Tag: Texas

Texas Concert

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date May 15, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This is a continuation of my post from last week when I drove 76 miles from Sebring to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (#SRQ), and then I flew nonstop direct to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (#DFW). Last week I wrote about Jollibee, Starwood Cafe, and Texas Theatre.

This week – the adventure continues. We’re up to the day after Night 2 – Thursday – and this was really the only day that we were forecasted to receive nice weather. In fact – it was supposed to be sunny, clear, and warm on that day with a high in the mid-80s. Yeah – that didn’t happen. It was cloudy (even a bit foggy at times) and chilly with the 60s and the 70s. I think the sun finally emerged for an hour or so during the early-evening hours. North Texas weather can be difficult to forecast during the Spring and Fall months.

Me and my brother went to Barnes & Noble to check out books, magazines, and music. Remember all of the great bookstores that used to exist back in the ’80s and ’90s ? I’m thinking B. Dalton Bookseller, Waldenbooks, Borders, and even Crown Books up in Maryland and Virginia. Those were fun places to hang out at – those and record stores. Most of the bookstores had records, and most of the record stores had books. I’m glad that Barnes & Noble still exists as the last of all of them.

For lunch me and my brother went to Scotty P’s – a local fast-food restaurant. I had the chicken sandwich with fries. (I see a trend developing here.)

For dinner my brother picked-up Whataburger meals for our family. I requested a cheeseburger, fries, and fried apple pie. I got the fries and apple pie, but no cheeseburger. When my sister-in-law handed out all of the burgers – there was none left for me. My brother was either shortchanged, or he ordered incorrectly. (I suspect the former.) I watched everyone else eat their burger as I went without. I kept quiet about it. No need to dwell on it; although, let me just add that Whataburger does make a pretty good fast-food burger. Maybe next time I’ll get to enjoy one. Maybe in November.

OK – here’s the reason for the title of this blog post. Our family attended a circus-themed choral concert performed by a few hundred 5TH, 6TH, 7TH, and 8TH graders from two different schools – inside the auditorium of one of the local high schools. I think it was my first such school concert ever, and it was the first time that I’ve been inside of a high school in 40 years – since I was a graduate of the Class Of 1985. My youngest niece was a performer at the concert. She showed off her gymnastics skills. The concert was actually better than expected – a lot of fun. It was also a bit long – 90 minutes !

So that was my Thursday earlier this month in North Texas. Next #TravelThursday – it’s Part 3 of my fun with family, as me and my brother see a movie and I eat more chicken. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Texas

Blogging Driving Food Geography History Movies Travel

Texas Theatre

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date May 8, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. And welcome to my 1,400TH blog post since January 2018 when I resurrected this blog here on WordPress and brought it home from Facebook.

It’s a pleasure to continue to blog about Travel, God, and Music on Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays respectively. Thank You for checking-in to my blog on any or all of those days.

A couple of Tuesday afternoons ago I drove from Sebring over to the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (#SRQ). It’s a 76-mile drive via mostly rural roads. It usually takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The roads are suburban along the 20-mile trek closest to the airport. Rapidly growing Manatee County continues to rapidly develop new neighborhoods eastward.

My flight from #SRQ to #DFW was smooth and peaceful, and we got to the gate early – so early that we had to wait a few minutes before our gate was available to pull the aircraft (737) up to.

My brother was there to pick me up, and we enjoyed a late dinner at Jollibee – a popular Filipino fast-food restaurant with locations in Asia, Europe, and North America. It’s become a tradition for me and my brother to eat there on the way to his house after picking me up at the airport. I had a chicken sandwich with fries.

The next day for lunch we went to Starwood Cafe in a pouring-down rainstorm. Me and my brother had a Monte Cristo sandwich with fries.

OK – here’s the reason why I flew to Dallas Texas. It’s not to eat delicious sandwiches; although, one of the few things that I love about North Texas (other than family) is its food – especially steak.

I actually came to Dallas Texas for the world premiere of a brand-new independent motion picture at the historic Texas Theatre. My brother is the top-name star of it, and I’m an extra in it. I filmed my scenes last November during my last visit. The name of the movie is Retro Freaks II. It’s the first movie I’ve ever appeared in, and YES – I actually have a small speaking part in the movie as a protestor in a mob scene. It was also my first world premiere of a movie. (No red carpet for this movie.)

So – about the historic Texas Theatre. It’s located at 231 West Jefferson Boulevard in the Oak Cliff neighborhood southwest of downtown Dallas. Oak Cliff’s history dates back to the mid-1880s. It used to be its own incorporated town until Dallas annexed it as part of its own in 1903. The Texas Theatre was built in 1930 and opened in 1931. It was quite the modern and state-of-the-art theatre when it opened. It’s where Lee Harvey Oswald hid, was found, and was arrested on November 22ND 1963 for the suspected assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy about an hour earlier. The movie theatre was open from 1931 to 1989, and then it was mostly closed to the public for 21 years. It was added to the National Register Of Historic Places in 2003. It reopened in 2010 after several remodels, renovations, and restorations along with ownership transfers.

There’s a lot of history in that 94-year-old building, and it was fun to just look around at everything in it. I’m a fan of procuring, preserving, protecting, and promoting the history around us.

