Tag: Wylie

A December To Remember

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. And Happy New Year 2026 ! I hope that this year is greater for you than last year. May you enjoy great travels in this new year.

I’m still looking back at my late-November / early-December trip to visit family in the Dallas Texas area. I’m up to the new month of December – Monday December 01ST 2025. This may be the first time ever that I’m in Texas in December. It was back-to-school time for my two nieces following the Thanksgiving Week break.

On that cold, dark, and dreary December day – stuck in the 30s with low clouds and mist all day long – me and my brother headed over to Starwood Cafe for brunch. He had breakfast, and I had lunch. I had their Monte Cristo with fries. I think I discovered the Monte Cristo at the old Bennigan’s during the 2000s. Nowadays whenever I can make it to a Cheddar’s (which is not very often) – I get it there. The Monte Cristo at Starwood is good. I’ve had it before. I enjoyed it via fork and knife. (It can get quite messy.)

After Starwood we went to a local coffeehouse called Armor Coffee. They have just 2 locations – the original one in Allen (where my family once lived and where my two nieces were born), and the newer one in Wylie (where my family currently lives – since 2019). Armor Coffee is owned by U.S. Army Veteran and West Point Graduate Mike Todryk and his wife – HGTV star Jenn Todryk (“No Demo Reno”).

After another Target run – we stayed in for the rest of the day.

There’s a diner in Wylie that I’ve always wanted to eat at ever since my family moved there. It’s known throughout Texas (with 45 locations) as Cotton Patch Cafe. I kind of relate it to Bob Evans serving Ohio comfort food. It serves Texas comfort food. My brother finally agreed to eat there, and we enjoyed a big lunch for $9.99 (not including drink and gratuity). I think we’ll return the next time I’m in town. My brother was impressed with the size portions for such a low price.

Later on that 2ND day of December – with the sun shining brightly and the temperature finally breaking-out of the 30s for the first time in almost 42 hours – we went back to the theatres to see our 3RD movie in 5 days. We saw “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” – the continuing story of the first two movies from 2013 and 2016 respectively.

After the movie and a Starbucks run we ventured over to my oldest niece’s high school. She’s a cheerleader in the 10TH grade, and their high school varsity basketball team was taking on a rival team from 38 miles away in the Denton Texas area. It was my first high school basketball game of my life, and it may have actually been my first basketball game overall of my life. (I don’t recall ever seeing the Washington Bullets growing up in the D.C. area, or the Miami Heat living down in South Florida.) Spoiler: The home team won in a come-from-behind victory !

On the next #TravelThursday I step inside a historic house that serves as the official museum and welcome center for Wylie Texas. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Dallas, Texas, Thanksgiving, Wylie

Blogging Commerce Driving Food Football Geography Holidays Home Movies Shopping Sports Television Travel

Church, Beef, & Eternity

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 18, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week’s post covered my holiday weekend time-period from Thanksgiving Eve – through Thanksgiving Day, and Black Friday, and Small Business Saturday.

We’re up to Museum Store Sunday now; although, this post has nothing to do with any museum stores. (Well since I mentioned it – back home – my Sebring Historical Society observed Museum Store Sunday by having our museum open for 6 hours to try to ~~get rid of~~ [sell] as much of our gift shop merchandise as possible to make room for new inventory.)

OK – let’s get back on track here. And let’s go to church – as a family. That’s what we did for the first time ever at their new non-denominational church in nearby Sachse Texas. (I wrote more about that experience on #SundayScripture a couple of weeks ago.)

After church me and my brother went to a busy Best Buy, and then we went to see our 2ND movie in 3 days. It seems as if every trip – either me visiting in Texas or my brother visiting in Florida – we end up seeing a movie that neither one of us was talking about in the hours or days leading up to it. Our “under the radar” movie for this trip was “Eternity”. I knew about it, but I never mentioned it because I didn’t think that he’d want to see it. And my brother knew about it, and he didn’t think that I’d want to see it. We decided about 90 minutes before the next showing at a nearby movie theatre to see it. We both enjoyed the premise of the movie. It’s one of my favorite movies of the year (out of 20+ so far), and my brother wants to see it again with his wife once it’s streamable. It was a fun movie with (surprisingly) lots of sight gags.

Fun Fact: “Eternity” and “Rental Family” (seen 2 days earlier) were the # 6 and # 7 movies of the 5-day Thanksgiving Weekend. Both played in far fewer theatres than the Top 5 movies above it.

Where’s The Beef ?: I almost forgot about it. Before the movie we ate lunch at a popular place called Portillo’s. It’s a Chicago-based fast-casual restaurant with almost 100 locations nationwide (and rapidly expanding). They specialize in Chicago beef. And I had some for lunch. I had the Beef & Cheddar Croissant. It’s a variation of the classic Italian beef sandwich that uses a croissant instead of French bread. It features thin-sliced, slow-roasted, rich, and seasoned Italian beef and melted cheddar cheese. It was pretty good. Very juicy !

And finally – I ended my favorite month of the year – November – with a great Sunday Night Football game on NBC – the Denver Broncos (a team I like) at my original hometown Washington Commanders. It was surprisingly an exciting and close back-and-forth game that extended well into overtime. My Commanders had a chance to win it by a point if they had converted on a 2-point conversion following a touchdown, but the conversion was blocked, the game ended – Broncos 27 Commanders 26 – and November ended.

Next #TravelThursday is in 2 weeks on New Year’s Day, and I’ll cover the experiences and events of the first few days of the new month of December in the Dallas Texas area. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Allen, Dallas, Florida, Sebring, Texas, Thanksgiving, Wylie

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.

Tags Dallas, San Antonio, Texas, Wichita Falls, Wylie

Blogging Driving Travel

Wylie Texas

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 21, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I’m waking-up in Wylie Texas this morning – the home of my brother, sister-in-law, two nieces, and canine nephew. This guy adores me being around him:

Wylie is an old railroad town with origins that go back over 150 years. Today it’s an affluent and rapidly-growing northeastern suburb of Dallas Texas. Its population has quadrupled since 2000. My family moved there in 2019.

I’ve been candid about this over the years here on my blog. I’m not a fan of Texas. My favorite thing about Texas is my family that lives there – outside of both Dallas and Wichita Falls. After that – it’s a sharp drop to my 2ND favorite thing about Texas – the food – particularly steak.

My history with Texas goes back almost 40 years. It’s where my USAF career began – at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. I returned to Texas several times – San Antonio, Austin, and Fort Worth – during the first-half of my civilian career with the USAF. My brother and his girlfriend turned wife moved to the Dallas area for the first time in 2006. They moved back to Ohio in 2013, and then they moved back to the Dallas area in 2019. My Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins have lived in the Wichita Falls area for about 55 years.

My favorite location in Texas is the San Antonio River Walk. I’ve been there a few times – starting with a day of liberty during USAF Basic Training in July 1985 and most recently in July 2011 with my family. We stayed at a hotel directly on the River Walk, and we just walked around the River for a few days taking in the sights, sounds, and tastes. It was one of our greatest family vacations ever.

Next #TravelThursday in 2 weeks – I’ll write about some of my fun adventures here with my family in Texas. Let’s keep traveling together.

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