Category: 1970s

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1970s Animals Blogging Driving Food Geography History Home Life Nature Photography Sports Travel

Flamingo Gardens

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This is Part 2 of my look back at my recent trip back to South Florida – my former home of 35+ years. It was my first trip back in nearly 9 months (38 weeks to be exact) – since the end of June 2025 – when I closed on the sale of my 30-year home.

I wrote about my Sunday and Monday in and near Homestead and Florida City in last week’s edition. This week – it’s Tuesday in West Broward (the western portion of Broward County).

But before we leave Homestead – it’s a milestone in my car. I hit 9,000 miles driving to Breakfast. It took 95 days to drive the next 1,000 miles from 8,000 to 9,000. That’s an average of about 10½ miles per day since the middle of December. My trek to 10,000 on the odometer will clearly come sooner than 95 days due simply to this road-trip alone.

It was a good 48 hours in Homestead and Florida City. After Breakfast at the local family-owned Flagler Restaurant in Homestead I hit Krome Avenue (State Road 997), and then onto U.S. 27 just shy of the Miami-Dade / Broward County line.

I made it to Flamingo Gardens along historic Flamingo Road in Davie. It was my 6TH visit since 2012 – and my 1ST visit in just over 4 years. It’s my favorite place in Broward County. If I had decided to leave Homestead and move up to Broward in retirement (very hypothetical) – then I’d very likely be volunteering or working there today. It’s part botanical gardens, part wildlife sanctuary, and part historic house museum. It covers about 60 acres, and it was established 99 years ago as a family homestead and citrus grove at the edge of the Everglades (back then).

Fun Facts: As an 8, 9, and 10-year-old in suburban Lanham Maryland (just outside of Washington D.C.) me and my friends would bring rakes into the woods on a fairly regular basis. We did so to rake the leaves on the ground, clear a path, and create trails and rest stops along the way – essentially creating our very own neighboring nature parks. On the left side of the creek that ran through the woods – I created “Chris Day Valley” (named after myself). On the right side of the creek – two of my friends (brothers) created “Wolf Pack State” (possibly named after misheard lyrics of a popular Gordon Lightfoot song at the time). After my friends on the right side of the creek lost interest in their unique park – I went over to the next street over and joined other friends who had already started working on their park. They gladly welcomed me. We even had a flag handmade of our park. (One of the moms did that for us.) It was so much fun while it lasted.

So why did I bring all of that up ? It’s because Flamingo Gardens looks like a grown-up version of those childhood parks that we created in the woods. It reminds me of those fun days outside 50 years ago.

After a fun 3 hours and 15 minutes at Flamingo Gardens – I headed north to Tamarac where I met my brother (visiting from Texas) at a hotel. (His 3 days of work was done at the Broward County Convention Center.)

We went to a noisy Yard House at The Oasis at Sawgrass Mills Mall for dinner, and then we walked across Panther Parkway over to the Amerant Bank Arena to see our Florida Panthers take on the Seattle Kraken. (The Panthers won 5-4 in overtime after a shootout.)

Next #TravelThursday – we’ll head back to Sawgrass Mills Mall for extensive shopping, and we’ll take an impromptu tour of West Broward County and many of its suburbs. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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1970s Blogging Music Radio Television Travel

Three Dog Night

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Over the past 39 years I’ve attended over 150 concerts and LIVE events at various venues. It all started in England in 1986 when I attended 17 LIVE music concerts in the span of about 16 months. The pace slowed down quite a bit once I returned home stateside, and the last 100 concerts and events have occurred since 2004.

Last Friday night was a bucket list act. I’ve always wanted to see Three Dog Night LIVE in concert, and so I finally did. They were my first favorite band on the radio when I was a little kid in Prince Georges County Maryland during the early-1970s. I liked all of their songs – especially “Mama Told Me Not To Come”, “Joy To The World”, “An Old Fashioned Love Song”, “Black And White”, and “Shambala”. (I still love those songs today. They are all on my Spotify.)

The concert was awesome. They performed 18 songs – 17 of their 21 consecutive Billboard Top 40 hits from 1969 to 1975 – as well as a newer song for an upcoming new album. Danny Hutton (the only original) and David Morgan also told short stories in-between many of the songs. Their final song had nearly the entire arena singing in unison (and some dancing too) – “Joy To The World” – the # 1 song in America and Canada for the entire year of 1971.