Next #TravelThursday – my Dallas Texas adventure with family continues, and there are more chicken sandwiches involved – as well as visits inside a grade school and a high school for the first time since I was a kid a long time ago. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Texas

Blogging Career Driving Food Football Geography Holidays Home Military Movies Shopping Sports Television Travel Weather

Florida Homecoming

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 12, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my trip to North Texas – where I spent 9 days and 9 nights with my family in Wylie – about 30 miles northeast of the center of Dallas Texas. I arrived during the early evening of Wednesday November 20TH 2024. I wrote about me and my brother’s visit on that Saturday to historic downtown McKinney Texas and the Collin County History Museum.

During the rest of my time with my brother we shopped, we ate, and we saw 3 movies – “Heretic”, “A Real Pain”, and “Red One”. I think that me and brother both liked “A Real Pain” the most. It’s a dramedy written, directed, and produced by Jesse Eisenberg. He and Kieran Culkin are the stars. It’s a good well-written story of two cousins visiting Poland on a tour to connect with their Jewish heritage.

As is tradition – my brother prepared a home-cooked Breakfast twice – on that Sunday morning and on Thanksgiving morning. We also opened all of the presents underneath the Christmas tree later on that same holiday morning, and then we watched football for the rest of the day while smelling (and eating) our traditional Thanksgiving dinner at around 3:30 PM.

Fun Fact: The weather in North Texas was all over the place – to include the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and even 80s. As an amateur weather forecaster – it was not unexpected. Thanksgiving Day was the coldest day (40s), and the next morning was the coldest morning (33°F / 1°C). I brought that cold air (modified) back home to Florida.

The next day – Friday November 29TH 2024 – my brother dropped me off at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), and I flew to Charlotte Douglas (CLT) with a short layover before my connecting flight to Sarasota-Bradenton (SRQ). (My nonstop direct flight back to SRQ was cancelled about 3 months prior just for that afternoon, and I was automatically booked on the two replacement flights.) Both flights were packed, but they actually departed and arrived early !

Fun Fact: It was my first time in North Carolina since the last time I flew through CLT as a layover between Miami (MIA) and Salisbury-Ocean City (SBY). CLT was also a layover for the return flight between Reagan (DCA) and MIA. That was in July 2015.

I returned back home to Sebring (76 miles from SRQ) right at 9 PM on that Friday, and I was in my own bed less than an hour later. It was a long travel day, and I was exhausted.

The next day – Saturday November 30TH 2024 – I awoke knowing that it was on that date 37 years earlier that I left my family behind in Northern Virginia and flew to MIA en route to my new USAF duty assignment and home for the next 36+ years – Homestead Florida. I’ve now entered my 38TH year as a Florida resident. I’m a #FloridaMan forever.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about my road-trip to and from Homestead. It’s my 32ND trip southward – and my 33RD trip northward – since relocating from Homestead to Sebring almost 2 years ago. Let’s keep traveling together.

#CountUp & #TravelThursday is on Facebook. I usually post there on Mondays and Thursdays.

Tags Florida, North Carolina, Texas

Blogging Driving Travel

Collin County History Museum

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 5, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I spent 9 days and 9 nights with my family in Wylie Texas – about 30 miles northeast of the center of Dallas Texas. I arrived during the early evening of Wednesday November 20TH 2024. My direct flight from Sarasota-Bradenton to Dallas-Fort Worth arrived a full 45 minutes early, and my brother was there to meet me at the baggage carousel. My big Samsonite suitcase was actually one of the first to emerge, so that was another pleasant surprise. We ate our first meal at Jollibee. (It’s a new tradition for us.) For those in the know – you’ll know that it’s the # 1 fast food restaurant in the Philippines. It’s growing rapidly worldwide – with 1,600+ locations in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Fast forward to Day 3 (Saturday November 23RD 2024), and me and my brother drove to historic downtown McKinney Texas. The day before – I successfully convinced him to take me there so that I could visit the Collin County History Museum. It was originally on my schedule for Thursday November 18TH 2021, but I didn’t visit due to reasons that I can’t remember 3 years later. (I drove to North Texas that Thanksgiving Week.)

We entered the museum nonchalantly, and less than a minute later we were asked to sign-in on an iPad. I loved their modern technology at the onset. A friendly and informative docent then proceeded to give us an engaging and extensive (nearly 90-minute) tour of their Museum. Part of the tour was inside a small theater where we watched an approximate 10-minute video on Dallas Texas native Carroll Hall Shelby (1923-2012). He designed and raced cars. At one point during the video – the word “SEBRING” prominently appeared, and I shouted aloud – “SEBRING !”. I discovered that he and his cars raced at the Sebring International Raceway many times throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Carroll Shelby Road actually forms the southern boundary of the Sebring Raceway. What a surprise to discover a Sebring Florida connection inside the Collin County History Museum.

Towards the end of our tour – my brother revealed to our docent that I too am a docent. So – we started talking docent-to-docent. I then added that I’m on the Board Of Directors for the Sebring Historical Society as well as the Social Media Director in charge of our Facebook page. That led to another half-hour of discussing “museum business” with one of their directors. Overall – it was a wonderful 2-hour experience at their Museum, and I plan to stay in touch via their Facebook page and official web site. I also hope to visit again the next time I drive to North Texas.

We did a little bit of walking around and shopping and eating in the historic downtown area. McKinney has done a wonderful job creating a fun mix of shopping, dining, and cultural experiences.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about the second-half of my fun adventures with my family in Texas – as well as my return trip back home to Sebring. Let’s keep traveling together.

#CountUp & #TravelThursday is on Facebook. I usually post there on Mondays and Thursdays.