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 .
