Category: Travel

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Animals History Holidays Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Here are today’s top stories:

1.  Hola mis amigos. Hoy es el Cinco de Mayo. Go forth and enjoy some delicious Mexican food tonight to celebrate this muy especial day that marks the grande victory of the Mexican army over the French army in the Battle Of Puebla in 1862.  ¡ VIVA MEXICO !

2.  In just about 50 hours I’ll be arriving at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to begin a long weekend vacation con mi familia. I’m planning to continue the ‘2009 Economic Stimulus Tour’ (of tourist attractions) this weekend with a visit to the Dallas Zoo. It’s the largest zoological experience in Texas !

3.  I never got to go to the zoo when I was a little kid, and I actually had an Uncle that worked at one (as Security). That’s right – I was totally deprived of the zoo experience as a kid. Since I’ve pretty much outgrown the traditional amusement parks (and wild rides make me dizzy) I’ve gone back to basics by visiting the animals as much as I can. I love the animals !  The’re just like you and me !

4.  Speaking of amusement parks with wild rides – and animals – me and a buddy may visit Sea World up in Orlando during the upcoming  Memorial Day holiday weekend. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there. We may also visit nearby Gatorland. I haven’t been there since they rebuilt the place following the devastating fire of November 06TH 2006.

5.  Are you ready for the upcoming rainy season aqui en America’s Riviera ?  It starts within the next couple of weeks, and based on my analysis and research I’m forecasting an extra wet rainy season this year with southerly, southwesterly, and westerly wind flow the norm. That means that all of those strong thunderstorms that develop over the Everglades should drift eastward over us rather than westward towards Naples. I’m also forecasting a below normal hurricane season with most storms staying away from us due to our westerly wind flow and the long-awaited reemergence of our good friend ‘El Niño’. We’ll see how this forecast works out for all of us.

Take good care of yourselves my friends. THANKS for reading what’s on my mind.

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Animals Bugs Driving Shopping Travel

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon: Special On-Location Edition – Everglades National Park

– My ‘2009 Economic Stimulus Tour’ continues.
– For the 2ND Saturday morning in a row I went to Everglades National Park.
– But this time I went to the north part at Shark Valley off Tamiami Trail.
– Me and a buddy got there shortly after 11 AM.
– We took the 2-hour / 15-mile tram tour starting at 12 noon.
– Our tour guide was a crazy lady who was a child of the 1960s.
– She took us on a tour of her ‘office’ – The Everglades.
– She was good, as she definitely knew her stuff.
– She clearly demonstrated that she has an intense adoration for the ‘Glades.
– She was totally passionate about her ‘coworkers’ – the wildlife.
– She introduced us to all of her alligator friends.
– The gators were just chillin’ in the shallow water tryin’ to get some sun.
– Some showed off their teeth as if they were smiling.
– The gators are just like you and me !
– We saw a whole bunch of baby gators.
– It’s breeding season dude !
– If the gator is less than a foot long then it’s less than a year old.
– If the gator is between 5 and 6 feet long then it’s an adult.
– Most gators stop growing in length after that and start getting plumper.
– The gators are just like you and me !
– If you see a gator that’s 8 or 10 feet long then it’s well fed !
– Female gators never lose the ability to give birth to baby gators.
– In addition to the 15-mile tram tour we also did a whole lot of walking.
– I’m talkin’ several miles of walkin’ in the hot and dry Everglades.
– We hit up this tower:

shark-valley-tower

– The 18-mile panoramic view up top was really cool.
– That tower is about 27 miles due west of The Falls Shopping Center.
– I thought that I saw Macy’s from afar.
– The sound of the Everglades – incomparable to anything else in Miami-Dade.
– The smell of the Everglades – it’s pure nature – as natural as can be.
– Man has already destroyed much of what used to be the Everglades.
– But the Everglades is tough – so tough that several million acres still exist.
– I will respect the Everglades.
– I will also visit again sometime real soon.

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Blogging Career Food People Travel

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– If it’s Thursday night then it must be time for some mini thoughts o’ mine.
– It’s the 14TH edition of these ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’.
– It’s the sleeper smash hit series of the season for this blog !
– Last night I spent nearly 3 hours with some good friends at the White Lion Cafe.
– They officially close ‘when the fat lady sings’.
– She sang last night, and we shut the joint down just before 10 PM.
– As promised I ate ENORMOUS quantities of food.
– I stopped eating at around 9:30 PM.
– That was over 19 hours ago, and I haven’t eaten a morsel ever since then.
– I may grab a snack after I post these Mini Thoughts.
– I’m not really hungry though.
– I also ate an ENORMOUS Lunch at Sonny’s BBQ 8 hours prior to Dinner.
– I may have consumed nearly 10,000 calories yesterday.
– Some of my friends didn’t like their food at the White Lion Cafe.
– Greg eats just like me – EVERYTHING on his plate !
– It just takes him a little longer to do so.
– My food was absolutely scrumptious from start to finish.
– Of course this is coming from a dude who cooks absolutely nothing at home.
– I only eat real food in restaurants and in other peoples’ homes.
– I was in meetings pretty much all day today at work.
– They were very productive.
– Over the past 21 months I’ve enjoyed a purpose-driven career.
– It just took over 22 years to get to that point in my career.
– Next year I celebrate my 25TH anniversary working with the USAF.
– The first 22 years were pretty much forgettable.
– At least I wish to forget most of that time.
– My little brother turns 34-years-old this Sunday.
– I remember when he was born.
– I also remember all of the fun times that we shared together as kids.
– My brother is my favourite person in the entire world.
– I’ll see him LIVE and in person next Thursday night.
– That’s because I’ll be visiting North Texas next weekend.
– We’ll be celebrating his birthday on the first night.
– And his 2ND anniversary with his wife on the second night.
– And my birthday on the third night.
– And Mother’s Day on the fourth night.
– That means that there will be more MASSIVE meals in my future !
– I am so looking forward to that !

Categories
Animals Bugs Driving Food Travel Weather

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon: Special On-Location Edition – Everglades National Park

TODAY I visited Everglades National Park for the first time in modern history.

Here are my takeaways in 15 words or less:

– My ‘2009 Economic Stimulus Tour’ (of tourist attractions) continues.
– I kicked it off with an 8:40 AM visit to the Starbucks in Florida City.
– The first sign I saw at the park – ‘EXTREME FIRE DANGER‘.
– I was hoping that I wouldn’t see any out-of-control wildfires.
– The National Park Service doesn’t spend a lot of money on road maintenance.
– The top layer of the main road is peeling off exposing the concrete below.
– It was a nice day at the park – sort of cloudy with a refreshing wind.
– There weren’t a lot of people at the park today.
– I was part of the very few that wore shorts.
– Dude it’s not mosquito season yet.
– The’re still hibernating / incubating.
– The skeeters need the water, and there wasn’t much of it out there.
– The ground was so dry that it was cracking like scorched earth.
– It was the dryest winter season ever recorded since mankind’s been tracking it.
– If there’s no water in the solution holes then we must be in a drought.
– That’s because those holes reach the water table.
– I spent the first 45 minutes of my visit at the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center.
– That’s a nice place, as I could have spent twice as long there.
– One sound you don’t hear inside the park – lawnmowers !
– It may not be mosquito season, but it certainly is bee season.
– They were buzzing (scaring) all around me in certain areas on the trails.
– None stung me, so that’s a good thing.
– I probably wouldn’t be here writing this if I had sustained a bee sting.
– If there’s a lot of people gathered then there must be a HUGE gator there.
– The gators were just chillin’ in the shallow end of the water.
– Some were tanning themselves on the shore with their mouths wide open.
– Gators are just like you and me !
– The Gumbo Limbo Trail reminded me of a place I played at as a kid.
– It was in the mid-1970s, and it was in the woods alongside my old ‘hood.
– Chuck and Keegan were two childhood friends of mine back then.
– They ran a territory on one side of the creek known as ‘Wolf Pack State’.
– I ran the territory on the other side of the creek.
– The Gumbo Limbo tree has peeling reddish bark.
– The Gumbo Limbo tree is just like you and me – a tourist with a sunburn !
– Everglades National Park formed out of Royal Palm State Park.
– It’s a vast wilderness – just like the U.S.A. once was.
– It smelled really good on the Mahogany Hammock Trail.
– The Everglades overall smelled really nice.
– It’s nature’s air freshener.
– Even the residue skunk smell was quite alright.
– You don’t know what nature sounds like until you visit the Everglades.
– All you need to do is sit down, keep quiet, and just listen.
– Noise pollution is not invited out there.
– Trees still provide abundant life to plants long after their death.
– Trees learned that from their Creator – Jesus – who does the same.
– It’s 60 miles on the dot from my home to Flamingo.
– I walked every half-mile trail from the park entrance to Florida Bay.
– This was the longest officially-sanctioned ‘Walk-A-Thon’ in history.
– I used no insect repellent at all.
– It wasn’t until the final trail in which I started to get bitten by bugs.
– It was also one of my favourite trails that I walked on.
– The bugs were alive and biting on the West Lake Boardwalk.
– I even saw a rare mosquito come close to my arm.
– A few ENORMOUS flies bit me.
– Now I feel like I really visited the Everglades !
– The bugs were there because the boardwalk went through a mangrove swamp.
– The ground was actually moist too.
– After that final trail I headed back to civilization / America’s Riviera.
– I made a pit stop at Mamma Mia.
– That’s right I ate there for the 2ND time in 7 days.
– It’s my new favourite sit-down restaurant in Homestead.
– I feel right at home there.
– I ate the mother of all MASSIVE meals big and small there this afternoon.
– That’s how I roll on a Saturday afternoon in late-April.
– My 111-mile round-trip excursion ended 7 hours after it started.
– I didn’t realize that I got a suntan / slight sunburn today.
– I realized it when I shaved after I got home.
– It stung a bit.
– It also didn’t help that I shaved directly over a few small insect bites.
– This day trip was so worth it.
– I’m visiting again next December or January.
– You can count on it !