Category: Photography

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Blogging Career Military Music Photography Scripture Sports Travel

Tampa Florida

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit Tampa Florida.

Tampa is the actual big city – approaching 400,000 residents. It’s the 3RD biggest city in Florida after Jacksonville and Miami. Tampa Bay is the body of water adjacent to Tampa. The Greater Tampa Bay area is the metro area surrounding Tampa and Tampa Bay. Over 3 million residents live in the area, and that number surges past 4 million when outlying areas are included.

The Greater Tampa Bay area is home to the Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the repeating Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning, and the World Series Runner-Up (last year) Tampa Bay Rays. #TitleTown

I like Tampa a lot. It’s my favorite big city in Florida. I like the way it looks (the downtown skyline), and I like all of the activities that can be done in and around Tampa – at both land and sea.

Last #TravelThursday I revealed that I embarked on the Carnival Miracle for a fun 7-day cruise out of Port Tampa Bay exactly 15 years ago. It’ll likely be my future port-of-choice after I retire and move closer to the Tampa Bay area.

I once lived in Tampa – for about 7 months from August 1993 to March 1994 – when I worked at MacDill Air Force Base. That was after Hurricane Andrew destroyed my previous workplace at Homestead Air Force Base as well as much of the surrounding region. For a few months at the beginning of that time-frame it appeared that I’d be living and working in Tampa for years to come, but then political decisions were made to rebuild and reopen the airbase at Homestead, and in March 1994 I moved back. I’ve been here ever since. I like to say that I’ve been here in Homestead for almost 34 years – except for those 19 months right after Hurricane Andrew.

Had the airbase at Homestead not been rebuilt and reopened I wonder how long I would have stayed living and working in Tampa, and would I still be there today. What would I be doing ?

I actually haven’t visited Tampa too many times since I left 27½ years ago. I mostly visit nowadays to attend music concerts and sporting events at the downtown arena (now known as the Amalie Arena). Very near the arena is The Florida Aquarium – the 8TH largest aquarium in the U.S. You can spend all day there enjoying that impressive facility. I was last there in May 2019.

On March 21ST and 22ND of 2003 me and my little brother stumbled onto (OK maybe it was a little bit intentional) the Spring Break scene on Clearwater Beach where we had a hotel room overlooking the Gulf Of Mexico. That was a couple of days after the Iraq War began. College kids were blaring the Outkast song “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)” up and down South Gulfview Boulevard. Those 2 fun nights on the beach were part of a 5-day / 4-night vacation in the Tampa Bay area.

Join me next #TravelThursday as we remain in Tampa, and then venture southward along the Tamiami Trail.

They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. (Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Blogging Photography Scripture Travel

Carnival Miracle

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit the Western Caribbean Sea aboard the Carnival Miracle – exactly 15 years ago this week.

The Carnival Miracle was a fairly-new cruise ship at the time – 2½-years-old. Nowadays she sails short 3, 4, and 5-day cruises between Los Angeles (Long Beach) California and Baja Mexico.

I was on the Miracle from 08 to 15 October 2006 out of the Port Of Tampa. It was my 10TH cruise overall and 5TH on Carnival. It was also my only cruise out of Tampa; although, that will likely change in the future as I move closer to Tampa than Miami in the next few years (post-retirement).

Our ports-of-call were Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize (first-time ever), and Costa Maya (first-time ever).

Costa Maya is located on the south coast of the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico – less than a 2-hour drive to the northern border of Belize. It’s a popular cruise ship port that was fairly-new back in 2006. I remember getting off the ship, walking around the small beach and pool area right at the debarkation point of the pier, and then within the hour getting back on the ship. (There’s likely much more to do there nowadays than there was 15 years ago.)

10 months after my visit to Costa Maya Hurricane Dean destroyed much of the cruise ship port (and region including Belize). It was one of the most intense hurricanes to make landfall anywhere along the Atlantic basin during the modern tracking era. It was a Category-5 with maximum sustained winds of 175 MPH and gusts over 200 MPH at landfall !

I have not been back to Costa Maya since 15 years ago (October 13TH 2006). I’m interested to see what it looks like today via a future cruise.

Here’s a rare picture of me posing along the rocky coastline of our first port-of-call – Grand Cayman.

Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.

They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. (Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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1970s Blogging Church Driving History Home Life Photography Scripture Travel

Lanham Maryland

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit the unincorporated Washington D.C. suburb of Lanham Maryland – my childhood home from 1975 to 1980. It was my favorite childhood home. The biggest mistake that was made by my Dad back then was when we moved away to Northern Virginia in November 1980. It changed my life forever. I lost all of my friends. My run with Scouting ended. My education suffered in that I entered a much tougher school system than the one I grew up with. I probably would not have joined the military 4 years later if we had stayed put. I probably would have gone to college (likely my Dad’s alma mater – the University Of Maryland). I may have embarked in a career in Meteorology or Radio Broadcasting. But we moved away in 1980, and my life took a different turn.

Via Redfin I recently viewed 35 photos of the house that me and my family lived in 41 to 46 years ago. (I love modern technology.) It was quite eerie yet fascinating to look inside and outside of that house – all modernized all of these years later. It looked gorgeous. It looked like it went through a massive HGTV makeover. When I saw my old bedroom I reminisced about all of the memories in that room (good and bad) as a 7 to 13-year-old. (I’m 54 now.) The backyard still has the original railroad ties landscaping done on it by my Dad back then. We bought the home brand new just after construction was done on it early-on in 1975. I think we paid about $59,000 for it. (It sold for $450,000 a year ago. Its current Redfin estimate is $534,153.)

Our house was located in a neighborhood right behind our previous apartment complex neighborhood of 1969 to 1972 (about a half-mile away). My Grandmom and Granddad lived exactly a mile away. My Aunt, Uncle, and many Cousins lived a mile-and-a-half away. My elementary school (Kindergarten and 3RD through 6TH grades) was imbedded within my neighborhood. I could literally walk up my street, cut-through a yard, climb the fence, and be on school grounds within a few minutes.

6 summers ago me and my family returned to Lanham Maryland as part of a vacation to drive-through our old neighborhoods. Here’s our family Catholic church from the early-to-mid-1970s. It’s where I attended 1ST and 2ND grades from 1973 to 1975. It’s where I observed my First Communion on February 15TH 1975.

Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.

They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. (Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Blogging Nature Photography Scripture Travel

Fanning Island Kiribati

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit Fanning Island – part of the Republic of Kiribati. I’ve never been south of the Equator, but on this visit to the island it’s as close as I got to it – just below 3.9° north latitude. That’s about 250 miles north of the Equator.

I visited during the first week of March of 2006 as part of a 10-day NCL cruise with my family out of Hawaii – about 900 miles due north of Fanning Island. (Back then NCL had to sail to Kiribati and back in order to legally operate a Hawaiian Islands cruise under the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886.)

It’s the only time in my life that I crossed-over the International Date Line. The local time on Fanning Island is exactly 24 hours ahead (GMT + 14) of Honolulu (GMT – 10). Although the International Date Line straddles the 180TH meridian – it extends way to the east near the Equator so that all of Kiribati’s scattered islands are within a few hours of each other. Fanning Island is thus on the most advanced time zone on Earth, so it celebrates each new day first.

Kiribati has about 120,000 residents, and that includes about 2,500 scattered among 8 small villages on Fanning Island’s 13 square miles. The island is actually an atoll – a narrow strip of land that completely or partially encircles a lagoon.

I did not take pictures of anything before about 11 years ago. Luckily my brother had a camera at the time, and he documented our vacation back then via hundreds of photos – including our day across the line on Fanning Island:

YES – That’s me in that final photo from 15½ years ago. #DearYoungerMe

Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.

They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. (Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries