Cauley Square and Deering Estates

Today, my husband, son, mother-in-law, and I went down south to Cauley Square. For those of you not familiar with "down south," or to whom "down south" means Miramar or North Dade, Cauley Square is located off of US1 and SW 224 Street. That's on the way down to Homestead and Key Largo, and not too far from home for me.

We originally headed there for breakfast in the Tea Room, one of two restaurants situated in this historic, "nostalgic Village that offers a Glimpse of Old South Florida at its best." All stores and restaurants are housed in quaint, cottage-style homes that lead to the ambiance of Southern comfort. Surrounding these cottages are large trees and ample foliage that are home to many animals, including cats and raccoons. In fact, we saw a crafty family of about 6 raccoons that meandered throughout the trees and roofs of the cottages. At one point, two of the raccoons creeped close to the edge of a roof, peering anxiously downward as if awaiting for someone - or as if looking for who to scare. It was a riot! But I digress. The shops there include antique stores, craft stores, tarot reading stop, and even a wedding location/planner. We only got to wander through one section of Cauley Square, though, because my son was getting very tired (and cranky!) and we new nap time was quickly upon us. If anyone would like to check out the website and plan a visit, here's the website: http://www.cauleysquare.com/.

As soon as we left, my son conched out, so we decided to get gas (15 miles to empty!) and head down historic Old Cutler Road. As we oohed and aahed at the views of the homes and the greens, we decided to make an impromptu stop at the historic Deering Estates at Cutler (http://www.deeringestate.org/pages/our-history.aspx). The Deering Estates at Cutler were the vision of Charles Deering, brother of James Deering (Vizcaya Museum & Gardens founder). As soon as you purchase your tickets, you follow a paved road surrounded by trees and the buzzing of insects. As you look ahead, you see, in the clearing, the Atlantic ocean, crystallized against the winter sun and bordered by swaying palm trees. The paved road empties out into an open space that is composed of the two stone houses, a brick-paved courtyard (which they rent for weddings and which they were setting up today for one), a large field of grass so green you think it's painted, some picnic tables, a plethora of nature trails, and the curved dock lined with palm trees. We made our way to the dock and breathed in the scent of fresh, ocean air. We watched the pelicans dive into the calm sea in search of food, and we watched a lone man paddle in a canoe full of fishing rods.

There were few others there besides us; most were families with young children, enjoying the exquisite weather we were having today. Others were joggers and exercise-enthusiasts taking advantage of the good weather for some outside exercise. One man in the far south corner was doing some movements that resembled yoga, while another man sat on a cement block with his German Shepard. I envisioned sitting on such a cement block with a paper and a pen (or maybe with a laptop with a long-lasting battery...) and writing to my heart's content. Then reality hit - not gonna happen! We left the proximity of the dock and wandered over to the open grass area. We took our son out of the stroller, and he proceeded to run happily throughout the lawn. Every so often he'd trip over and fall, his hands touching the pricking grass, and he'd get back up with his palms outstretched towards us as if saying, please clean! He loved that moment of freedom, away from the constraints of the stroller straps.

Afterwards, we set back out on our quest home. My son fell asleep again in the car, and so our adventure came to an end. It was very nice getting out into that historic landscape, away from the concrete world of our city. It was nice to see nature in all her glory, and to allow ourselves those few hours of not rushing around, meeting deadlines. Of course, that just means that now I have to rush even more to get done what I didn't get done in those few hours, but it's okay. I'll live with that. ;)