Category: Travel

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Animals Driving History Life People Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

If it’s Tuesday night then the grab bag is full, so let me let some thoughts loose !

1.  Since March 01ST over a FOOT of rain has fallen at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport – and it shows. All of the vegetation in the Metroplex was green and lush – well nourished by Mother Nature. Meanwhile less than 3 inches of rain has fallen at Miami International Airport – and the extreme drought continues. Everything is still brown and crunchy. The Everglades is finally receiving some rain, but until we get some westerly winds in here we won’t see much of it.

2.  TODAY is my brother’s and his wife’s 2ND anniversary. They were married in The Bahamas on this very special date in 2007. I’ve often stated that my brother is my favourite person in the entire world, but I’ll also go on record by stating that his wife – Christina – is my 2ND favourite person in the entire world. I like her a lot, and I’ve liked her ever since the minute that I first met her. She has fit in perfectly in our Day family.

3.  This past weekend in the northeastern suburbs of Dallas Texas me and my family officially celebrated my brother’s 34TH birthday, my brother’s and his wife’s 2ND anniversary, Mother’s Day, and my 42ND birthday (early). I got one of the nicest birthday gifts in modern history, and it really has to do with modern history – mine. It’s a professional photo album hand-made by Christina (my brother’s wife) chock-full of classic pictures of me from the 1960s through the 2000s. She spent many days (probably weeks) working on this masterpiece. I shall cherish it forever. I also plan to share it with some of my closest friends.

4.  This upcoming Sunday marks a sad event – the 2ND anniversary of the death of my cat Boots. A memorial still sits to this day at the edge of one of my living room couches where he used to spend a lot of time. Boots was my little buddy for over a dozen years. His life was cut short by several years due to a variety of feline diseases. I will never forget Boots.

5.  I received my brand new Florida license plate in the mail this afternoon. It replaces my current license plate of the past 5 years. The old plate will join 3 others that are currently on display on my master bedroom wall. I can’t believe that I’ve been driving here in America’s Riviera for the past 20 years.

Those are my thoughts on this Tuesday night. Thank You for reading them.

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Travel Weather

Monday Night Countdown

Here are today’s TOP 5 travel events as experienced by me:

1.  Shortly After 9:30 AM CDT – I arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. It’s chilly and rainy outside. It’s unusually quiet inside. There’s no lines at the self-service kiosks, the ticket / check-in counters, or even the security checkpoints. I’m amazed.

2.  11:20 AM CDT – That’s when my American Airlines flight was supposed to depart for Miami International Airport. That didn’t happen. The flight (apparently originating from Kansas City) couldn’t land at DFW due to the heavy rains and the low ceilings. It flew right past us to Austin.

3.  1:45 PM CDT – Two gate changes later – including a trip on the Skylink (monorail) to a completely different terminal on the other side of the airport – and my flight was ready to take-off. Apparently this was the same flight that was diverted to Austin. It replaced a previous Austin to Dallas flight (that was cancelled), and it became the new DFW to MIA flight. Who’s confused ?

4.  1:57 PM CDT – We actually pulled away from the gate at DFW some 2 hours and 37 minutes late. Our co-pilot was a laugh riot over the intercom system. I think that he would make a great radio deejay – or a cruise director. He sounded like a loud Chicagoan – not that there’s anything wrong with that.

5.  Shortly Before 6:00 PM EDT – I’m back home at MIA – nearly 3 hours later than originally scheduled. That puts me al aeropuerto at the heart and soul of the evening rush hour. My suitcase was one of the first dozen to show up on the baggage carousel (a miracle), so I did a grab and go. On to the shuttle that showed up rather quickly (another miracle). It picked me up and delivered me to my car at the off-site parking. Through the Dolphin Expressway / Palmetto Expressway / Don Shula Expressway / Florida’s Turnpike rush hour I went and long story short here I am at home.

My long weekend vacation is now history. Home Sweet Homestead.

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Blogging People Travel

Blatant Promotion

It’s nearly 8:30 PM CDT here in the northeastern suburbs of Dallas Texas, and that of course is 9:30 PM EDT back home in America’s Riviera. My long weekend vacation here in the Metroplex is nearing its end, as my flight from DFW to MIA returns back to home turf at around 3 PM tomorrow (Monday) afternoon.

‘Monday Night Countdown’ is on tap for tomorrow night here on the big green blog, and that of course leads up to the ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’.

I obviously wasn’t at Life Pointe Church in Homestead Florida this morning, so if you really wish to know what happened there then simply ask this guy, or this guy, or this guy, or this guy, or this guy, but don’t bother reading about it in writing because none of them really blog much anymore. That’s right – I’ve pretty much been abandoned deep in the blogosphere, but it’s all good. I will single-handedly hold down the blogging fortress until the next generation of fresh new bloggers emanate from the crowds.

Until we blog again think global, act local, and keep your radio tuned right where it is. This is NBC – the National Broadcasting Company.

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Animals Bugs Travel Weather

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon: Special On-Location Edition – Dallas Zoo

Dallas Zoo

Yesterday me and my brother visited the Dallas Zoo for the first time ever.

Here are my takeaways – ‘Mini Thoughts’ style:

– It’s an old zoo – established way back in 1888 !
– It’s the largest zoo in Texas – covering 95 acres alongside I-35.
– We were there for about 3 hours.
– It was a hot and humid day in Dallas with heat indices in the mid-90s.
– The zoo is expanding !
– A whole new area of ‘Wilds Of Africa’ called ‘The Savanna’ is under construction.
– The penguins were soaking wet – and hot.
– We got up close to a Western Lowland Gorilla.
– Only a strong window separated him from us.
– He just laid against the window as all of us humanoids watched his every move.
– He would look at us sometimes in a curious yet friendly manner.
– He was most interested in scratching his itches.
– He’s just like you and me !
– Much of the ‘Wilds Of Africa’ exhibit is seeable via the monorail alone.
– So we took the monorail around the continent.
– It was a cool 25 minute tour through the wilds from up above.
– The chimps were not out to play.
– They were in seclusion due to the birth of a new member of their family.
– We walked through an entire exhibit on BUGS !
– Bugs are constantly working at creating a new habitat for themselves.
– The’re never satisfied with what they have.
– Bugs – The’re just like you and me.
– We saw ENORMOUS tortoises crawling around.
– The’re the biggest of their species in the entire world.
– They were just taking their time to get from Point A to Point Z.
– The’re OLD !
– MASSIVE ALBINO ALLIGATOR !
– Check out this recent newspaper article on it.
– I don’t think that I’ve ever seen one like this before.
– It’s 9-feet in length, 200 pounds, and totally white.
– It doesn’t appreciate the Sun, and it’s blind.
– As we watched from a boardwalk above it was feeding time.
– But the albino alligator wasn’t very hungry.
– The other standard alligators around him were hungry though.
– A lot of the animals outside were hidden away.
– They were probably too hot.
– I wondered how those African animals cope with the snow in the winter.
– The zoo is open year-round, and it can get totally freezing here in Dallas.
– Only the soaking wet penguins would appreciate that !
– We had a fun time at the zoo.
– We both agreed that it was bigger and nicer than we originally thought.
– We’ll hopefully visit it again in a couple of years.
– Maybe on my next visit to Texas we can visit the Fort Worth Zoo.
– That would be cool, as I so dig hangin’ out with the animals.
– The’re just like you and me !