Category: Military

Biscayne Bay Tourist Attractions

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 3, 2022

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. We’re in the dry season now here in South Florida. It started during the middle of last month, and it continues until the middle of May. It’s our 7-month “nice” season here – marked by abundant sunshine, not much rain, cooler temperatures, and lower humidity. We actually experienced a near-record cold day last month on the 19TH of October when a polar-origin cold front slammed through the area and dumped our temperatures down into the lower-60s with wind chills in the 50s from the early-afternoon through the next morning. It was also cloudy, gloomy, and drizzly for the entire day. It very much resembled one of those weird dark, cold, and raw January days that we get once or twice a year (if at all). It was quite the phenomenon to get it so early in the season on the 19TH of October !

So since it’s nice out, and my days remaining here in South Florida are limited – I need to visit some tourist attractions this season and write about them here on #TravelThursday.

I just read a very nice write-up on Biscayne National Park and some renovation work they have recently completed on one of their main walkways to the sea. I haven’t been out there – just 8½ miles away from my home – since May 2016. It’s time to visit again. It’s a nice place to relax and enjoy the scenery of the sea.

It’s been 3½ years since I’ve visited the Charles Deering Estate – also along Biscayne Bay. That’s a fun 2-to-3-hour visit. They do ranger-led boat tours of Biscayne National Park that leave from and return to the Deering Estate. That’s what I did 3½ years ago. I’d like to do it again.

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is also along Biscayne Bay, and I haven’t been there since February 2018. As a U.S. military veteran – I get free admission year-round, so I respect that. I need to drive up the road (about 25 miles from home) and check it out again. There’s a lot of great photo opportunities there.

Vizcaya Museum & Gardens is also along Biscayne Bay, and it’s been 10½ years since my last visit there. I get in for free there too anytime I want. It’s just another 7 miles up the road from Fairchild, so maybe I can visit both Fairchild and Vizcaya on the same day – like maybe during the week when they are less crowded.

Next #TravelThursday we’ll trek across the sea over to England. Let’s keep traveling together.

Blogging Driving Geography History Military Travel

Miami Military Museum

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 27, 2022

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. A couple of Fridays ago I visited the Miami Military Museum for the first time ever. It’s located about a mile west of Florida’s Turnpike off SW 152ND Street in South Miami-Dade County Florida next to Zoo Miami. In fact if you reach the parking lot of Zoo Miami – then you’ve gone too far. Make a right-hand turn just before the parking lot at the sign that leads you to the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. (They share the same parking lot.)

At the present time the museum is only open for 3 days per week – Thursday, Friday, and Saturday – from 10 AM to 4 PM. They prefer that you call them in advance to schedule an appointment to visit the museum.

I did that, and I got there at around 10:30 AM on that Friday. The Executive Director of the Museum and one of the museum docents greeted me downstairs. The former proceeded to informally interview me about my military and civil service history. He then picked-up a microphone, and he proceeded to announce my grand arrival military-honors-style through the entire building’s sound system – like I was a V.I.P. That was an extra special nice touch.

After that welcome the museum docent took me upstairs (via elevator), and he guided me through all of the various rooms of displays. The museum has only been open for a couple of years, so they are a work in progress. It looks like they are constantly receiving new items for display, and they are trying to figure out what to do with them all. I had a good conversation with my docent, and he displayed many qualities of a docent that I wish to have when I do what he does elsewhere. He opened-up more as he went along, and he even extended the tour outside around the perimeter of the property. They have big plans for good stuff inside and out !

If I were not moving away and retiring next year then the Miami Military Museum would be a great place for me to serve. It’ll be a great place for me to visit in the future when I come back to Miami-Dade County for visits.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll stay in Miami-Dade County, and I’ll try to figure out what other tourist attractions I wish to visit before I move away from here. Let’s keep traveling together.

2000s Blogging Internet Military Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 2002

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 14, 2022

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 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 20 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday October 13TH 2002:

And here’s an actual snapshot of my Top 5 exactly the way it appeared on my web site at the time:

That’s from the 370TH online edition of my “Weekly Top 40” at the time. That was right in the middle of the 2ND era of my chart that lasted a little over 14 years from October 1995 to January 2010. For a little over 2 years from 2002 to 2004 I was immersed in the #EDM culture, and my weekly hit music chart was a pure dance chart. It was quite the experience !

DJ Sammy’s cover of Bryan Adams’ “Heaven” was an International mainstream pop smash, and of course a dance smash in the clubs. DJ Sammy is Sam Bouriah from Spain. His take on “Heaven” spent its first 20 (out of 42) weeks on my chart at either # 1 (13 weeks) or # 2 (7 weeks). At the time “Heaven” was the 7TH song to spend at least 10 weeks at # 1 on my chart.

It should be noted that the original “Heaven” from Bryan Adams spent 2 weeks at # 1 in June 1985 while I was in #USAF “boot camp” at Lackland AFB in San Antonio Texas. That was certainly not “Heaven” for me !

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 25 years ago to October 1997. It’s when a # 1 country song became a 134 BPM # 1 pop-dance smash on my chart.

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 !

Tags 2002, BPM, Club, EDM, House, Music, Radio, Techno, Trance

Blogging Geography Military Travel

Yunnan China

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 8, 2022

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This month I’m virtually visiting 5 continents in 5 weeks. Last week I wrote about Luxembourg in Europe. This week it’s eastward to Asia.

Asia is a vast continent that spans over 17.2 million square miles (over 44.5 million square kilometers). That’s almost 9% of the total surface area of the world, and about 30% of the total land area. About 60% of the world’s population lives in Asia.

I’ve only set foot in one small part of Asia, and I actually lived there for a couple of months – in Saudi Arabia during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1991. On the eastern end of the continent my Mom was born in the Philippines in the mid-1940s.

When trying to figure out where I wanted to write about for this edition of #TravelThursday I chose a unique physical location rather than somewhere I’ve been, or somewhere I’d like to visit someday (such as Tokyo, Seoul, or Singapore).

I took my current latitude (roughly 25.5° north), and I extended it to the longitude that is 180° from my current longitude (roughly 80.5° west). That places “the other side of the world” – at 25.5° north latitude and 99.5° east longitude – or in far-southwestern China very near the border with Myanmar. It’s near the village of Maliaotian (or Ma Liao Tian) in the county of Yongping in the autonomous prefecture of Dali Bai in the province of Yunnan.

Yunnan has a population of over 48 million, and the land is mostly mountainous and rural. The capital and largest city of Yunnan is Kunming – also known as Yunnan-Fu – with over 8 million residents. Its new and modern International Airport is actually one of the busiest in the world – serving millions of tourists – particularly from nearby India. It’s known as “The City Of Eternal Spring” and “The Flower City”. It stays mostly cool year-round despite its latitude near the Tropic Of Cancer, as it’s a high mountain valley city (over 6,200 feet above sea level).

From Asia to Australia. Next #TravelThursday I’m visiting my favorite city in Australia that I have a unique 25-year connection to – Perth. I’ve never been there, but I feel like I know the city. I’ll explain next week. Let’s keep traveling together.