Category: Sports

The Buckeye State

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This post is all about the great state of Ohio. My brother lived there on two separate occasions during the early-to-mid-2000s (Columbus area) and from 2013 to 2019 (Cincinnati area). My sister-in-law was born and raised there (Upper Sandusky area). My favorite canine nephew was born there in 2017 (Amish Country).

Just as with Indiana (which I wrote about last week) – my first visit to Ohio was a drive-through way back at the end of October of 1985 as an 18-year-old. I had just graduated from Tech School at Chanute Air Force Base adjacent to Rantoul Illinois, and I was driving back to my teenage home in Fairfax County Virginia to visit my parents, brother, and cat. I drove I-70 225 miles from west to east across Ohio. (I may have taken I-270 around Columbus.)

I visited my brother often both times he lived in Ohio – flying in and out of Port Columbus International Airport (#CMH) and Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport (#CVG).

Sometime in 2003 or 2004 me and my brother went on a road-trip northeastward from Columbus. We visited the Pro Football Hall-Of-Fame in Canton; although, I don’t remember ever visiting it. My brother insists that we did, so he may be right. I do remember us driving to downtown Cleveland after that, and we saw a movie. We probably ate somewhere nice before or after the movie, but I don’t remember which movie it was or where we ate. (That was long before the arrival of the smart phone, so no pictures apparently exist of that road-trip.)

A year or two later we went to the Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati to watch the Reds get routed by the Astros 9-0. Ohio native Roger Clemens was the winning pitcher – a month shy of his 43RD birthday.

We visited Ohio Caverns up in the hills of western Ohio (about 12 miles from the highest point in the state). We went there a couple of times more than 10 years apart. That was a lot of fun. The first time I flew in to Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky in May 2014 – our very first stop was at the American Sign Museum. The next day we visited the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. 18 months later we visited nearby Dayton and the National Museum Of The United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

We visited downtown Cincinnati often and attended a few sports events (wrestling and hockey) and a music concert at the U.S. Bank Arena (now known as the Heritage Bank Center).

I loved visiting Ohio – more so in the warm summertime rather than the frigid wintertime. I was actually disappointed when my brother announced in 2019 that he and his family would move away (again) to the Dallas Texas area (again).

My last day in Ohio was the day after Thanksgiving of 2018 when my brother took me to the airport for my flight back home to Miami.

Soon I’ll be visiting Ohio again as part of my Ohio River cruise. On the third day of the cruise we’ll be docking in Cincinnati. I signed-up for a morning tour and an afternoon tour. Both are 3 hours each. The morning tour is at the Cincinnati Reds Hall-Of-Fame & Museum. The afternoon tour is mostly inside a luxury coach bus with various stops along the way. A couple of days later we’ll be docking upstream in Marietta Ohio. I’ll be visiting a historic house museum as part of a guided tour.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll look back at past visits to “The Mountain State” – West Virginia. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Ohio

Blogging Driving Football Geography Holidays Sports Television Travel Wrestling

The Hoosier State

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This post is all about the great state of Indiana. I have lots of neighbors and friends who are either from Indiana, or still live there during the Spring, Summer, and Autumn months as “snowbirds” who return to Sebring each winter season.

My first visit to Indiana was a drive-through way back at the end of October of 1985 as an 18-year-old. I had just graduated from Tech School at Chanute Air Force Base adjacent to Rantoul Illinois, and I was driving back to my teenage home in Fairfax County Virginia to visit my parents, brother, and cat. I entered Indiana via I-74, and I took that to the south leg of I-465. I picked-up I-70 on the east leg of the Indianapolis Beltway, and I took I-70 all the way into Maryland to I-270, I-495, and then home across the Potomac River.

When my brother and his family lived in the Cincinnati area from 2013 to 2019 – we drove through Indiana often whenever I visited. A 3-mile portion of I-275 around Cincinnati is in southeastern Indiana. Whenever my brother picked me up or took me to the airport in Northern Kentucky we went around the west side of I-275 – to include that 3-mile portion of Indiana.

But we also visited Indianapolis in consecutive Novembers. In 2014 me and my brother went to Lucas Oil Stadium to see our Washington Redskins (at the time) take on the Indianapolis Colts. The following year we went to Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now known as Gainbridge Fieldhouse) to see a Tuesday night taping of WWE Smackdown (broadcast on Thursday nights back then).

My last day in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky was the day after Thanksgiving of 2018 when my brother took me to the airport for my flight back home to Miami. (My brother and his family moved back to the Dallas Texas area in 2019.)

Soon I’ll be visiting Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky again as part of my Ohio River cruise. On the second day of the cruise we’ll be docking in Madison Indiana – a historic Ohio River town that was founded in 1809. I’ll be part of a small group taking a guided walking tour of the Madison Historic Landmark District.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll look back at past visits to “The Buckeye State” – Ohio. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Cincinnati, Indiana, Indianapolis, Kentucky, Ohio

1970s Animals Blogging Driving Food Geography History Home Life Nature Photography Sports Travel

Flamingo Gardens

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 9, 2026

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This is Part 2 of my look back at my recent trip back to South Florida – my former home of 35+ years. It was my first trip back in nearly 9 months (38 weeks to be exact) – since the end of June 2025 – when I closed on the sale of my 30-year home.

I wrote about my Sunday and Monday in and near Homestead and Florida City in last week’s edition. This week – it’s Tuesday in West Broward (the western portion of Broward County).

