Category: Geography

Sebring Florida

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 6, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This past Monday morning I returned southward back to my longtime home. It was bittersweet, as I enjoyed 4½ days / 5 nights in my new home, new neighborhood, and new region of Florida. I didn’t want to leave, and I wasn’t really excited about returning to my old home. But I’ve got some good stuff planned for this upcoming stretch down here in South Miami-Dade. I’ve got the annual Good Friday Prayer Breakfast to look forward to tomorrow. I also get to observe and celebrate Resurrection Sunday with my church family – followed by Lunch after that. It’s going to be a good time here.

It’s actually 184 miles from home to home. All along I’ve been touting 186 miles, as that’s what Google Maps states. I guess it’s off by a couple of miles (probably due to rounding). I drove up 184 miles. I drove down 184 miles. In-between I drove 43 miles all around town – discovering roads to get around, stores, restaurants, and my new church. I even found my new barber shop !

I surpassed the 19,000-mile mark on my car odometer in West Broward driving southward this past Monday morning. That’s just 19 days after I hit the 18,000-mile mark. And the 18,000-mile mark came 37 days after I hit the 17,000-mile mark. I drove over 1,000 miles in consecutive months (February and March) for the first time since 2020. That may not happen this month. It could be real close though.

I took an impromptu photo of the main entrance of my new neighborhood, and I actually posted it on Facebook within our private group. Surprisingly it received more likes and comments than any post that I wrote publicly when I was active on Facebook for almost 5 years. I captioned the photo – What a great place to live ! #Home

Here’s that photo:

Next #TravelThursday I’m heading back to Sebring – by way of Fort Myers. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Chicken, Maryland

1970s Blogging Food Geography Home Travel

Maryland Fried Chicken

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 30, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. As I continue to settle into my new region of Florida here in Highlands County – I’ll keep on finding interesting places to see – and eat. After all – eating is an integral part of any travel experience. Eating is one of my favorite hobbies !

If you know me personally, or if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile – then you may know that I’m originally from Maryland – Prince Georges County Maryland to be specific. (It borders Washington D.C.) For 11+ years (1969-1980) as a kid I lived in Greenbelt, Bowie, and Lanham. I had some great childhood memories back then, and some not-so-great ones as well. My grandparents, and nearly all of my uncles, aunts, and cousins lived within a few miles of each other back then.

During my entire time as a kid growing up in Maryland (and also adjacent Fairfax County Virginia) I’d never heard of Maryland Fried Chicken – either the restaurant or the mere concept. Chesapeake Bay Crabs – definitely. Scrapple – of course. Fried Chicken – negative. Fried Chicken comes from Kentucky. Everyone knows that.

Looks like there are 14 locations of Maryland Friend Chicken in Florida, Georgia, and 1 in South Carolina. Most of them (9) are concentrated across Central Florida – including 2 within a few miles of my new home. They don’t have a presence on social media; although, a few of the local locations have their own web sites. There’s actually a WordPress-created web page at marylandfriedchicken.net that reveals its 60+ year history and origins in the Orlando Florida area.

My local Sebring location has their own web site at marylandfriedchickenofsebring.com.

I went to my local neighborhood Maryland Fried Chicken for Lunch on St. Patrick’s Day. I was greeted by two friendly workers. One took my order, and I struck up a conversation with both of them. I told them that it was my very first visit there. They asked me where I was from. I told them “Maryland !”. I added that I’d never heard of Maryland Fried Chicken, and that I’m looking forward to enjoying it.

I ordered the 2-piece chicken dinner (all breast). That comes with 2 sides. I got it with fries and homemade macaroni salad. I took it home and I enjoyed it. It was very good. The fried chicken has a distinctive flavor to it that kind of reminds me of my childhood, and that’s really strange because the only fried chicken that we ate when I was a kid came from #KFC. My elementary school cafeteria may have served fried chicken every so often, so maybe it brought back memories of that taste. It’s hard to explain its unique flavor – perhaps very juicy ?

I’ll obviously have to go back again this weekend to pick-up some more Maryland Fried Chicken.

One Maryland Fried Chicken location in Winter Garden Florida is going out-of-business after 57 years. Read that article here.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll write about my new neighborhood, and I’ll even share a picture or two. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Chicken, Maryland

Blogging Driving Geography Home Humor Television Travel

Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 23, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about the main campus of South Florida State College (#SFSC) near Avon Park – home of the 1,460-seat Alan Jay Wildstein Center For The Performing Arts. I got to see my first 2 concerts there last month. It’s just 2 miles away from my new home.

This week I’m about 100 miles away at a longtime favorite – the 1,874-seat Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall at Florida SouthWestern State College (#FSW) in Fort Myers. I’ve seen 8 shows / concerts there since 2011 including Chicago (the legendary band), Jay Leno, Brian Regan, and Frank Caliendo. I would’ve seen more shows there if I lived nearby, as it’s 3 hours away from my Homestead home – and 2 hours away from my now Sebring home. It’s my favorite small performing arts venue to see shows. A show at the #BBMANNPAH means a stay at a local hotel for the night – because – frankly – I don’t like driving long distances late at night. Scary things happen on the road in the dark.

Last Thursday night – after final closing of my new home 100 miles away – I saw Michael Carbonaro: Lies On Stage there. It was a great show. I’m glad I attended and experienced it. (I had thought about skipping the show and staying in my new home, but I decided to continue with my plans.)

Michael put on a fun comedy and magic show with lots of audience interaction. I was a big fan of his 2014-2020 truTV show The Carbonaro Effect. I saw every episode of it over the course of its 5 seasons. He essentially brought that show to our LIVE audience, and it was fun to see.

The show was actually postponed from an earlier date in mid-October – 2½ weeks after the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian. (The venue suffered some roof damage, but shows resumed about a month after the storm.)

Next #TravelThursday I’ll write about some delicious fried chicken I found close to my new home. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Carbonaro, Concert

1970s Blogging Driving Geography Home Music Radio Travel

South Florida State College

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 16, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. The main campus of South Florida State College (#SFSC) is located just a couple of miles away from my new neighborhood. It looks like a very nice campus from the exterior side. They even have an art museum on-campus (which I visited). I will be supporting the college. No – I’m not going back to school at age 56. I will be attending concerts at their 1,460-seat Performing Arts Center.

I usually attend about 5 concerts / live events per year, and I’ll probably stay at that same level into my retirement years. It’s good to have a place to see shows and concerts about 5 minutes away from my front door.

I actually saw 2 concerts on 2 nights when I was up there during Presidents’ Day Weekend to buy my new home. I saw MANIA: The ABBA Tribute and Evil Woman: The American ELO. Both tribute bands were awesome, and they put on great shows. I never saw the original bands in concert, so this was the next best thing. ABBA and ELO are two of my favorite bands from the mid-to-late-1970s. I was 6 rows from the stage for the ABBA show, and 4 rows from the stage for the ELO show. In fact – I’m in the photo below, and I’m in a prominent location. See the guy in the center with the microphone ? He’s the Musical Director – Nigel Holland. My head is right above his head. (My mouth is open.)

After the first show there – I got stuck in an unusually long traffic jam, as hundreds of cars tried to squeeze out of a single exit of the parking lot. I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing at such a small venue. I did my research prior to the second show, and I parked in a parking lot on the rear side of the venue. I was the only car in the parking lot when I arrived, but after the show my car was surrounded by dozens (not hundreds) of other cars. It took less than a minute to exit that parking lot. So – I now know the secret of parking at shows at #SFSC.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll write about another Performing Arts Center that’s located about 100 miles away from my new home, and I’m there tonight ! Let’s keep traveling together.