Tag: Carnival

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Blogging Driving Food Geography Home Travel

My Neighborhood Is Like A Cruise Ship

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I did not visit Arcadia Florida last Thursday as I hinted that I may at the end of last week’s edition. I may visit today.

Last Thursday I stayed home and enjoyed a “day off”. Thursday is usually the only day of the week when I don’t have regularly-scheduled events – whether it’s neighborhood, museum, or church – morning, afternoon, or evening. So Thursdays are generally reserved as days of productivity at home (unless I embark on a local road-trip).

A friend of mine recently asked when I’m going on my next cruise (which would be my 25TH since 1991). I have no plans for such a cruise. I have no desires to go on a cruise. I’m settling-in to my retirement lifestyle, and I love what each new day brings. I’m physically and socially active like never before. (Not even close to my longtime Homestead lifestyle).

Besides – my neighborhood is as close to a cruise ship as I can get. We have 248 condos and villas surrounding a big mostly manmade half-mile-long lake in the middle. Each condo and villa has a spectacular elevated view of the lake. The condos and villas are like the cabins and suites on a cruise ship, and we’ve all got views of the sea. My lanai is like a very nice large balcony. I walk around the sidewalk that runs 1.1 miles alongside the lake, and it’s like walking alongside the perimeter of a cruise ship on a low deck with the cool breeze bouncing off the water and onto my face. Our clubhouse is like the small entertainment venue onboard where a lot of the fun events occur – including of course BINGO !

And our wide variety of daily, weekly, and monthly fun events that do occur – including the occasional meals and parties – resemble those of a cruise. I like our Cruise Director. I’m part of her “Fun Squad”.

I can’t imagine spending a couple thousand dollars on a 7 or 8-day Caribbean cruise when I’ve got my forever home that resembles the nicest balcony cabin I’ve ever occupied.

So if I embark on that shore excursion today to Arcadia Florida – then I’ll write about it – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

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

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Animals Blogging Driving Food Geography Holidays Travel

From Texas To Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Exactly 16 years ago here on my blog – I wrote about my road-trip westward from the Jacksonville Florida area (specifically Fleming Island in Clay County) to the Dallas Texas area (specifically Allen in Collin County).

This was a very unique road-trip. It was a relocation road-trip for my parents. After a dozen years of living at 3 different homes in and around the Jacksonville area – they moved to the Dallas area to be close to my younger brother and his wife. My dad had Lou Gehrig’s Disease at the time, and it would ultimately end his life the following year in 2010.

The moving truck had already come and gone – headed to Texas. All that was left was to drive from Homestead to Fleming Island, pick-up my parents and their cat Pumpkin, and head west. And so that’s what I did. I left Homestead shortly before 4:30 AM on that Tuesday, and I drove about 375 miles to my parents’ home (which was deeded over to me). They got in my mom’s car, and I drove her car. We drove about 345 miles westward along I-10 on that first day, and we made it to Milton Florida (just east of Pensacola). We ate Dinner at a fancy Mexican restaurant called La Hacienda. (It’s still there today.)

We got back on the road again on Wednesday morning. We made it another 415 miles – straight into the heart of Louisiana. You know – timing is everything – and we hadn’t planned on it – but we got mixed in with very heavy traffic coming out of New Orleans. It was Ash Wednesday – the day after Mardi Gras. Thousands of tourists were heading north out of New Orleans. I remember us eating Lunch at IHOP, and it was jam-packed. I also remember us missing National Pancake Day at IHOP by exactly one day.

We stayed at a hotel in Alexandria – near their airport. Their airport used to be England Air Force Base for 50 years until 1992.

Incidentally – Pumpkin the cat – who didn’t care too much for me – stayed with me in my hotel room for both nights. (We stayed at pet-friendly hotels.) Pumpkin was completely terrified during the trip – especially in the hotel rooms. It was quite the chore chasing that big heavy cat out from underneath the bed.

On the 3RD day (Thursday) we arrived at my brother’s and sister-in-law’s house in Allen Texas. It was about 1,075 miles in my mom’s car. It was the first and last time I ever drove that car.

Meanwhile – my own car was still sitting in Florida on my parents’ former driveway. I flew back to Jacksonville International Airport on that Saturday. I then took a taxi back to my car some 35 miles away. I then drove 375 miles back home to Homestead – arriving late at night.

