 |
| I get such a kick out of towel sculptures. This lovely senorita greeted us one day at our timeshare, Temptations, in Cancun, Mexico. Muy bonita. |
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Friday, August 17, 2012
FRIDAY'S FOTO
Friday, December 17, 2010
Marching Band Creates Giant Football Kicker
I know this has nothing to do with travel, but this is so incredibly cool.
Friday, October 23, 2009
SAMPLE SOME ALASKAN HUMOR!
Alaskan humor is as rough and tumble as the state itself. We hit those gift shops in Anchorage, and we did a lot of chuckling. I guess you've got to find a way to keep jolly during those long, dark, cold, snowy Alaskan winters, and it appears that Alaskans like to play with words. Rob and I spent time laughing at the silliness, the raunchiness, and the way Alaskans have no problem with self-deprecating humor. Start with this riddle: What is the Alaskan State bird? Answer: The mosquito.Whether we're looking at the name of a store or the merchandise for sale, nothing is sacred. Here's a partial sampling of some of the fun things we found in Anchorage. The joking didn’t end in Anchorage, and I’ll share some of the other funny stuff we saw as we traveled. Meanwhile, just enjoy these, and don’t be afraid to laugh!
Technorati Tags:
travel, travel blogs, vacations, travel advice, travel tips, photography, travel photos, Alaska, Anchorage, humor, t-shirts, souvenirs, moose, third age, third age traveler, senior travel
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
THE NAME GAME
After paying $15.00 for each of our checked bags, Rob and I decide on principle not to add one more unnecessary penny to Delta's coffers. No HBO TV shows at $2.00 a peek; no $6.00 movies and no $5.00 game packages. Instead, with that very tempting screen staring me right in the face from the back of the seat in front of me, I touchscreen “my flight” and watch myself traverse the continent.
I look up from my book every so often to see where I am, and slowly a pattern emerges—place names change as we move westward. By the time we are over Minnesota, we leave behind staid Northeast and Midwest names like St. Paul, Rochester, Madison, Duluth and Des Moines.
We enter the realm of the imagination. Pioneers had a great gift for place names. What were they thinking?
Some must have been homesick for the far away places of their youth. Why else would I fly over New Prague? Britton, Wimbledon, and Leeds are near one another. I pass over Aberdeen, Glasgow, Winchester, Medina, Chelsea, Odessa, Moscow, and Lebanon. I wonder what remains today of the original cultures, but I am 37,999 feet above them. They are just little blips on the planet.
Unlike this first group, other settlers did not look back; they looked forward. There are hope and ambition etched in their descriptive names that often conjure up nature's beauty and abundance. There's Elk River, Moose Lake, Pine City, Grand Forks, and Forest Lake. Buffalo is not far from Bison, Bighorn, Killdeer, Bearmouth, Fairview, Superior, and Eureka. There's also Orient—meaning West—their new direction in this new world.
Are these places still naturally abundant or had time's passage blunted or erased the awe that inspired these names?
As my plane moves across the map, I marvel at the places named for people. Were we talking egos, lost loved ones, or honored heroes? There is Tuttle, Isabel, Winifred, Anita, Angela, Florence, Alexander, Adel, Brady, Dutton, Kevin, Augusta, Arlee, Harrison, Geraldine, Carter, and Fergus Falls.
The names I like best, however, are the ones that goose the imagination. My eyes jump across the border to Canada. Saskatoon—Roger Rabbit's Fortress of Solitude? Regina—pronounced by Canadians to rhyme with a part of the female anatomy. Climax—use your own imagination. OK I'll stick with U.S. names.
Butte and farther north Heart Butte. Was Heart Butte founded by a Butte outcast? Did it inspire that famous song “I Lost My Heart in Butte, Montana”?
Fertile. How do you account for the humongous population growth? Big Beaver. Hmmmmm. Moyle Springs. If you're a Jewish male, you might be wary
of moyles springing out at you and catching you unaware. Kettle Falls. Does it look like this? Othello. Is this a hotbed of war, deceit, betrayal, and death? Calendar, where each day is a new and beautiful beginning. Froid—where you pass your days on a couch being told how you really want to kill your father and marry your mother. There the public library is full of copies of Oedipus and “The Rocking Horse Winner.”
Lost in my reveries, the flight passes very quickly. I am still tinkering with Walla Walla, Gwimine, and Minnewaukian, probably named by a Minnesotan who spent some time in Milwaukee's breweries, when everything shuts off and we get ready to land. Ah, what a county!
I look up from my book every so often to see where I am, and slowly a pattern emerges—place names change as we move westward. By the time we are over Minnesota, we leave behind staid Northeast and Midwest names like St. Paul, Rochester, Madison, Duluth and Des Moines.
We enter the realm of the imagination. Pioneers had a great gift for place names. What were they thinking?
Some must have been homesick for the far away places of their youth. Why else would I fly over New Prague? Britton, Wimbledon, and Leeds are near one another. I pass over Aberdeen, Glasgow, Winchester, Medina, Chelsea, Odessa, Moscow, and Lebanon. I wonder what remains today of the original cultures, but I am 37,999 feet above them. They are just little blips on the planet.
Unlike this first group, other settlers did not look back; they looked forward. There are hope and ambition etched in their descriptive names that often conjure up nature's beauty and abundance. There's Elk River, Moose Lake, Pine City, Grand Forks, and Forest Lake. Buffalo is not far from Bison, Bighorn, Killdeer, Bearmouth, Fairview, Superior, and Eureka. There's also Orient—meaning West—their new direction in this new world.
Are these places still naturally abundant or had time's passage blunted or erased the awe that inspired these names?
As my plane moves across the map, I marvel at the places named for people. Were we talking egos, lost loved ones, or honored heroes? There is Tuttle, Isabel, Winifred, Anita, Angela, Florence, Alexander, Adel, Brady, Dutton, Kevin, Augusta, Arlee, Harrison, Geraldine, Carter, and Fergus Falls.
The names I like best, however, are the ones that goose the imagination. My eyes jump across the border to Canada. Saskatoon—Roger Rabbit's Fortress of Solitude? Regina—pronounced by Canadians to rhyme with a part of the female anatomy. Climax—use your own imagination. OK I'll stick with U.S. names.
Butte and farther north Heart Butte. Was Heart Butte founded by a Butte outcast? Did it inspire that famous song “I Lost My Heart in Butte, Montana”?
Fertile. How do you account for the humongous population growth? Big Beaver. Hmmmmm. Moyle Springs. If you're a Jewish male, you might be wary
of moyles springing out at you and catching you unaware. Kettle Falls. Does it look like this? Othello. Is this a hotbed of war, deceit, betrayal, and death? Calendar, where each day is a new and beautiful beginning. Froid—where you pass your days on a couch being told how you really want to kill your father and marry your mother. There the public library is full of copies of Oedipus and “The Rocking Horse Winner.”
Lost in my reveries, the flight passes very quickly. I am still tinkering with Walla Walla, Gwimine, and Minnewaukian, probably named by a Minnesotan who spent some time in Milwaukee's breweries, when everything shuts off and we get ready to land. Ah, what a county!
Technorati Tags:
travel, travel blogs, Third Age Traveler, Third Age, names, places, Delta, HBO, Duluth, Rochester, St. Paul, Prague, Wimbledon, Leeds, Minnesota, Medina, Chelsea, Odessa, Moscow, Lebanon, Buffalo, Orient, Canada, Montana,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)