Things to do in Florida in January?

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apm
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Things to do in Florida in January?

Post by apm »

I am going to be down in the Miami area Florida the weekends of Jan 12, 13 and Jan 19, 20th for work and free on the weekends. I have some relatives up in West Palm beach to visit but should have some time to go touring around. Especially with the company paying for hotels it never hurts to go somewhere else on the weekends.

I have heard there are a lot of live steam clubs down in Florida but so far the only steam I have ever seen down in that region has been at Disney World, so any recommendations of places to visit those weekends? I am into live steam, antique machinery, steam locomotives etc...

Thanks,

Adam
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Re: Things to do in Florida in January?

Post by Slipped Eccentric »

There's the Tradewinds and Atlantic in Coconut Creek, I think they still do public runs on the 3rd weekend of the month.
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Re: Things to do in Florida in January?

Post by jamesjgould »

Go to the discoverlivesteam.com web site and look at the meet scedules. Also got to floridalivesteamers.com and look at all the clubs and contacts. Will be lots of clubs you can visit on weekends.
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Things to do in Florida in January?

Post by SteveHGraham »

Miami has no culture whatsoever. There is nothing to see. There is also nothing related to machinery there. The farther north you go, the better things get. Coconut Creek is in the northern part of Broward, which is the county north of Dade.

I hope you're not staying on Miami Beach. Traffic locks up on the weekends, and you probably won't want to be around the kind of people who flock there.

The City of Miami is not safe at night unless you're in a tourist area with a lot of cops around. Also, avoid the ghettos. If you don't know where you are, don't get out of your car, and don't be afraid to run a red light in order to avoid getting carjacked while you're stopped.

If someone bumps you on I-95, keep driving until you see a cop. They do this to make people pull over so they can rob them.

People in Miami can't drive. They use the horn instead of the brakes, and when it rains, they wreck like crazy. Be careful.

I lived there for a long time, and I never understood why anyone would want to visit.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
apm
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Re: Things to do in Florida in January?

Post by apm »

Stephen,

I didn't realize things were that bad down there. Prior to your post I only thought the only thing they try stealing in that area of Florida was elections with the help of magic boxes of ballots that pop up out of nowhere! :D

Technically I will be working in Miramar but free on the weekends. I don't mind driving several hours to go some there if that is what it takes. I am surprised no one has more thoughts on places to go while in Florida. It looks like the meet schedule on the Florida live steamers doesn't start up until Feb time frame.

But with that being said I don't need to go to any meets, I wouldn't even mind volunteering somewhere during the weekends down there. While I do have some family down there I will need to make time to visit anything beats sitting in a hotel or on the beach.

By the way what is the correct clothing to bring to Florida this time of year? Long sleeves and pants, or shorts and t-shirts?

Thanks,

Adam
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FLSTEAM
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Re: Things to do in Florida in January?

Post by FLSTEAM »

It gets down into the thirties in Jan. Back up to the Seventies in Feb. therefore the Winter meets.
Not sure but Boots may have a January meet.

JB
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Things to do in Florida in January?

Post by SteveHGraham »

Adam, much of what people call "Miami" (the greater metropolitan area) is not terrible, but the city itself, meaning the downtown area, is seedy and full of fragrant bums, and there are a lot of ghettos (Overtown, Liberty City, Little Haiti, Goulds, Brownsville, the Coconut Grove ghetto, etc.). Cubans (~70% of Dade County's population) are successful people, and even in poor Cuban neighborhoods, crime is not all that bad. The black ghettos are dangerous for anyone who does not look black, especially at night, and they cover a lot of the county.

God help you if you find yourself in the wrong area on Martin Luther King's birthday. It's a giant -----------------------okay, software, how about "fiesta"--of violence and theft. The cops sit in their cars and wait for it to blow over. The press won't cover it, so only locals know about it.

There is a sign on I-95 advertising "Historic Overtown Village." This is a vile ghetto where tourists are targeted. Ignorant Europeans go in, not realizing what they're in for, and they end up in body bags. The locals used to bump rental cars (driven by dumb tourists) to get them to stop, and then they robbed and killed the occupants. They called it "Zee-ing," as in, "Let's go zee-ing," because rental cars had the letter "Z" on the license tags. The state had to take the Z off the tags because of it.

As for the near-total lack of culture, there is no doubt about that. Miami is a city of peasants, no matter how much money they make. It's hard to get tickets to see a really good musician there, because they skip Miami on their tours. The university has a great jazz program, but the musicians have to go to Fort Lauderdale to find clubs that will hire them. Oddly, the International Chopin Piano Competition--a true highbrow event--is held there every five years. I have never been able to figure that out.

The election picture is disgusting. Cuba has a culture of political corruption, and now it's Miami's political culture. Things were even worse in the cocaine days. The movie Scarface was very realistic, believe it or not.

There was a funny story a few years back. Hialeah's sleazy mayor, Raul Martinez, was convicted of several felonies during a campaign, and he won even though he was sitting behind bars.

So glad I left. I wish it had been 40 years sooner.
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ChuckHackett-844
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Re: Things to do in Florida in January?

Post by ChuckHackett-844 »

Adam, In addition to Tradewinds which someone mentioned, here are a couple of club tracks:

Ridge Livesteamers (http://www.ridgelivesteamers.org) near the town of Dundee. I think they have a Card Order session scheduled on the 19th & 20th

Central Pasco and Gulf Railroad (https://cp-grr.com) located about 30 min north of Tampa. They have a public run day on the 12th.

Both are sizable tracks. PM me if you are planning to go to either and I'll get you a contact person.
Regards,

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Owner, MiniRail Solutions, LLC, RR Signal Systems (http://www.MiniRailSolutions.com)
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SteveM
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Re: Things to do in Florida in January?

Post by SteveM »

1: NOT shovel snow
2; NOT have to drive in snow
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