Category: Photography

Road Trip !

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 8, 2020

I spent a week with my family (immediate and extended) in North Texas during the last 7 days of September. (I actually flew back home to South Florida on October 01ST.)

During the #Texoma portion of my visit we continued tradition by going on a fun road trip about an hour or two away from the Wichita Falls area. In previous years we’ve gone north, east, southeast, and south. This year we went a new direction – northeast – about 70 miles to the historic town of Duncan Oklahoma. We visited a fun museum – the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center & Garis Gallery Of The American West. We also checked-out a large nursery (garden store) as well as some antique stores along the way.

Up until a couple of years ago I was made aware of the destination(s) of our road trips days and even weeks in advance. That allowed me to do research to find out more about it. But then last year my first cousin once removed (leader of our road trips) decided that it would be more fun if I knew nothing about the destination until we got there. She wanted it to be a surprise to me. We’ve occasionally made a wrong turn and gotten lost along the way to some of our destinations, so it seemed like a surprise to her as well. But getting lost along the way is part of the fun of a family road trip.

We didn’t get lost on this road trip to and from Duncan. My cousin knew exactly where she was going.

Another educational and entertaining road-trip is in the books, and I’ve got the photos to remind me of the good times that we shared together. I’m looking forward to the next destination in September of 2021.

Tags Family, Oklahoma, Texas, Travel

Blogging Computers Internet Photography Travel

Social Media Round-Up

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 13, 2020

FACEBOOK – I’ve been on Facebook since Easter Sunday March 31ST 2013. I was active on it until New Year’s Eve Sunday December 31ST 2017. This blog appeared on there during much of that time. At the start of 2018 I brought my blog back to its previous home – right here on WordPress. I’m still on Facebook, but I no longer post original material. I’m only on there because most of my social media friends are on there. I like / love some of their posts, and I comment occasionally. Most of the time I just read and move on – including all of the political posts. I keep my political viewpoints to myself. I wish others did as well. Facebook was a lot more fun before it became saturated with politics – much of it filled with innuendos, exaggerations, fabrications, rage, and hatred – from both sides.

TWITTER – In a few days I’ll observe my 11TH Anniversary on Twitter. I’ve tweeted over 8,400 times over these past 11 years – much less nowadays than I used to. I mostly utilize my Twitter account to announce new blog posts here on WordPress, and that’s an automatic process. Every so often I’ll tweet lyrics from a current song I like. Sometimes I’ll tweet a random thought. My last 5 tweets can be viewed right here on my blog (right-hand column below the calendar – if you’re on the web site).

FLICKR – My longtime photo storage site (since 2011) is Flickr. I’ve got over 3,200 photos on the site, and 88½% of them are public for the whole world to see. They are mostly vacation photos from over the years – from as far west as the Hawaiian islands, as far south as Fanning Island Kiribati, as far east as Saint-Martin / Sint Maarten, and as far north as Niagara Falls. I’m currently adding photos from my recent Orange Beach Alabama vacation. My last 5 photos can be viewed right here on my blog (right-hand column below my tweets – if you’re on the web site).

WORDPRESS – And here we are – the social media site that I’ve been on for the longest time – since the end of 2007. (I know I abandoned it for over 7 years while I was tweeting and Facebooking.) This is my 1,801ST blog post here on WordPress – and 480TH since I returned at the start of 2018. I have a lot of new readers on here, and I welcome each and every one of you to my blog. I blog 4 times per week – Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays. My blog posts go live at 3 AM U.S. East Coast time on most of those days, so that’s 12 AM on the U.S. West Coast, 8 AM in the United Kingdom, 9 AM in South Africa, 12 PM in India, 5 PM on Australia’s East Coast, and 7 PM in New Zealand. (I’ve got followers in all of those great places around the globe.)

The best place to check-out my blog is at my home page at revchrismday.com. It’s also where you can link to my Twitter and Flickr. If you think that you have a similar blog that I may be interested in then comment on any of my recent blog posts. No spam please. WordPress will automatically capture it, and if it slips through then I’ll delete it. If you already follow my blog then there’s a good chance that I’m probably already checking-out your blog occasionally. Keep up the great writing !

Tags Facebook, Flickr, Social Media, Twitter, Wordpress

Driving Food Nature Photography Shopping Travel

Fort Myers Beach

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 30, 2020

Surprise ! I’ve returned home from vacation again. Just 23 days after returning home from my 9-day / 2-state / 1,690-mile road-trip vacation I embarked on a much shorter road-trip vacation to a beach that’s much closer to home.

This trip was not quite 50 hours and just 271 miles from start to finish. I visited Fort Myers Beach for the 9TH time in 9 years. It was 135½ miles up – and 135½ miles back. I drove up there right after my church service on Sunday. Once I arrived at my hotel I parked my car, and it stayed parked until I departed on Tuesday morning.

I first discovered “The Island” (as the locals call it) of Fort Myers Beach at the end of April 2011. I spent 3 nights there, and I fell in love with what I saw. I also visited in October 2011, March 2012, June 2012, June 2013, October 2013, June 2015, and July 2019. So I visited 6 times during the first 2½ years, and then I skipped a year before my 7TH visit, and then I skipped 4 years before my 8TH visit. This year’s visit was exactly a year to the day after last year’s visit.

I did the same thing that I’ve done on previous visits. I walked the beach several times near my hotel. I took the trolley to the other end of the island and back. I visited the 560-foot-long pier. I walked the downtown shopping district. I enjoyed big meals at some of their unique restaurants. I took lots of photos everywhere I went to remind me forever of the good times I enjoyed.

I love viewing my photos of all of my previous visits to the island – both the “best of the best” photos that made it onto my Flickr site, as well as those that weren’t as good. Even the bland photos remind me of good times at my favorite beach town in Southwest Florida. You can check out my Fort Myers Beach album on Flickr here.

None of the photos from this newest trip are on there yet, but some of them will be soon. In the meantime here are 3 from this 9TH visit to “The Island”:

Tags Fort Myers Beach

Driving Photography Travel Weather

Pensacola

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 16, 2020

During my recent 9-day / 2-state / 1,690-mile road-trip I visited Florida’s westernmost city – Pensacola. Over 50,000 call Pensacola home, and over 500,000 live in the metro area. I live almost 700 miles away in the far southeastern corner of Florida. This was my very first visit to Pensacola. I had previously only driven along I-10 north of the city limits. (A small portion of the city actually crosses over I-10 to the north side.)

This side-visit to Pensacola was planned in advance. I spent the night at a hotel very near their airport, and then the next morning I drove in to the historic downtown district to walk around, take lots of photos (coming soon to a blog near you), and visit two of their biggest museums. (Most of their smaller museums and other historic buildings were actually closed due to COVID-19. They are slowly reopening some of these other facilities.)

It was a fun 2½-hour visit on a hot and sunny Saturday morning. Had everything been opened for visitors I could have easily spent all day there, and maybe even part of the next day. I’ll have to consider a future visit the next time I drive to and from North Texas to visit my family.

Pensacola is considered to be the “icebox” of Florida. Their weather is just like the rest of the state from about April to October – hot and humid with scattered showers and thunderstorms. But in the wintertime – watch out – because it gets cold there, and it can even sleet, ice, and snow there. I wouldn’t want to live there when I retire, but it’s a nice city to visit for a day or two.

Tags Florida, Pensacola