Davie

While you're in greater Fort Lauderdale, you might take some time to point your car away from the sparkling sea and take in the "West of Greater Fort Lauderdale," the community of Davie, complete with horse ranches, cattle ranches, and true cowboys--Florida cowboys.

Here, throughout the year, the 5,000 seat, covered Davie Rodeo Arena erupts into hoof-stomping, snorting, crowd-cheering, rider-bumping cowboy sport of championship, as well as amateur, status.

Davie originally had a more mysterious-seeming name: "Zona." Like most mysteries, however, Davie's original name is easily understandable when one learns that Zona's settlers were workers from the Panama Canal (Zone A).

In this life-cutting from the old west is a curiousity of compelling beauty: Flamingo Gardens, 60 lush acres of tropical gardens and aviaries (also the site of citrus groves). In these preserves, one can marvel at tropical plants, birds of prey, a 1/2 acre freeflight aviary, alligators, crocodiles, and pink flamingos. Beautiful of function as well as structure, Flamingo Gardens is also a refuge for injured Florida wildlife.

The Bailey Concert hall presents a wide variety of music and theatre, and one can view the galaxies of space from Davie's Buehler Planetarium. Nearby, a more earthly galaxy of stars, the Dolphins football team, works out at the Nova University pre-season training camp.