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Post by dive61364 on Feb 18, 2015 9:05:52 GMT -6
when we were vacationing in Louisiana last summer we took a trip back in the swamps to see the alligators. I was fascinated by them and how they relate to people. there were kids swimming in the pearl river within 100 feet of the sunning alligators. I learned a lot about them and enjoyed our trip in the backwaters. people live without electricity that we have become accustomed to here.
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Post by roman on Feb 18, 2015 9:22:10 GMT -6
We have taken a couple of swamp tours when we were staying in New Orleans. On one trip, we had a colorful guide who talked like a back-woods hick. In fact, he had a PhD. He effected the accent to cater to the tourists. He claimed to be able to attract alligators by whistling. Sure enough, he whistled and they came. I was only one of a few people who saw him drop some meat into the water.
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Post by roman on Feb 19, 2015 20:35:35 GMT -6
when we were vacationing in Louisiana last summer we took a trip back in the swamps to see the alligators. I was fascinated by them and how they relate to people. there were kids swimming in the pearl river within 100 feet of the sunning alligators. I learned a lot about them and enjoyed our trip in the backwaters. people live without electricity that we have become accustomed to here. When we took the tour I mentioned earlier, the guide pointed to a small island in the swamp and said that Hank Williams used to come to this area to relax and wrote a couple of songs on the island, including: "I'm so lonesome I could cry" and "I can't help it I'm still in love with you." I would like to believe his story; both songs are among my all-time favorite country/western songs.
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Post by dive61364 on Feb 19, 2015 21:35:04 GMT -6
he had a lot of hit songs I enjoyed roman. its too bad he had to die from his demons that control his life style. he was a very talented young man that passed way too young.
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Post by roman on Feb 20, 2015 6:21:03 GMT -6
he had a lot of hit songs I enjoyed roman. its too bad he had to die from his demons that control his life style. he was a very talented young man that passed way too young. When we were staying in the Florida panhandle, we drove through Georgiana, Alabama where he grew up. They have a small museum there, and I bought a CD with his "greatest hits." It is now on the hard drive of our Durango, and I play it often when my wife is not in the car. Except for Patsy Cline, she doesn't like country and western music. I convinced her once to listen to "I'm so lonesome I could cry." She had to admit that the song could be used in a poetry class.
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Post by roman on Feb 20, 2015 7:06:31 GMT -6
A couple of weeks ago, we drove down to Disney World. Over the years, we have been there at least a half dozen times; and we have enjoyed each trip. I have always been amazed at the sheer size and scope of the place. Thankfully, as I mentioned earlier, one of our daughters’ friends works there and gave us free passes to both the Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom. On our first trip there, when our kids were small, we paid less than $35 for a three day pass. Today, it costs $100 per park per day. It is a shame that the admission cost is so high; every kid should have the opportunity to visit at least one of the parks. After dropping the dogs off at a dog boarding spot, we headed to Animal Kingdom where we ended up walking around for hours and miles. Frankly, apart from a couple of the shows, it was similar to a zoo. One of the shows, “The Magic World of Bugs,” featured a number of 3-D effects which set our daughter off into paroxysms of laughter similar to ones I heard from her years ago. Our son had taken to Animal World a couple of years ago, and we stayed in a hotel in the middle of the park. We could look out any of the windows and see the animals in a more natural habitat than the zoo-like park. Because our grandchildren were there on that trip, we went a “special characters” dinner. On our recent trip, we didn’t get to the Magic Kingdom until around 6:00 pm. I have always liked the Magic Kingdom, particularly the mocked up 1890s’ town. We stayed until the fireworks display. The only other fireworks display that I have ever seen which compares with it was Chicago’s fireworks display. Sometime in the next couple of months we will go back to Disney World. On that trip we will go to Epcot. My favorite part of Epcot is the International Village, a place run by people from various countries and featuring exhibits, stores and restaurants. When we were in Tangier (Morocco, not Disney World,) we tried to find a lantern like the one in Aladdin. Although we couldn’t find one there, years later in the International Village we found one in the Morocco exhibit.
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Post by Blue Star on Feb 20, 2015 8:17:58 GMT -6
I was @ Epcot the 1st year they opened, then again 2 yrs. ago. I loved the Moroccan resturant there.
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Post by roman on Feb 20, 2015 10:19:18 GMT -6
Walt Disney was a man of incredible vision. Like many of you, I grew up watching the Disney's Wonderful World of Color, his weekly show. He would appear personally sometimes and explain something on the show. Disneyland seemed like a wonderful place, but it was so far away in California. It was less than a decade old when he was going to build it all over again on a much larger and grander scale in Florida. I cried when I heard of his death. I was afraid everything Disney died with him, the show, the parks, and I was still just a kid. It all seemed to cruel if it was to come to an end. Fortunately the Disney company and parks continued for children of all ages to enjoy. None of it would have been possible without the extraordinary vision of one man. If you like Disney, you see just a little insight into the Man and his early company in the recent movie 'Saving Mr Banks'. Disney is wonderfully portrayed by Tom Hanks. It is the story of how he relentlessly pursued the rights to produce the movie 'Mary Poppins' and all the difficulties the writer and owner gave him and his company. Vision? He bought 36,000 acres in preparation for Disney World. The place is a model of efficiency. There are tunnels under the parks so that trucks, etc. do not have to go into the park.