You think I have such a great memory from exactly 16 years ago ? Not so much. Most of these facts were copied and pasted from that blog post that I originally wrote.

I think I’m driving to Arcadia Florida today. If I am then I’ll let you know how it went – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

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

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Blogging Driving Geography Travel

Panama Canal

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Exactly 15 years ago today in 2010 I was on the final day at sea of an 8-day Carnival Freedom cruise to and from Central America. It was my 9TH Carnival cruise (out of 16), and my 14TH cruise overall (out of 24).

This cruise ship (Carnival Freedom) was special to me in that I sailed it from Rome Italy (Civitavecchia) – through the Mediterranean – and across the Atlantic over to Miami Florida for its inaugural homecoming cruise in late-October / early-November 2007. In other words – I was on the cruise that brought it to the U.S.A. for the first time ever. It was – and still is – my favorite (and longest) cruise ever.

This specific cruise (exactly 15 years ago) was special to me in that it included two brand new nations / ports-of-call for me – Limón Costa Rica, and Colón Panama.

Upon arrival in Colón a group of us (who booked the same shore excursion) boarded a coach bus, and we took the 55-mile trek from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the Transisthmian Highway (Pan-American Highway). At one point during the trek southeastward we reached a security checkpoint where we came to a complete stop and allowed armed military police on-board to visually check us to make sure that we were legitimate tourists. They allowed us to continue on our way to Panama City. Once in the big city we got off the coach bus and we boarded a large boat. We enjoyed a breathtaking view of the skyline of Panama City as we entered the Panama Canal. We sailed about half of the Canal, and then we picked up our coach bus for the rest of the trek back to our cruise ship in Colón.

It was a fun day on the Panama Canal, and I’ll remember it forever – despite no photos. (It was shortly before me owning my first smart phone.) Maybe someday I’ll be able to sail the entire Panama Canal on a cruise ship that’s repositioning from one home port to another.

16 years ago – I drove / relocated my parents and their cat Pumpkin over 1,050 miles from Fleming Island (Clay County) Florida to Allen (Collin County) Texas. I’ll look back at that – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

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

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Blogging Geography Health Home Life Travel Weather

Neighborhood Walks

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Longtime readers of my blog – going back to its debut here on WordPress some 15½ years ago – may remember a series of blog posts under the heading of “The Major’s Walk-A-Thon”. It’s where I revealed and described my various neighborhood walks – mostly at dawn. They were dedicated to the memory of my Dad – who lost the ability to walk on his own in 2007 – and eventually passed away from the devastating effects of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

16 months into my fantastic journey (salvation in Christ) I began neighborhood walks to get healthy – physically, mentally, and spiritually. The walks were mostly over 1 mile in length, and up to 2, 3, and even 4+ miles. They were confined to the dry seasons here in South Florida – generally from October to May. They were “power walks” – with a pace of between 17 and 18 minutes per mile.

Season 1 was 2007-2008, and it was a shock to the system, as I had never done such a thing before in my entire life – walk to get fit. It was well-documented here on my blog. At that time in my life – I was slowly rebounding from the worst physical shape of my life. (I actually quit drinking less than 2 months earlier.)

I’m now approaching the end of Season 16. That’s right – 16 seasons of walking. So far this season I’ve walked around my neighborhood 27 times. That’s the 2ND-most number of walks in a season (surpassed only by Season 8 – 2014-2015). Those 27 walks include 8 in my longtime Homestead neighborhood (or the nearby city park) – and 19 in my new Sebring neighborhood. (My new 55+ neighborhood is near-ideal for such walks, and many of my neighbors are doing it too. I need to keep-up with them.)

So far this season I’ve walked a total of 37.80 miles. That’s the 4TH-highest number of miles (surpassed by 2014-2015, 2015-2016, and 2016-2017).

This season is not yet complete. We’re still getting (weak) cold fronts up in the Florida Heartland, and those cold fronts are still delivering the refreshing 60s into the region at dawn, and low humidity during the day and into the early-evening hours. Eventually it’ll get too consistently wet, warm, humid, and buggy to walk, so I’ll just be resting-up in preparation for an early debut to Season 17 come September !

Next #TravelThursday it’s all about the miles – on my car. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp