywhere, and rightfully so. However, when suspect Shaun Urweiler — pictured below in the typical dead-inside-eyes mug shot — did the same at a Tampa mosque, the story remained largely ignored, and that ain’t rightfully so.

Click the photo to see the source.

If you do a search for news on the incident, the only non-local coverage you’ll find is in this piece in International Business Times. The rest of the media has pretty much ignored the story.

From the news report:

ABC Action News spoke with the suspect’s brother, Neal Urwiler, over the phone, about the situation.

Neal Urwiler says his brother, Shaun, called him a few hours before  the incident to let him know that he had a dream about Fallujah, Iraq and believes it triggered him. He tells us, his brother is a combat veteran with PTSD and was not taking his medication. He says Shaun Urwiler hit “rock bottom” but his intention wasn’t to hurt anyone.

“I apologize on behalf of my family if anyone was scared,” said Neal Urwiler, “This is not something a sane person would do. He’s not that person and he’s going to get help.”

Click the photo to see the source.