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Fort Myers Beach Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. On Wednesday September 28TH 2022 Fort Myers Beach Florida changed forever as Category-4 Hurricane Ian made landfall just a few miles north of the area. The Southwest Florida Gulf coast from Flamingo northward to the Tampa Bay area experienced widespread damage. The area from Marco Island to Venice was especially hard hit, and Fort Myers Beach – “Ground Zero” – was virtually destroyed. The photos online have been heartbreaking. They have brought tears to my eyes.

The Southwest Florida coast is my favorite part of the state. Over the past 35 years I’ve enjoyed numerous short visits over there (about 2 to 3 hours away from home). My last visit was a daytrip to and from Naples 3 months ago. I wrote about it on a 2-part #TravelThursday this past July.

From 2011 to 2020 I visited Fort Myers Beach on 9 separate occasions. I spent a combined 17 nights on (or just off) the island at several different hotels on 7 of those 9 visits – both on the north-end and the south-end. I walked in the surf, drove on the streets, rode on the trolleys, shopped at the stores, and ate at the restaurants. I took 366 photos of the island. 122 of them are featured within my Fort Myers Beach album on my Flickr site. They are presented in chronological order from oldest to newest starting with April 28TH 2011. That was my very first day / night ever on the island, and I instantly fell in love with it. I soon decided that not only had I found my brand-new weekend vacation paradise getaway, but I had also found my eventual retirement landing spot.

After the first 6 visits – all between 2011 and 2013 – the idea of eventually moving to the island upon retirement had waned. But I would still visit on a regular basis. I became concerned during those early visits that if (when) a major hurricane makes landfall on the island or very near it – there would be catastrophic destruction similar to what I experienced here in Homestead after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. I thought that it would be the Gulf Of Mexico destroying the vulnerable island via storm surge rather than wind. That was one of the main reasons to change my mind about retiring there.

I’ve captured some of the most beautiful sunsets of my life on that island. One of my favorite things to do during those 17 nights was to exit my hotel room, walk directly onto the beach with my bare feet, head for the surf, and join the dozens of others just like me who had the same idea to prepare their smart phones and cameras to be aimed up the beach at the setting sun on the WNW horizon.

I was originally scheduled to drive to Fort Myers tomorrow (Friday) morning – and spend 2 nights there – and attend a concert at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall. The hotel was damaged, the concert hall was damaged, and the show was moved to next March. The entire area is a disaster zone, so the last thing they need right now is tourists. I canceled my trip to Fort Myers. (It would not have included a beach visit.)

It will take many years to rebuild Fort Myers Beach. It will never be the way that I knew it during those 9 visits and 17 nights on the island. I have my fond memories and 366 photos to look back on my former paradise on the Gulf Of Mexico.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll visit Fort Lauderdale Florida. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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No More Vacations

And now on #TravelThursday – something a bit different. For the past 19 weeks in a row I’ve been writing about 4 vacations that I experienced in November, January, March, and April. Well – I have no more vacations to write about. As I told some coworkers of mine last week – I am all vacationed out. This is the time of the year where I just need to settle in, relax at home, go to work, relax at home, go to work, etc., and accumulate new vacation time. Oh – and also write blog posts and sermons. I’ll be here for the long run. I’m not going anywhere for about 5½ months.

I was actually planning yet another vacation for early-June starting with my birthday. I considered another Carnival cruise to the Caribbean, and I also considered various short road-trips here in South Florida and over to Southwest Florida (Gulf Coast). Hotel rates are running much higher than normal – even for low season which we’re getting ready to enter. I think a lot of hotels are charging up to double (or more) what they’ve charged during previous low seasons (pre-COVID) – mostly because they can – because demand is high. Hotels lost a lot of money in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, and now they are making their money back.

So #TravelThursday returns to its original format where I write about places I’ve been to before – not necessarily while on vacation. I’ll also write about places I’d like to visit – either again or for the first time. I’ll also write about some potential visits to some of our own local tourist attractions here in South Florida. I realized that I haven’t been to ZooMiami in 5 years, and Biscayne National Park in 6 years, and Vizcaya in 10 years.

Maybe I’ll take a quick day trip or two down into the Florida Keys – perhaps Marathon (about 70 to 75 miles from where I live). I already have a potential schedule of places to visit for 2 days of fun and food in Marathon including an overnight stay at a hotel.

Well – whatever happens – either virtually or physically – we’ll have some fun here on #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Saturday Night Retro

Saturday October 16TH 2010
Volume 3 / Number 6 / Edition 103

11 years ago back in October and November of 1999:
– The Shops At Sunset Place was the hottest new joint to hang out.
– AOL released Version 5.0, and the entire free nation celebrated.
– Moviegoers were blown away by “American Beauty”.
– The population of the world reached 6 billion.
– The Yankees swept the Braves 4 games to 0 to win the World Series again.
– EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing all 217 on board.
– “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” skyrocketed to the top of the TV ratings.
– Exxon and Mobil combined to become ExxonMobil.
– The world prepared for the upcoming uncertainty that was Y2K.

1999 was certainly a party year as we ushered the end of a year, a decade, a century, and even a millennium. Even Prince made a big deal out of 1999 some 17 years earlier. He knew that it was gonna be big – and memorable. A lot of great party music came out in 1999. It was certainly a year to get up and dance !

Here’s the 1999 techno dance remix of the classic 1968 Steppenwolf track “Magic Carpet Ride”:

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The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off

WEEKEND GRAB BAG O’ THOUGHT:
It’s the 4TH weekend of the month of August of the year 2010, and we are here to kick it off with this weekend’s much-anticipated edition of the ‘Blast-Off’. It actually felt weird working all day today since I enjoyed half of yesterday off. I spent some quality time up at The Falls Shopping Center. It’s where I grew up. It’s the single place here in South Florida that I’ve been going to longer and more frequently than any other place (other than my workplace). I remember strolling through The Falls as a young lad of 21 and 22 back in the late-1980s. Nearly a quarter of a century later I feel right at home at that occasionally jumpin’ joint. I don’t feel that way at various other shopping centers and malls. But The Falls has that ‘something special’ feel to it. It’s not perfect. They are missing a book store, a music store, and some more fine dining establishments. The movie theatre there is definitely showing its old age, but then again it’s still much nicer (and surely more modern) than our own 4½-year-old movie theatre here in Homestead. The Falls. I belong. Happy 30TH Anniversary !

BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD:
P.F. Chang’s – I dig this jumpin’ joint. I don’t get to eat there very often, but I always enjoy every visit. On Thursday (at The Falls location) I enjoyed the hot egg drop soup, the tasty beef with broccoli lunch bowl (with brown rice), and for the grande finale – the scrumptious banana spring rolls. I’m talkin’ 6 warm and crispy banana bites with coconut-pineapple ice cream that’s drizzled with caramel and vanilla sauces. Yeah !  Come On !

THE FORTUNE COOKIE MESSAGE OF THE WEEK CLUB:
– New and rewarding opportunities will soon develop for you.
– A small gift can bring joy to the whole family.

OVERHEARD RIDICULOUS STATEMENT OF THE WEEK:
‘Yeah get used to record cold and record hot and droughts and floods and tornadoes and hurricanes and earthquakes. It’ll be like that from now on because of global warming / climate change.’

THOSE CRAZY CRAZY CATS:

BLATANT PROMOTION:
TOMORROW on an all-new ‘Saturday Night Retro’ I’ll take you back with me to the end of the 1980s and the last-half of 1989 here in the land of the 3-0-5. Find out what I was doin’ one Friday night – downtown with Julie Brown. After that the blogging continues next weekend on Friday and Saturday night with more ‘Blast-Off’ and ‘Retro’. In-between the blogging it’s the tweeting. You can follow me @majorhitwaves. Have a wonderful weekend my friends !