On this 4TH Of July holiday we celebrate this great nation of ours – this free nation that we call The United States Of America. We are free today because of our Founding Fathers – great Americans like John Hancock, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. Let us never forget all of those great Americans who fought – and who continue to fight to this day – for the independence and the freedom that we continue to enjoy today.
For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is – there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17)
All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Today – June 14TH – we observe Flag Day here in the U.S.A. It commemorates the adoption of our flag on this date in 1777.
Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 15 years ago this week I was on Marsh Harbour in the Abaco Islands of the northwestern Bahamas – about 195 nautical miles from home. (Marsh Harbour is adjacent to southern Palm Beach County Florida.)
I was with my brother, his fiancé, our parents, and her parents and siblings. Most of us arrived on Wednesday May 09TH 2007, and we stayed until the following Wednesday May 16TH 2007. We stayed at the Bahama Beach Club resort. My brother and his fiancé got married there on Saturday May 12TH 2007, so today is in fact their 15TH wedding anniversary !
It was a fun wedding. It was a fun week. We explored Marsh Harbour and some of the surrounding Abaco islands. I have some 290 photos of that week on my computer – chronologically sorted from arrival to departure. My brother took all of the photos. (I had not yet become an amateur photographer.)
Over 100 photos cover a fun 5½-hour family trip via ferry to and from the neighboring island of Elbow Cay – where we visited the Elbow Reef Lighthouse and the small village of Hope Town.
View from atop the Elbow Reef Lighthouse
This vacation was just 8½ months into my salvation (3½ months as part of my first church family). As a baby Christian learning and understanding God’s Way I was very conflicted as to how I should act in certain circumstances – particularly where drinking alcohol was involved. I chose to abstain from it completely. It really made me look like the odd one out, but I think that’s what’s God’s plan for each of us who believe and follow Him. Don’t blend in with others. Be different. Be radical.
I was also a bit ill that entire week. I had near total blockage in my right ear. I could barely hear out of it, and it gave me headaches all throughout that week. I played it off, and I didn’t tell anyone about it. Soon after I returned back home I scheduled an appointment with an #ENT. At that appointment the doctor removed multiple chunks of ear wax from my right ear and flushed both of them. My hearing was restored 100% after that.
One last thing that put a damper on this trip is that my cat’s health was quickly deteriorating in the days leading-up to it. I took him to his regular animal hospital before I left to be examined and kenneled. As it turns out he passed on the day after I returned back home. (I’ll post on that next Tuesday May 17TH 2022 – the 15TH anniversary of his death.)
I really did enjoy our family trip to Marsh Harbour. I’d like to go back there again with family, and enjoy the scenery, and do fun things like we did 15 years ago.
Next #TravelThursday we’ll visit Melbourne Florida. You know – I used to live there. I’ll tell you all about it. Let’s keep traveling together.
All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Happy Cinco de Mayo mi amigos ! On this day 160 years ago (during our U.S. Civil War) Mexico was victorious over the French empire at the Battle Of Puebla (during the early part of the Franco-Mexican War of 1861-1867). It’s a day that’s observed mostly in the southern Mexican state of Puebla. Here in the U.S. it’s become a very popular unofficial holiday celebrating all things Mexican.
Here in my hometown of the past 35 years we have a very large Mexican population – one of the highest concentrations in all of South Florida. As a result we have many Mexican restaurants here, and Miamians come 30 to 45 minutes south to Homestead to enjoy a delicious meal at any one of them. Personally I’m not a big fan of Mexican food. It’s OK. I’ll only eat at one when I’m in a group setting, and the group overrules my wishes to eat somewhere else.
I do enjoy visiting Mexico. I’ve been there 9 times over the past 15 years via cruises – mostly to Cozumel (more than any other port-of-call). I always get off the ship and do a shore excursion on Cozumel because as many times as I’ve been there – I usually see something new, or I get to visit a fun place again.
Once in July 1995 during the weekend in the middle of a 2-week military classroom training event in San Antonio Texas at Lackland Air Force Base a group of us drove to the border in Laredo, and then we walked across the Gateway To The Americas International Bridge into Nuevo Laredo Mexico to eat and shop. It was fun and memorable – especially since I remember that day nearly 27 years later.
Next #TravelThursday we’ll visit Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas exactly 15 years after my last visit there. Let’s keep traveling together.
All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
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