Category: Photography

A Cold Day In The Everglades

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 31, 2020

Back in November when I found out that The United States Secretary Of The Interior David Bernhardt made it free for life for U.S. Veterans to enter America’s National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and other public federal lands – first of all I was extremely grateful. It’s probably the best gift that has ever been given to me as a Veteran. After all this is a gift that keeps on giving every single day – not just on Veterans’ Day.

I live between two U.S. National Parks – Biscayne National Park to the east – and Everglades National Park to the west. Both are about 10 miles away from my home. Biscayne does not charge an entry fee. It’s free for everyone. Everglades charges $30 per vehicle for a 7 consecutive day pass, or $55 for an annual pass. I no longer have to pay either fee. I’m free !

I actually got in to Everglades National Park for free during 2 consecutive winter seasons (2015-2016 and 2016-2017) when I worked out there as a volunteer (in uniform) giving tours at the NIKE Missile Site (HM-69). I worked 31 Saturdays out there showing hundreds of visitors from around the world a sampling of authentic military history from the mid-1960s to the late-1970s (when it was an active duty base out in the middle of the Park).

Back in November I said to myself that I would visit the Park on a cold day this winter season, and so last Saturday was that cold day. With temperatures in the upper-40s and lower-50s at dawn I entered the Park for the first time since my last Saturday working out there in March of 2017. It was like a homecoming for me. I actually drove the entire 38-mile main park road down to Flamingo on Florida Bay. It was my first visit there in nearly 7 years. I took a fun 90-minute organized boat tour up-and-down the waters north of Flamingo. I took the same tour almost 8 years ago.

After the boat tour I did a lot of walking all around Flamingo and then at a couple of stops along the way back up the main park road. I took a lot of pictures. I walked over 13,000 steps / 6 miles.

The Park was packed on that Saturday / day after Christmas. Everyone else had the same idea as me to visit during a rare cold South Florida day.

Now I need to figure out what my next fun cold day out will be here in my local area. Maybe Vizcaya ? (also free for life for U.S. Veterans)

Tags Everglades, Florida

Blogging Driving Photography Shopping Travel

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