April is almost gone and have you traveled anywhere yet?
How about taking a 30 Plus Teams Tour of your own city?
Have you done that yet?
If not, let these quotes inspire you to travel anywhere.
Month: April 2018
NASHVILLE AND NOW TORONTO. MUST I ASK WHY AGAIN?
If you follow my blog or know me well, you know that two of my favorite cities are Nashville , Tennessee and Toronto, Canada .
Yesterday and today, both of my favorite cities have been added to list of cities that I have to ask the question that I asked for Las Vegas , New York City as well as cities thst aren’t on the 30 Plus Teams Tour , Paris, Manchester, London, Berlin and Barcelona, among others .
That question is one word, why?
Yesterday, on a peaceful Sunday morning in Music City, people were doing what they usually do in the Southern part of the United States , they go to a popular restaurant known as The Waffle House.
The last thing they expected to see was a half naked man busting into the restaurant full of people armed with an AR 15 assault rifle.
4 people were killed and many more would have been if it weren’t for the actions of a patron named James Shaw, who to great risk to himself, took the gun away from the shooter.
Mr. Shaw was injured in the process , but his actions saved more people.
The shooter escaped but as of this moment, has been caught.
Today, in my other favorite city, Toronto , someone decided not to take his van down Yonge Street, which calls itself , “the longest street in the world”, but why not use it as a weapon of mass destruction .
As of now, 9 people have been killed and 16 injured.
Again, I must ask the question that I’ve gotten tired of asking.
WHY?!
It doesn’t matter if your weapon of choice is an assault rifle or a van, car, or truck.
What on God’s green earth is wrong with you that you have to inflict so much pain on people who did NOTHING to you?
Those four people who were eating breakfast in Nashville or going about their daily business in Toronto did NOTHING and didn’t deserve to go to Heaven before their time.
If you’re angry at the world and filled with oh so much hate, that’s on you, boo.
Please don’t involve anyone else.
I wish we had come to the point where no matter where we travel or just go about doing things that make us happy, we wouldn’t have to think about being run down by a vehicle or shot by an assault rifle.
We haven’t and I’m afraid this isn’t the last time I’m going to be asking why.
IT’S NOT THAT SERIOUS PEOPLE
If you’ve been following my blog or even if you know me, you know that this is my favorite time of the year.
No, not weather wise, because even though we’re supposed to be in Spring, the weather here in New York City has been ANYTHING but springlike .
No, this is my favorite time of the year because baseball season has begun and two of my favorite sports, hockey and basketball are beginning their playoffs.
Now I’m going to rant a little bit here.
No, a lot.
Thanks to good old Facebook, the Sports Diva has realized that some of her friends, (and I’m not talking Facebook friends, I’m talking about friends that I have known WAY BEFORE there was a Facebook) have taken their hating of two sports teams very seriously.
Way too seriously if you ask me.
Some of them are wishing harm to two of the teams playing .
In this case, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning hockey teams.
One person, whom we’ll call Super Hockey Fan Girl, wants both teams players to die in a plane crash because of not only her dislike for both teams but because one of the players hurt a player on the team that she loves.
ARE YOU FOR REAL RIGHT NOW?!
Seriously, have we all gone wicked crazy and gone out of our rabbit ass minds here?!
It’s sports, it’s just a game.
This has gone beyond act like you’ve been there before.
I’m not only questioning your fandom, but I’m questioning how you were raised and why am I a friend of yours, Facebook or otherwise.
Now this doesn’t only happen in sports, but in travelling also.
Do you get upset at things that happen before you travel?
You know like the meal is lousy on your flight and you’re only flying a short distance ?
Or you can’t bring EVERYTHING on the flight you have to check some things?
Or how about that favorite marketplace that you went to over in Italy or in New York and it’s not there anymore.
It’s been replaced by something else.
Is it that serious that it’s not there ?
Please people no matter if its travelling or especially in sports in the grand scheme of things, stop and think before you get angry or utter words that you can’t take back no matter how many apologies you offer.
Or even worse, you aren’t sorry for what you said and really meant it.
Remember , it’s really not that serious, people .
MEMORIES OF APRIL 15 , 2013
It’s been 5 years since this happened and it still hurts .
We  can  all  remember  where  we  were  when  certain  events  happened
September  11th  and  the  assassination  of  JFK ,  among  others .
I  can  say  that  I  remember  where  I  was  on  April  15th ,  2013 .
I  had  just  arrived  in  Boston  at  around  6  am  or  so ,  had  breakfast  and  texted  friends  back  in  New  York  City  and  Pittsburgh  to  tell  them  that  what  was  going  on .
I  described  to  them  how  festive  the  city  was  and  that  even  some  of  the  bars  were  open  early .
It  was  a  holiday  in  Boston ,  Patriots  Day ,  which  is  not  only  a  holiday  in  Massachusetts ,  but  Rhode  Island  as  well .
It’s  also  the  day  of  the  Boston  Marathon ,  one  of  the  biggest  races  in  the  country .
The  runners  start  in  the  town  of  Hopkinton ,  Massachusetts  and  end  up  26  miles  later…
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VISITING THE CENTRAL PARK ZOO
I got off at the Fifth Avenue stop, which is technically at 60th street and walked 5 blocks to visit one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions .
Its the Central Park Zoo , and it’s one of the country’s most well known zoos, if not the city’s .
The zoo is open every day, Monday through Friday 10am -5pm , and Saturday – Sunday 10am- 5:30pm until November 3.
