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Texas Bound

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. The week before Thanksgiving (last Thursday here in the U.S.A.) was quite unusual for me for the simple fact that I was home at the time. For as long as I can remember – at least going back almost 20 years – I’ve always been in Texas or Ohio (where my family lives or used to live) during the week leading-up to Thanksgiving. And then on the day after Thanksgiving – known as #BlackFriday – that’s the day that I usually flew back home (or began my journey driving back home).

I usually arrived in Texas or Ohio on the Wednesday or Thursday of the week prior to Thanksgiving. Some years I arrived even earlier than that. Just 4 years ago in 2021 I departed South Florida for North Texas on November 11TH (Veterans Day), and I arrived in North Texas 2 days later on November 13TH – staying there for 13 nights. (That was a fun 2,822-mile road-trip that was documented here on #TravelThursday.)

I don’t think I’ll be driving to Texas ever again. (My last such trip was in April 2024.) I’m terrified of driving on Interstates, Turnpikes, Expressways, and Freeways – basically any high-speed highway with off-ramps, on-ramps, and merging lanes. So I pretty much avoid them completely. It’s a condition known as “amaxophobia”. I have a mild case of it. It’s been gradually progressing over the past 30 years. I’m certainly not afraid of driving my car, and I do just fine on backroads and surface streets. I’m even comfortable (for the most part) on U.S. 27 in Sebring and Avon Park. #IYKYK

If I do decide to take perhaps one last road-trip to and from North Texas then it’ll be via old U.S. highways and state and county roads – much like my April 2024 road-trip.

Fun Fact: Thanksgiving Day occurs on the 4TH Thursday of November here in the U.S.A. It can occur as early as November 22ND – and as late as November 28TH. This year it was on November 27TH. #BlackFriday is the day after, and it’s the official start of the Christmas shopping season; although, many Americans like to get started well before that – even in September and October. Most major stores are happy to accommodate.

So earlier this year – me and my brother decided to continue our family’s #ThanksChristmasGiving tradition where we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas simultaneously. But my brother wanted to add a new wrinkle to it. Instead of me flying in 7 or 8 days before Thanksgiving Day – fly in the night before Thanksgiving Day – and then stay through the first week of December. I think my brother’s rationale was that we would have more time to have fun (shopping, eating, seeing movies, etc.) without his daughters / my nieces getting in the way, as they will be back to school during that first week of December.

Good idea, and so I purchased my round-trip airfare back on August 05TH. 113 days later – I was on my way from home to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (#SRQ).

Thanksgiving Eve traffic westward into the Sarasota-Bradenton area was reasonable – not any busier than past such trips into Florida Gulf Coast suburbia. In fact – the airport itself was noticeably less-busier than I’ve seen it before. But parking was packed like sardines. Long-Term Parking and all of the various overflow parking lots were full and closed. Incoming traffic (for parking) was diverted through and then off airport property, onto adjacent U.S. 41 (Tamiami Trail), and then back onto the far-western edge of airport property to a temporary (occasional) parking lot near the control tower. (Most travelers had obviously flown out of #SRQ for Thanksgiving already.) The good news is that a reduced fare of $14 per day is charged at that temporary parking lot that’s only utilized when main parking lots are full and closed.

I wonder if my car will be the last one remaining in that lot when I return ?

A shuttle took us to the airport terminal about a mile away. I processed my baggage tag at a kiosk. I dropped-off my baggage at the counter. I made it through TSA PreCheck with no issues. I was at my gate almost 3 hours before departure time.

Incidentally – Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (#SRQ) is my favorite airport in Florida for so many reasons, and one of them is the music that they play (rather loudly) all throughout the terminal. They mostly play The Blend (SiriusXM). The music is so good that I don’t need to listen to the great music on my Spotify playlists with my AirPods.

I’ll board my flight to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (#DFW), and my Texas adventure will begin – on the next #TravelThursday. In fact – I’ll write about it for perhaps the next 10 weeks. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Destination Wichita Falls Texas

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This week I begin a new 4-part series on my recent trip to visit family in the Wichita Falls Texas area. (I actually returned home just a few nights ago, but I’ll cover that in Part 4.)

I planned this trip back in mid-June, and I actually made my airline reservations for it a full 2 weeks before I made my airline reservations for the Northern Virginia & Washington D.C. trip that I chronicled in here for 7 weeks through last #TravelThursday.

I actually left home early last Wednesday morning (September 24TH 2025). After a fun (and regularly-scheduled) weekly social and lunch downtown with my museum friends of the Sebring Historical Society – I departed for Tampa. This would be my second trip to Tampa in exactly 9 weeks, and for the second time in a row – I stayed at the same exact hotel as I stayed at last time. Unlike the previous trek to Tampa – the weather was spectacular – nothing but blue skies and sunshine.

I took a bit of a different route into Tampa. I took Florida State Road 60 from Mulberry straight into the heart of downtown and out the other side, and then I made a right onto Westshore to my hotel. It’s a route that I’ve taken many times before to see concerts and hockey games, visit the aquarium, and even go on a cruise. (SR-60 runs a few blocks north of the Channel shopping, dining, and entertainment district.)

Fun Fact: From Mulberry westward to Westshore – the 35½ miles of Florida State Road 60 goes by several names – Canal Street, Brandon Boulevard, Adamo Drive, Channelside Drive, and Kennedy Boulevard.

I drove right past the front of the studios of my favorite TV station in the region – FOX-13. I watch them – particularly their news shows and personalities – more than any other station by far. (Sebring and Highlands County is an outer fringe county in the vast Tampa Bay viewing area.)

I made the right onto Westshore, and there it was – Westshore Plaza – Tampa Bay’s first enclosed and air-conditioned shopping mall. It opened a few months after I was born in 1967. When I lived in Tampa part-time from mid-1993 to early-1994 – Westshore was my go-to shopping mall. It was thriving back then, as were most shopping malls in the U.S.A. 32 years later – the mall is in its last days, as there are plans to demolish it and redevelop the 54-acre property that it sits on.

Once I checked-in at the hotel – the front desk clerk / sales director saw my address and remarked that he was born and raised in Sebring. We talked about what Sebring is like today versus what it was like when he lived there during the 1990s. (It hasn’t changed much since then.)

After a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast at the hotel – I took their shuttle to Tampa International Airport (#TPA) for my second consecutive round-trip flight. This time I knew what to expect, as I was just there for departure 9 weeks earlier. I had aisle seats from Tampa to Dallas (#DFW), and also from Dallas to Wichita Falls, so I couldn’t do my favorite thing while flying – and that is – studying the weather and the landscape below. Both departures and arrivals were early, and my arrival at Wichita Falls Regional Airport (#SPS) was very early – like over a half-hour early. I had to wait awhile for one of my family members to pick me up.

We’ll pick-up with the family adventures in the Wichita Falls area next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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McLean & Tysons

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s Part 6 of my 7-part blog series on my recent trip to and from Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. It was my first trip back to the area in exactly a decade (to the date).

It’s Sunday July 27TH 2025 – our 4TH and final day of me and my brother’s trip down memory lane from our childhoods. And of course – my brother’s wife and their two daughters were along for the ride – which was seemingly a boring ride at times since they had no roots in the area.

Me and my brother have already discussed a trip back to the Washington D.C. area (maybe as early as late next year) to do a “deep dive” into our childhoods (and include Maryland as well) – without the girls. More on that in Part 7 next #TravelThursday.

#ButFirst – We all checked out of our hotel rooms on that Sunday morning, and we headed over to McLean Family Restaurant for Brunch. It was a Jewish deli in the ’50s and ’60s, and then it became what it is today in 1969. I don’t remember ever eating there during the early-to-mid-’80s when I lived there, but my brother had eaten there a few times. It is essentially your classic diner in a longtime (70-year-old) strip shopping center in downtown McLean.

We drove by the old neighborhood public library and recreation center. They still look the same as they did 40+ years ago.

Next we hit Tysons Corner Center – built in 1968 – and now one of the busiest and largest traditional shopping malls in the U.S.A. Back in the early-to-mid-’80s it was much smaller and more of a neighborhood shopping mall – where you were likely to see your neighbors and classmates and teachers walking around. Nowadays it’s a regional destination where people from all over the Washington D.C. area take the Metro, get off at the station adjacent to the mall, and spend an entire day there. We spent several hours there, and the place was packed and steadily becoming even more packed. My brother pointed out what stores used to be at specific locations. (Very few stores remain from 40+ years ago.)

We ate a late-lunch at The Cheesecake Factory – by request of my brother. I personally think that they are overrated and overpriced, but I won’t turn down an opportunity to eat there about every 7 years or so.

