Fairchild Gardens & a hint at Miami's food truck scene.

While in the greater Miami area last weekend Gail and I had the pleasure of visiting the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden an 83-acre botanic garden that features an extensive collection of tropical (many are quite rare) plants. Our visit coincided with the final day of Fairchild's 10th annual International Orchid Festival which added a dizzying array of people, orchid displays, vendors, art, crafts, music, and food sprinkled throughout the grounds. 

We could not have possibly walked the entirety of the grounds in the few hours of our visit but found so much to marvel at. Included in this was a small area with a half dozen towering ficus' with MASSIVE roots such as the one pictured below.

The photo was taken from about 15-20 feet away. For reference Gail is sitting on one of the roots, one of which spread for at least 15 feet above ground from the tree! I've looked into growing a fig tree when I have a yard that would be well suited for one, but one that grew to this size would be crazy! I read that this species of fig is not grown commercially for fruit due to inconsistent yields. Phew!!

Another awesome sight was the incredible Rainbow Eucalyptus, the trunk of which is pictured below. The tree sheds patches of bark annually at different times. The bright green inner bark then fades into the various shades you can see.

Along with a beautiful display of tree's, outdoor sculpture and orchid's we also had a nice hint of greater Miami's food truck scene! I love food trucks, my dinner last night was courtesy of Roxy's Grilled Cheese, with that in minde I was super excited to see food trucks at the Gardens, looking at their website it looks like they incorporate food trucks into their regular event programming!!! Take note Boston- this is a great idea. Moving on- I love food trucks, but I was not able to eat as we had just had lunch and I had amazing cuban food to look forward too for dinner. All I was able to do was take in the scene and enjoy a coffee!
A large food court style area had been set up for food vendors selling from stationary set ups was replicated in a wide open area for the food trucks we saw. Here are a few of the trucks I remember seeing:
gastroPod - billing themselves as the original mobile gourmet they have an interesting and tasty looking menu, with an extensive list of past items here.
Dolci Peccati - Not much of a website, but who needs one when you operate a small batch made gelato truck in Miami! I assume this truck crushes most locations on the average day in a climate like Miami's. They had the longest line, offering 5 or 6 flavors of gelato, coffee, and espresso drinks, including an Affogato that Gail will be dreaming about for a long time!
Churromania - hot and fresh churros! In the right state of mind I could see myself destroying a few of these! Website is in Spanish.
Native Conch- Their menu painted on the bright colored wood cart - conch fritters & conch salad. 

This small window into the Miami food truck scene has me planning my next visit centered on a day of gorging myself on so many great looking food trucks!