After November 3, the zoo is open until 4:30pm.
The zoo calls these hours, their “summer hours “, even though the weather here in New York City has been anything summer or springlike .
Don’t even think about smoking while you’re watching that red panda hanging onto the tree.
The zoo is totally smoke free.
On the day that I visited , it was full of schoolchildren on a field trip.
Inspite of this, I think I had just as much fun watching the California Seals splashing and getting fed as much as the kids did.
I actually learned something new on my visit.
Everyone knows about the California Seals , but did you know that there are also Harbor Seals as well?
Harbor Seals are found in the waters of New York harbor and they’re a darker color.
Who knew ?
The zoo also has two new animals, two brown grizzly bear “pups” who were napping on a rock while tourists oohed and aahed all over them.
These “pups” weren’t fooling me, though.
They were awfully big to be pups to me, and I sure wasn’t buying their “napping”.
They looked like they were playing possum , just saying.
I left quickly and went to see a more friendlier animal, a red panda , which I didn’t know existed either.
There was also a snow leopard , who was playing “shy”, hiding in the trees, peeking out at all of us who were peeping at him.
Compared to the other two zoos that I visited, the Bronx Zoo and the Queens Zoo , tge Central Park Zoo didn’t seem to have as many animals .
My favorite part of the zoo was going to the area that held the Seabirds and Penguins .
I had just missed the Penguins getting fed by zoo staff but I loved watching these birds who can’t fly, waddling and splashing in the water.
Okay, I know what those of you who follow my blog or who know me very well are thinking.
Of course her favorite area of the zoo to see would be an area with animals that have the same name as a sports team.
This zoo is one of more popular attractions in the city, however, I wanted to see more animals , just like at the other two zoos.
This fact, however, shouldn’t stop you from visiting the Central Park Zoo the next time you visit New York City .
RIDING THE R TRAIN
The 30 Plus Teams Tour of New York City has started up again.
This time I’m riding the R train from Queens to the city.
I know what some of you must be thinking .
Don’t subways in New York City have anything besides numbers and letters on them?
That would be a nope.
No matter what subway line you take in the boroughs of Manhattan , Queens, the Bronx, or Brooklyn , you’re going to see a number or a letter.
Staten Island has their own rapid transit and no numbers or letters that I know of.
I could tell you what the numbers and letters of all the trains are and where they go, but that would be another blog post for another day.
Look for it though, in an upcoming post where I just ride the subway!
Right now, though, I’m going to tell you about one of the subway lines, it’s the one I’m on today, the R train , which begins at 71st. Street and Continental Avenue in the Forest Hills section of Queens , and goes all the way to 95th Street in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn.
The train also goes through Manhattan.
You can take this train if you want to see City Hall, the Brooklyn Bridge , get a connection to the South Ferry, which runs all night by the way, the World Trade Center and Fifth Avenue, the station that I got off at.
The R train has orange and yellow seats, and I’m not going to lie, the seats aren’t very comfortable at all.
Unlike the other trains that I rode, the PATH, J and number 7 trains, at no time does this train go above ground and outside.
So don’t look to take those pictures of the city or the outer boroughs .
It’s not going to happen on the R train.
If you want to see the madness that’s Times Square , though, you can take the R train and get off at the 42nd Street station, or to be in the heart of the Times Square action , get off at the 49th Street Station.
GOING ON THAT 30 PLUS TEAMS TOUR AGAIN
The weather is actually nice here in New York City for once.
It’s not that cold at all.
Okay, it’s 43 degrees and sunny, but compared to what we’ve been having , 43 ddgrees or higher is basically a “heat wave”.
Yesterday , I spent most of my day under the covers and my dinner was Chicken Noodle Soup, Honey-Ginger Tea and a Grilled Cheese sandwich .
I was sick, really sick.
Today is different though.
The Sports Diva is going to go on another tour, an adventure , if you will in New York City .
I’m not sure where I’m going yet, but the main thing is, I’m going out and about in the city.
I might go on another zoo adventure, a return trip to one of New York’s many museums, or just a train ride on one of New York’s many subway lines.
Whatever I decide to do , you, my fellow bloggers are coming along with me.
So let the 30 Plus Teams Tour continue !
GETTING BACK TO THAT 30 PLUS TEAMS TOUR FEELING
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on how down I was due to the weather here in New York City, and how I was coping with it.
More like not coping well at all with it.
(Sportsandtravelblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/21-Even-I-Need-Some-Motivation-To-Travel)
The weather, inspite of the big snow storm we got on Easter, has gotten better.
Mother Nature is, for some reason , very mad at the East Coast of the United States and is threatening to give New York City even more snow this week.
It’s April, Springtime for God’s sakes!
I want to do a 30 Plus Teams Tour of the city, especially a Yankees baseball game at Yankees Stadium and tell you all about it, but it’s hard to do that when the games keep getting cancelled due to rain or SNOW!
What’s a Sports Diva who loves to travel supposed to do?
Yes, I’m going to keep watching all those travel videos that YouTube keeps recommending that I should watch.
THANK YOU, YOU TUBE!
I’m loving all these travel blogs that I see on the blogesphere.
Keep on travelling guys, I’m loving it!
Better yet, I am getting out of the house and very soon the 30 Plus Teams Tour to anywhere is going to continue with gusto.
Thanks y’all for going on the 30 Plus Teams Tour with me.
I love my fellow bloggers.
