Tag: Sebring

The Ringling

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 11, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. A couple of months ago I visited The Ringling estate in Sarasota Florida. It was another field trip with the Sebring Historical Society – the group that I serve with. I was with a group of about 30.

Our chartered bus departed from the parking lot of our museum at 8:43 AM. The drive to the Gulf Coast took a little less than 2 hours. Our first stop in Sarasota was Der Dutchman – a large Amish-style restaurant, bakery, and gift shop. At the restaurant you can either order off the menu or enjoy the buffet. (Our “all-inclusive” trip included the buffet.) We arrived there as Breakfast was wrapping-up and Lunch was just getting started. Some in our group enjoyed a late-Breakfast. I enjoyed a hearty Lunch. It was all good. I think my favorite dish was their slow-cooked old-fashioned Roast Beef. It was quite delicious and juicy. We spent over 2 hours there eating, browsing, and shopping.

Our next stop was the Ringling estate. We spent 3 hours there, and our group pretty much split-up to tour the museums and grounds at our own individual paces. I visited much of the estate to include both circus museums and Ca’ d’Zan (“House of John” in Venetian) – John and Mable Ringling’s personal residence (built from 1924 to 1926) overlooking Sarasota Bay.

My favorite part of the circus museum was the 38,000-square-foot / 42,000+ piece miniature circus display that was essentially a ¾-inch-to-the-foot scale (1:16) model of a typical 24-hour day in the life of the Ringling Brothers And Barnum & Bailey Circus during the 1920s and 1930s. I think that was probably my favorite part of the entire estate. I did a walkthrough at the beginning of my visit, but there were so many other people doing the same thing that I couldn’t fully enjoy it, so I returned a couple of hours later to check it all out again in greater detail with far less people around. Circus fan Howard Charles Tibbals designed and built the model from 1956 to 1974 (age 20 to 38). It premiered at the World’s Fair in Knoxville Tennessee in 1982. He set it up at its current location at the museum in 2004 and 2005. What an amazing accomplishment to build that miniature circus !

We got back to Sebring after 6 PM. It was a fun day out with my historical society friends. It was revealed that our next field trip will be in just a couple of weeks – a 4-hour St. Johns River cruise out of Sanford Florida with a big multi-course lunch and a comedy play. I’m looking forward to it !

Next #TravelThursday – What do Sebring Florida and Chattanooga Tennessee have in common ? Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Amish, Circus, Florida, Museum, Ringling, Sarasota, Sebring

Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

Home Is Where The Heartland Is

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date February 15, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s an anniversary week for me. It was exactly one year ago that I bought my current home here in the Heartland of Florida near Sebring. I bought my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida. It’s my forever home. I expect to live here and enjoy retirement life here for the rest of my physical life here on Earth.

This is the place that I drove through many times and eventually spent vacation time in for about 8 years – including several Presidents’ Day Weekends here in the U.S.A. I fell in love with the region. I decided that I wanted to move here after I retire. I narrowed it down from Lake Wales to Lake Placid (about 55 miles apart). I eventually settled on Sebring (right in the middle). I had my eyes on my current 55+ neighborhood when I was still 54. I waited until 2 days after my 55TH birthday to physically tour my likely new neighborhood with my Real Estate Agent. I bought my new home last Presidents’ Day Weekend.

I still love everything about my new neighborhood and home county that I loved a year ago and during those 8 years of vacations. I’ve also become actively involved in my new neighborhood and community – something I never really did during my 36 years in South Florida. My footprint is all over Sebring, Avon Park, and the surrounding Highlands County region. I’m looking forward to contributing more time to make this an even greater place to live and visit and enjoy.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll reveal the first 2 stops on my upcoming retirement road-trip. One is in the Florida Panhandle, and the other is now the second-largest city in “The Yellowhammer State”. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Avon Park, Florida, Heartland, Highlands, Sebring

Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

2023 – Year In Review

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 11, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday, and the final part of my 3-week look-back at 2023. Last week it was all about my driving. This week it’s all about my walking.

I got a surprise Apple Watch for #ThanksChristmasGiving2022, and so December 2022 was my first full month of wearing it almost 24/7. That month I averaged 4,530 steps per day – or 2.27 miles per day. As it turns out I averaged more miles per day in all 12 months of 2023. My 2 “low” months were in the dead of summer in July and August when I averaged 2.38 and 2.34 miles per day respectively. My 2 “high” months were in January and May when I averaged 3.19 and 3.10 miles per day respectively.

My new neighborhood near Sebring Florida is very “walk-friendly”. Since I moved in last March I’ve walked around my neighborhood 70 times for a total of 92.79 miles. That’s an average of 1.33 miles per walk. (A complete walk around the circumference of my neighborhood is 1.15 miles.)

For all of 2023 I took a little over 1.94 million steps – or 995.64 miles. That’s an average of 2.73 miles per day over the course of the 365 days.

I know for sure that I’ll be walking a whole lot more in 2024. I’d like to walk 100 times around my neighborhood. I’d also like to get my average miles per day up to at least 2.85. If I can do that – then 2024 could be over 1,040 miles.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about DeSoto County Florida. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Highlands, Homestead, Sebring

Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

2023 – Year In Review

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 4, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday, and the first edition of 2024. It’s going to be a big year of travel for me as I settle-in to life as a retiree. I’ve got a long open-ended road-trip that I’m starting to plan for the month of April. I know I’m leaving on the morning of April Fool’s Day, but I don’t know when I’m returning home. (That’s why I’m calling it “open-ended”.) I’ll be writing about this road-trip a lot – before, during, and after – here on #TravelThursday, so buckle-up if you’re going along for the virtual ride.

#ButFirst it’s the continuation of my recap of 2023. I drove 11,721 miles in 2023. That’s the most number of miles driven over the past 9 years (since I’ve driven 1 of 3 Honda Civics). It’s also the most number of miles driven since 2004 (when I drove a new Saturn Ion 3 Quad Coupe 4D). How do I know all of this ? I keep accurate records via Excel Spreadsheet – more so now than in the past. I exceeded 1,000 miles in 8 out of 12 months – with January, September, November, and December being the exceptions. All of those miles were fueled by my 20 trips to my new home near Sebring Florida – and my 19 trips back to my longtime home in Homestead Florida. (Each trip was about 185 miles each way.)

My next 1,000-mile month will be in April, and in fact it will likely be a 2,500-mile month. It has the potential of being a 3,000-mile month – depending on the duration of my road-trip.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll conclude my “Year In Review”, and I’ll reveal if I was able to walk 1,000 miles in 2023. Let’s keep traveling together.