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Post by Anonymous on Feb 20, 2015 10:43:23 GMT -6
I need a vacation.
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Post by roman on Feb 20, 2015 11:44:30 GMT -6
In April, we are going to be taking a vacation from our vacation. Our youngest daughter is taking our grandkids to Jekyll Island off of Georgia, and we will be going up there for a few days.
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Post by dumdave on Feb 20, 2015 11:54:24 GMT -6
When our kids were about 10 and 12, wee flew to Houston and took the train to Orlando to see all of Disney World. We all had a great time! We all wanted to take the train back home but.....$$$$$$$ stopped us.
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Post by roman on Feb 21, 2015 8:30:41 GMT -6
I wonder how many former or current Streator residents are in Florida right now. Seven of my high school classmates live here full time, and I know of at least eight former classmates who are down here for part of the winter.
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Post by dumdave on Feb 21, 2015 11:45:15 GMT -6
My parents were "Winter Texans" from Thanksgiving til Easter. They lived in the Rio Grande Valley. Once a month, 22 couples from Streator would get together for a nice lunch.
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Post by roman on Feb 23, 2015 19:24:59 GMT -6
My wife and I having been heading south avoiding northern winters for the last six years, and have been toying around with the idea of moving to a warmer clime. Two of my wife’s long-time friends have lived on Long Boat Key for years, but they have been considering moving to The Villages, an upscale over “55 place.” (A euphemism for a retirement community.) north of Orlando. I had never heard of The Villages, but a quick check on the internet gave me some background before we drove down. In short, it is the fastest growing “post 55” community in the country. Very upscale with beautiful architecture. Yesterday, we drove down to the Villages to spend the day with my wife’s friends. I had figured out that her friend was going to try to convince my wife to move there. I knew that she would be wasting her time. After dropping our dog off at a Doggy Daycare place, we drove over to the hotel where they were staying. The dog place was acceptable, but not up to the place she stayed at Disney World. My suspicion that her friend going to try to “sell” the place to my wife was quickly borne out. They met us at the car loaded with a number of flyers, guides and maps. Their hotel was near one of the squares in The Villages and, we grabbed seats in the square where they began to extol the virtues of living in the area: trolley transportation, movie theaters, live entertainment, various clubs, boating etc. I did like the movie theater. We learned that there are a number of town squares in the Villages, and all of them are surrounded by good restaurants, bars and shops. Because there are thousands of acres of golf courses in the town, golf carts are found everywhere. After listening to her friend’s spiel, my wife politely explained that we like a lot of space and have not lived in a traditional neighborhood for many years. She also added that we did not want to live near a bunch of old crabby people. As if on cue, a bent over old man shuffled towards us and then turned disgustedly to drag a chair over to the wall behind us. He then muttered that we were in “his spot.” After pulling up his chair, he explained that he had been coming to this spot for 33 of his 90 years of his life. We offered to move, but he gave us one of those pseudo-polite old people waves and told us to stay. He added that some friends would be coming later, and proceeded to give us their names and their histories. At this point, I could feel my wife nearly freeze up. My thoughts drifted to those long-ago days when I would see the old guys in Streator sitting in the City Park. Time is moving too fast, I thought. I could almost picture myself occupying my mother’s old room at Heritage Manor. After listening to the old guy for a few minutes, and finding out that his friends were not coming for another four hours, we had an al fresco meal in a good Italian restaurant on the square. I really liked my wife’s friends. Lisa was born in Germany and did not come to Chicago until she was in third grade. My wife met her the following year, and they finished grade school and high school together. Both Lisa, her husband and my wife graduated near the top of their class. I admit, however, that I had some difficulty getting the Jesse Coulter song “I’m not Lisa… .” out of my mind. Lisa’s husband met her in high school. After high school, he graduated from IIT as an engineer and went to work for Amoco. They spent twelve years abroad. Some of their time was in Wales and England, but most of time he was assigned to two non-bucket list places: Iran and India. Ironically, Lisa learned to speak both Farsi and Arabic while her husband never got beyond a couple of phrases in Farsi. After lunch, we went to a large craft show near one of the nearby lakes. The women enjoyed it; the men did not. Before we left them, we promised that we would look further into the Villages, perhaps as next year’s winter destination.
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Post by Blue Star on Feb 23, 2015 22:19:28 GMT -6
11 friends in Fla. Canal St.? Grumpy old men? Retired lawyer? LOL!
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