While getting ready to pull out of the mall parking lot – my sister-in-law received the disturbing news that their Southwest flight back to Dallas Texas (#DAL) was cancelled due to weather. My American Airlines flight was very delayed – by several hours – due to the same reason. My brother and sister-in-law then quickly put a plan into motion where they would drive from there to Ohio (450 miles) – where they would have flown to the very next day (from #DFW).

We drove back to the Avis rental agency near Reagan National Airport (#DCA), and I got in line for their airport shuttle. My brother and sister-in-law headed inside to see if they could drive their existing rental SUV (Ford Explorer) from there to Ohio and then turn it in the next day at the Avis rental agency at the Columbus airport (#CMH). (They could, and they did. They arrived at their destination right around 12:30 AM.)

As I was waiting for their airport shuttle to arrive – I got the text message notification that I dreaded – my American Airlines flight to Tampa (#TPA) was also cancelled. And so I headed to the airport not really knowing what I would do once I got there. I’ll explain what I did – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Our Nation’s Capitol

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s Part 5 of my 7-part blog series on my recent trip to and from Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. It was my first trip back to the area in exactly a decade (to the date). And yes – you read that right – I can confirm that this will indeed extend to a Part 7 that will wrap-up 2 weeks from today.

#ButFirst – On that last Saturday morning of July me and my family headed to the nearby Metro station at West Falls Church (within eyesight of our hotel, but not accessible via sidewalk yet due to heavy construction in the area). I was the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) expert of my family, as I’d studied it in the weeks leading up to this trip. There really wasn’t much to study. The Metro is so easy to use – even easier to use than it was 10 years earlier with modern technology added. We took the Orange Line into D.C. to Metro Center (where 4 out of 6 lines come together), and then we transferred over to the Red Line and got off two stations later at Judiciary Square. Why such an awkward location to exit the Metro ?

That’s where our guided tour launched from. It’s also the location of the National Law Enforcement Museum and National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. (Location – Between E & F Streets and 4TH & 5TH Streets in NW Washington)

About 20 of us met our 3 tour guides and their open-air all-electric cars, and we piled in to them – 7 per car. We went on a fun 2+ hour slow narrated tour past many of the popular buildings, memorials, and monuments, and we made a few stops along the way. You can book the “Washington Mall & Monuments By Electric Car Tour” via Intrepid Urban Adventures at their web site. I recommend this tour as a good way to see the area without too much walking. Tripadvisor has over 1,000 reviews for this trip, and it rates at a 4.9 out of 5.0. (That’s how my brother and sister-in-law found out about this trip.)

After the tour we walked a couple of blocks down F Street over to the Capital One Arena – home of the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards. My brother was extremely disappointed that their Team Store was closed on a Saturday. (He probably saved himself a couple hundred dollars as a result.)

We walked down 7TH Street from the Arena, and we checked out Gordon Ramsay Street Pizza. We were welcomed and told that Gordon Ramsay Street Burger was brand new and had just opened the day before, so we chose that. (It’s located underneath Street Pizza.) Lunch was pretty good there. I enjoyed my backyard smash burger and fries.

After lunch we took the Metro again to the Smithsonian station, and then we walked over to the National Museum Of American History. We were originally planning to visit the National Museum Of Natural History, but we all agreed that the girls (my teenage nieces) and my brother would find American History more interesting (with modern pop culture) than Natural History. I finally got to see (and take a picture of) Archie Bunker’s chair from “All In The Family”. I was also looking for Fonzie’s leather jacket from “Happy Days”, but I couldn’t find it. (As it turns out – it’s currently not on public view.)

Outside there was a marching band performing, and then later a hip hop concert at The Mall near the Smithsonian station. Artists need a permit to perform on The Mall (especially with amplified sound), but there’s generally no cost to do so.

From the Smithsonian station we took the Orange Line 12 stops – back to West Falls Church. Fun Fact – I maintained a strong T-Mobile 5G cell phone signal all throughout the underground portion of the Metro – including 100+ feet underneath the Potomac River !

Me and my brother ended our day together at Ledo Pizza for dinner about a mile away from our hotel. (As I was writing this blog post I discovered that it’s a chain here on the U.S. East Coast with 116 locations including a couple within a couple of hours of my home in Sebring Florida.)

It’s our final day in Northern Virginia, and we’ll eat and shop until we drop – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp