Category: Travel

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Iceland

Following a fun 7-part Thursday blog series on my recent 77-hour / (4-day / 3-night) / 472-mile road-trip to and from Florida’s Treasure Coast – I plan to continue these travel-themed Thursday blog posts indefinitely.

This week #TravelThursday leaves Florida and the United States to check-out the intriguing island nation of Iceland. We’re technically not leaving North America to visit Iceland, as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which separates North America and Europe in this region runs right through the center of Iceland. Geologically speaking the north and west part of the island is part of the North American plate, and the south and east part of the island is part of the European plate. You can actually walk right along the narrow valley / rift that is in the middle of the ridge and look-up at both North America and Europe on either side.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the longest continuous mountain range on earth – extending from the Arctic Ocean in the north to nearly Antarctica in the south. Most of it is submerged under water, but there are a few islands in the middle of the ocean that are part of the ridge – to include the biggest one – Iceland. There’s an excellent article on the Amusing Planet web site that explains the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Iceland.

I’ve never been to Iceland; although, I once had the chance to do so when I lived in the United Kingdom for 2 years from 1985 to 1987. Back then Keflavik NAS (at the SW corner of the island) was a joint-use Icelandic / American military base, and the base that I was stationed at in England – which itself was a forward operating location for stateside KC-135 aircraft – sent some of those aircraft to Keflavik for a few months at a time to support the mission there.

One of my favorite Twitter accounts is @dorisig (Iceland Photos). The name of the guy who runs it is Halldor. He’s got over 5,100 followers. He lives in Iceland (Reykjavik), and he’s a tourist guide. Once or twice per day (usually during the work week only) he drives somewhere with his dashcam on, and he posts a 30 to 40 second video of his drive along with the time and temperature. He includes noteworthy comments with his tweets – some of them quite amusing. I love his tweets and videos. I look forward to my daily drive around town with Halldor. Some of his videos have been shown on TV worldwide – including here in the U.S. This is probably the best thing Iceland has going for it online right now. He’s promoting the beauty that is Iceland every day. My interest in visiting Iceland during a future summertime has increased immensely !

#TravelThursday continues next Thursday. Where shall I visit virtually next ?

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

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Blogging Driving Food Photography Travel

My Summer Vacation 2021 Road-Trip

It’s Part 7 of my multi-part Thursday blog series on my recent 77-hour / (4-day / 3-night) / 472-mile road-trip spanning Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, and Okeechobee Counties (in that order). It was my first extended visit ever along Florida’s Treasure Coast. While there I was always within about 5 miles of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent Indian River.

I awoke early on Day 4 – Saturday June 05TH 2021 – my 54TH birthday. In the weeks (even months) prior to this road-trip I had planned to enjoy a free birthday Grand Slam® breakfast at Denny’s, but they’ve actually changed things up over the past couple of years. Instead of simply walking-in to any Denny’s on the exact day of your birthday, telling them that it’s your birthday, showing them proof via your driver’s license, and then enjoying a free birthday Grand Slam® – now you have to be a part of their Rewards program, and receive a digital coupon for a free birthday Grand Slam® that you can utilize once anytime during your birthday month.

I decided to save my digital coupon from Denny’s for later in the month. Starbucks gave me a reward for any item on their menu free – good only on the exact day of my birthday – so it was off to Starbucks of Vero Beach for a quick small Breakfast.

After that it was a mostly uneventful drive home – down U.S. 1 – onto Florida State Roads 713 and 70, into Okeechobee County, around the eastern edge of the big lake, and then southward onto U.S. 27 and back into Miami-Dade County. I drove 180.2 miles home, and the total miles of the road-trip from start to finish was 471.8.

This was a fun yet well-planned road-trip. I planned it back in early-2018, and I scheduled it for the first week of June of 2018. I had to cancel it when a work-related road-trip to Georgia took precedence. Early this year I decided that this would be the year to take that road-trip, and so I scheduled it for the exact same 4-day / 3-night part of the first week of June. Most of the places that I visited were on my original 2018 itinerary. This was a road-trip where I wasn’t looking for potential part-time volunteer or employment opportunities post-retirement. I wasn’t driving around looking through potential future neighborhoods. I just wanted to visit new places that I’ve never been to before in my life, meet interesting people along the way, and enjoy some great food. I accomplished my mission.

Inside the Indian River Citrus Museum in downtown Vero Beach Florida

There are a lot of hidden treasures along Florida’s Treasure Coast – mostly along or within a few miles of the Atlantic coastline and the Indian River shoreline. I’ll definitely visit the area again to explore more. So far I’ve captioned and posted about 35 photos of this road-trip over on my Flickr site. I’ve got dozens more still to post, so I’ll be doing that for at least the next month. Check my Flickr often to see the newest photos.