Interesting story on David Morgan. I thought he joined the band in 1981 when they reformed after disbanding 5 years earlier, but upon further research after the concert – I learned that he’s only been a member since 2015. He replaced original founding member Cory Wells after he passed away. That’s how good David Morgan is. I thought he was on the band for the past 44 years, but he’s only been with them for 9. He sang lead on many of the songs, and he was impressive – and energetic. I think he’s been a fan of the band for as long as me. He’s also been a musician for the past 65 years – touring and recording with such greats as Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Dolly Parton, and Rick Nelson. If you watched “Hardcastle & McCormick” on ABC-TV back in the mid-1980s – then you heard David Morgan every week. He sang the theme song for the show – “Drive”.

This was a rare sold-out concert at the Alan Jay Wildstein Center For The Performing Arts at South Florida State College in Avon Park Florida, so that’s 1,460 seats sold. If I had to guess – then I’d say that about 90% of the attendance was between the ages of 65 and 75. I was part of the 10% under 65 or over 75. So – most of the attendees were born from 1950 to 1960, so they were in their teens and 20s when Three Dog Night were one of the hottest bands in America. (I of course was a bit younger – age 2 to 8.)

Fun Facts: Three Dog Night hosted the cocktail party on the November 29TH 1971 episode of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In”, as they sang “Joy To The World” (with pauses for jokes). They also hosted the inaugural edition of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on December 31ST 1972.

I can only imagine what a Three Dog Night concert was like during the early-1970s, and I’m guessing that some of my fellow attendees may have experienced such a wild night of music (and more) back then. Now I can say that I’ve also been to a Three Dog Night concert – 2025-style.

It’s on to Fort Myers and Estero Florida for another music concert – next – #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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1970s Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

From Bowie To Lanham

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This is a change-of-pace edition. I’m reminiscing about what me and parents were doing exactly 50 years ago – back in January of 1975. I was in the 2ND grade at the time in Catholic School in Seabrook Maryland (adjacent to Lanham). My dad worked in downtown Washington D.C. at a life insurance company at 2020 M Street NW. (I can’t believe that I still remember that.)

Early in 1972 we moved from Greenbelt Maryland (adjacent to Lanham) to Bowie. Our brand-new house in Bowie was located about 15 miles away from our apartment in Greenbelt. After 3 years in Bowie – my dad got tired of the long rush-hour drives to and from downtown Washington via John Hanson Highway (U.S. 50). I remember some of those rush-hour traffic back-ups. My dad would take me with him to his office sometimes.

My dad had enough of it. By the end of 1974 he realized that perhaps he made a mistake by moving us out to Bowie. He looked at a brand-new neighborhood being built in Lanham directly behind the apartment complex that we lived in for 3 years before 1972. It even had an elementary school right in the middle of it. He and my mom found the perfect house under construction on the street behind that school. I think it cost $59,900 at the time. He bought it. We moved in 50 years ago next month. I attended 3RD, 4TH, 5TH, and 6TH grades at that school. I think it was the only time that I actually enjoyed going to school. I have lots of vivid memories of my friends, my teachers, and my classrooms from that era.

My dad’s parents – my grandparents – lived just a mile up the road from both our apartment before 1972, and our house starting in 1975. By the time I was 12 and 13 – I was riding my bike on my own to and from my grandparents’ house – just to visit them.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about a U.S. state that I’ve never been to before. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
1970s Blogging Movies Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1978

Hello again retro music fans. Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 20, 25, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 5TH Friday of the month, so it’s a special, as I go back 45 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday April 02ND 1978:

  1. “Night Fever” – Bee Gees
  2. “Stayin’ Alive” – Bee Gees
  3. “Lay Down Sally” – Eric Clapton
  4. “Can’t Smile Without You” – Barry Manilow
  5. “Emotion” – Samantha Sang

America was dancin’ the night away 45 years ago when I was not quite 11 years old as a 5TH grader in Lanham Maryland. My chart wasn’t born yet, but my hobby of following the Billboard Hot 100 at the New Carrollton Public Library and then counting down the Top 40 with Casey Kasem every Sunday was in full swing. (The Top 5 above is from that Hot 100.)

“Saturday Night Fever” was a runaway smash at the box office, and its Soundtrack album was MASSIVE – the biggest in history at the time. Samantha Sang’s “Emotion” is often mistaken as a “Saturday Night Fever” track, but it was not in the movie. It’s also mistaken as featuring Bee Gees in the background, but it’s just Barry Gibb. He wrote the song with his brother Robin.

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 15 years ago to the start of April 2008. It’s when #FF5 were #FD.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going retro with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp