In the interest of trying to share this experience with you, I’ve been taking photos all along A1A and have written (sometimes) meaningful excerpts to go with them. Those photos and notes are located here.
About a month ago, I stayed up in Dania Beach for a few days. While I was there, I was commuting back and forth to South Beach on A1A. I’ve made the drive many times before, and it never ceases to be just a pleasant drive. I’m not alone in my sentiment, either. About the same time I was making that daily commute, Miami Favs actually wrote about A1A on her site. (By the way, go ahead and add Miami Favs to your own list of favorites; it’s all kinds of Miami goodness.)
On a scooter, though, the drive is particularly enjoyable. Of course, I may have a slight bias on transportation. The difference in the drive from day to night is, well, day and night. And both are equally fantastic, each for their own reasons. But this is about the daytime drive.
The beauty of the drive during the day is that the landscape is so vibrant, colorful, and alive. The buildings, the design, the architecture, the landscaping, the people, the cultures, the classes, the fashion, the sky itself, the traffic patterns… it all is so very alive and so very Miami. Yet a large part of the appeal of the drive, too, is simply the way the scenery changes as you move along A1A. People, places, and things all transform before you as you make your way along A1A going either north or south.
The photos in this collection will continue to grow. In fact, that’s one of the changes happening to ipanemic: I will be writing more to go with the photos that I take to provide more insight into life here. Handy for tourists. Fun for locals! Yay! Hm, maybe that should be my new tagline.
But back on topic… just so you know? You need to make this drive along A1A yourself. Totally, totally worth it.
Oh yes. One final note.
In addition to normal photography, I actually do a good bit of shooting whenever I’m on the scooter. So all of these photos were shot while on the road. I have a technique for shooting on the scooter that I’ve been employing for over a year now. I tested it out in Joshua Tree National Park last year, for the first time and have been doing it since. Trust me, it’s not that crazy and certainly not unsafe. At least, no more so than eating a donut while driving. Plus, I’m safer, by far, than 99.9% of all drivers in Miami. The fact that I use turn signals already makes me stand out like a sore thumb.
All shots taken on a scooter can be found in the Scooter View collection.