And now it’s time to announce my next great Florida road-trip that begins in less than 100 days. It’s all planned-out. I’ll be driving up the spine of Florida along U.S. 27 up to Florida State Road 60, and then I’ll be heading westward into the Tampa area for one night. From there I’ll be heading southward along U.S. 41 (Tamiami Trail) into the Fort Myers area for one night. From there I’ll be heading southward and then eastward back into South Florida. I’ll be spending one night in Northwest Broward County before I return home on the afternoon of the 4TH day. It’ll be a nearly 650-mile road-trip from start to finish, and I’ll post all about it for many weeks after.

This concludes my 7-part series on “My Summer Vacation 2021 Road-Trip”. Actually it was an 8-part series, as I introduced it on the June 06TH 2021 edition of “Sunday Scripture”. You can utilize the calendar feature down at the bottom of this site to click on a previous Thursday if you missed any of the parts.

#TravelThursday continues next Thursday, as I plan to blog about Reykjavik Iceland.

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

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Astronomy Blogging Food History Internet Music Television Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

I. #Introduction – Surprise. I’ve brought back an old favorite of this blog, but just for a single return appearance. This won’t become a regular weekly feature again. This was once the flagship of this blog. It started in 2007 on Myspace – inspired by fellow bloggers of the era. It continued here on WordPress for 129 well-read editions. This is the first edition on WordPress in over 11 years. I brought it back briefly on Facebook after that. This is essentially my instant “brain dump” online. It’s what’s on my mind – right here – right now. I have no idea what I’ll write – until my fingers hit the keyboard. Once it’s done it gets posted immediately. I wanted to do something different to observe 2,000 blog posts here on WordPress, and this is what I came up with. #Blogging101

II. #Lunch – I’ve written about Longhorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, and Red Lobster many times before here on my #GrabBag. Back in 2008 and 2009 they were being built and opened in my city right next to each other just 3 miles away from my home. Longhorn and Olive Garden continue to thrive with delicious food, great service, and an abundance of customers all day every day. Red Lobster is struggling. I don’t go there very often anymore, and when I do there aren’t that many people there – both customers and employees. They appear to be poorly managed at this time. As a church group we’ve dropped the place from our regular rotation due to poor service. I went back today solo on a reconnaissance mission to see if they have improved. They failed. They were closed 18 minutes after they were supposed to be open at 11 AM. I went back to Longhorn – the place that I’ve been to more than any other restaurant in my city. My favorite waitress served me. She was fantastic, and my meal was delicious. #CaseClosed

III. #ManOnTheMoon – 52 years ago today on July 20TH 1969 (a Sunday) man walked on the moon for the first time ever. It was one small step for man – one giant leap for mankind. I actually remember watching it as a 2-year-old toddler in our cozy Greenbelt Maryland apartment on our giant (25-inch) living room TV set that was essentially heavy furniture that weighed several hundred pounds. I smiled when R.E.M.‘s “Man On The Moon” played on my iPod Shuffle at my desk at work this morning. #Appropriate

IV. #WeatherOnTheFours – Today we had a lot of quick-moving heavy showers around the area, but we also had a lot of hot sunshine. Sometimes the sun was shining bright while the rain was pouring down. Sounds like a typical “rainy season” day. We started-off this morning right around 78°F / 26°C, and we managed to reach 90°F / 32°C. Slightly drier and hotter days are headed this way – along with some Saharan dust. #Gesundheit

V. #FamilyPhotoOn5 – I stumbled across this photo recently. It’s from a long time ago – the Summer of 1977 (I believe). It could be ’78. I’m 10 (or 11). My little brother is 2 (or 3). We’re definitely in Ocean City Maryland with our neighbor friends. I went fishing for the first time ever in my life, and look what I caught !  Please excuse my outfit. I didn’t dress myself back then. #CutenessOverload

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend (which starts very soon) – with 4 new entries on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. I don’t blog on Saturdays. That’s my day of rest.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

Be blessed my friends !  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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

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1990s Blogging Career Home Military Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday July 21ST 1991:

  1. “Unbelievable” – EMF
  2. “Hard To Handle” – The Black Crowes
  3. “A Couple Days Off” – Huey Lewis And The News
  4. “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” – C + C Music Factory Ft. Freedom Williams
  5. “Here We Go (Let’s Rock & Roll)” – C + C Music Factory Presents Freedom Williams & Zelma Davis

The Black Crowes scored a surprise # 2 hit on my chart with “Hard To Handle”. I say “surprise” because it received very little radio airplay here in South Florida while it was a hit on the radio in other parts of the U.S. some 8 months earlier in November and December of 1990. It received tremendous airplay in my tent at “Tent City” at Al Kharj Air Base in Saudi Arabia during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I didn’t play it. One of my tentmates played it over and over again – loudly. It became a de facto anthem of the war. I bought it on cassette single after returning home stateside, and I played it over and over again myself in my dorm room – loudly. I consider it to be one of the greatest rock songs ever made.

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to July 1986 – when I lived on the edge of the Cotswolds of Gloucestershire England.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with 3 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

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