Little Havana Walking Food Tour

The next day we drove back to Little Havana and met up with our local tour guide, Ralph.  It was supposed to be with a small group, but it turned out that we were his only booking that day, and we had him all to ourselves!  We had a great time chatting with him about about Cuban history and culture in Miami.  He took us first to a little juice bar/market where we drank some guava juice.  Then we had a Cuban sandwich for lunch with another yummy mojito.  Ralph took us to Domino Park where we watched some older men play as he explained the game to us and how it became such a popular thing in the area. We went into a pub and ate a delicious beef empanada, cuban style.  So yummy! Then we learned about cuban coffee and may or may not have had a small taste.   A local peanut street seller came in and gave us a cone of his roasted peanuts.  We went into a cuban cigar store and watched a man roll some of those famous cigars.  That was pretty interesting.  He took us into a guayabera (cuban shirt) and hat store.  The store owner (a friend of Ralph's) came over to us and said hello and picked out a hat for Matt that actually fits his head.  Matt was pretty excited about finally finding a cool hat.  Somewhere in this three hour tour, we were treated to an ice cream taste testing of unique cuban flavors.  We got to pick our favorite and have it in a cup.  Lastly we ate churros.  They were cooked the way they make them in Spain, not Mexico.  They are super thin and crisp.  Really delicious.  We were stuffed! It was such a fun way to spend half our day learning new things and trying new foods.  

Everglades National Park and Cuban Hamburgers

Matt and I started our South Florida trip by going to Everglades National Park.  It was a super hot and humid day, but we loved seeing and learning about this unique landscape and ecosystem.  We took a tram tour with a park ranger in the Shark Valley area of the park.  

Then we drove into the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami.  We had seen a restaurant called El Rey De Las Fritas highlighted on a Netflix show, and we wanted to try their famous Frita Cubana.  We were the only English speaking people in the place which made us a little self conscious, but we used a little bit of our Spanish knowledge to order what we already knew we wanted.  We were out of our comfort zone, but that just makes traveling more exciting! 

 Back to our hotel to rest, sit by the pool, and drink virgin mojitos.  

August Extras

 Pickle ball at the Provo Rec Center

Hosting our Eastman relatives from Boston for a week while they got their son Justin settled in the freshman dorms at BYU.  Poker night happened a few times. 

Bowling at the Wilk with Matt.

Emma moved out and is on her own again in a nice apartment on 9th East.  And now she's back to full time school! 

I can't forget that Matt qualified for and played in the Utah Senior State Amateur Championship at Mountain Dell Golf Course in Parley's Canyon. Way to go babe! 

Camping

August began with the First Annual Eastman Clan Camping Trip.  We did some pre-camp trial dutch oven cooking and broke out the hammocks in the backyard with Emma.  She wasn't able to come with us due to it being finals week and having to go to work.  We camped at Mirror Lake in the Uintahs for two nights.  Super fun!  Our new tent and cots were great.  We were comfortable as one can be and stayed nice and dry during our second night when an awesome thunderstorm rolled in.  The kids enjoyed being on their unicorn floaty, the little kayak, and the paddle boards.  Matt gave the paddle board a try too.  He took Henry fishing for his first time.  No fish for Henry though.  But Matt caught a bunch when he was fly fishing on his own.  I loved watching all of this take place from the shoreline and taking lots of pictures.  The trail around the lake made for a lovely, cool walk.  We watched a bald eagle fly around and sit perched up high in a tree.  We hoped he'd swoop down to catch a fish, but I guess he wasn't hungry.  Matt and I were in charge of both dinners.  The first night we made Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and the second night we made dutch oven cheesy ham potatoes and chicken and sausage.  Due to forgetting the bbq sauce at home, the chicken and sausage was plain with just a little garlic pepper.  But it all turned out yummy! Because we kept leaving our back hatch open on my Outback, we found a dead battery when it was time to go home.  Whoops!  Thankfully Hebe hadn't left the campground and came to the rescue with his truck to give us a jump.