But before we leave Homestead – it’s a milestone in my car. I hit 9,000 miles driving to Breakfast. It took 95 days to drive the next 1,000 miles from 8,000 to 9,000. That’s an average of about 10½ miles per day since the middle of December. My trek to 10,000 on the odometer will clearly come sooner than 95 days due simply to this road-trip alone.

It was a good 48 hours in Homestead and Florida City. After Breakfast at the local family-owned Flagler Restaurant in Homestead I hit Krome Avenue (State Road 997), and then onto U.S. 27 just shy of the Miami-Dade / Broward County line.

I made it to Flamingo Gardens along historic Flamingo Road in Davie. It was my 6TH visit since 2012 – and my 1ST visit in just over 4 years. It’s my favorite place in Broward County. If I had decided to leave Homestead and move up to Broward in retirement (very hypothetical) – then I’d very likely be volunteering or working there today. It’s part botanical gardens, part wildlife sanctuary, and part historic house museum. It covers about 60 acres, and it was established 99 years ago as a family homestead and citrus grove at the edge of the Everglades (back then).

Fun Facts: As an 8, 9, and 10-year-old in suburban Lanham Maryland (just outside of Washington D.C.) me and my friends would bring rakes into the woods on a fairly regular basis. We did so to rake the leaves on the ground, clear a path, and create trails and rest stops along the way – essentially creating our very own neighboring nature parks. On the left side of the creek that ran through the woods – I created “Chris Day Valley” (named after myself). On the right side of the creek – two of my friends (brothers) created “Wolf Pack State” (possibly named after misheard lyrics of a popular Gordon Lightfoot song at the time). After my friends on the right side of the creek lost interest in their unique park – I went over to the next street over and joined other friends who had already started working on their park. They gladly welcomed me. We even had a flag handmade of our park. (One of the moms did that for us.) It was so much fun while it lasted.

So why did I bring all of that up ? It’s because Flamingo Gardens looks like a grown-up version of those childhood parks that we created in the woods. It reminds me of those fun days outside 50 years ago.

After a fun 3 hours and 15 minutes at Flamingo Gardens – I headed north to Tamarac where I met my brother (visiting from Texas) at a hotel. (His 3 days of work was done at the Broward County Convention Center.)

We went to a noisy Yard House at The Oasis at Sawgrass Mills Mall for dinner, and then we walked across Panther Parkway over to the Amerant Bank Arena to see our Florida Panthers take on the Seattle Kraken. (The Panthers won 5-4 in overtime after a shootout.)

Next #TravelThursday – we’ll head back to Sawgrass Mills Mall for extensive shopping, and we’ll take an impromptu tour of West Broward County and many of its suburbs. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Broward, Davie, Florida, Florida City, Hockey, Homestead, Sunrise, Tamarac

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A December To Remember

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. And Happy New Year 2026 ! I hope that this year is greater for you than last year. May you enjoy great travels in this new year.

I’m still looking back at my late-November / early-December trip to visit family in the Dallas Texas area. I’m up to the new month of December – Monday December 01ST 2025. This may be the first time ever that I’m in Texas in December. It was back-to-school time for my two nieces following the Thanksgiving Week break.

On that cold, dark, and dreary December day – stuck in the 30s with low clouds and mist all day long – me and my brother headed over to Starwood Cafe for brunch. He had breakfast, and I had lunch. I had their Monte Cristo with fries. I think I discovered the Monte Cristo at the old Bennigan’s during the 2000s. Nowadays whenever I can make it to a Cheddar’s (which is not very often) – I get it there. The Monte Cristo at Starwood is good. I’ve had it before. I enjoyed it via fork and knife. (It can get quite messy.)

After Starwood we went to a local coffeehouse called Armor Coffee. They have just 2 locations – the original one in Allen (where my family once lived and where my two nieces were born), and the newer one in Wylie (where my family currently lives – since 2019). Armor Coffee is owned by U.S. Army Veteran and West Point Graduate Mike Todryk and his wife – HGTV star Jenn Todryk (“No Demo Reno”).

After another Target run – we stayed in for the rest of the day.

There’s a diner in Wylie that I’ve always wanted to eat at ever since my family moved there. It’s known throughout Texas (with 45 locations) as Cotton Patch Cafe. I kind of relate it to Bob Evans serving Ohio comfort food. It serves Texas comfort food. My brother finally agreed to eat there, and we enjoyed a big lunch for $9.99 (not including drink and gratuity). I think we’ll return the next time I’m in town. My brother was impressed with the size portions for such a low price.

Later on that 2ND day of December – with the sun shining brightly and the temperature finally breaking-out of the 30s for the first time in almost 42 hours – we went back to the theatres to see our 3RD movie in 5 days. We saw “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” – the continuing story of the first two movies from 2013 and 2016 respectively.

After the movie and a Starbucks run we ventured over to my oldest niece’s high school. She’s a cheerleader in the 10TH grade, and their high school varsity basketball team was taking on a rival team from 38 miles away in the Denton Texas area. It was my first high school basketball game of my life, and it may have actually been my first basketball game overall of my life. (I don’t recall ever seeing the Washington Bullets growing up in the D.C. area, or the Miami Heat living down in South Florida.) Spoiler: The home team won in a come-from-behind victory !

On the next #TravelThursday I step inside a historic house that serves as the official museum and welcome center for Wylie Texas. Let’s keep traveling together.