Tag / Mother’s Day

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Fitbit XI – Week 17

A fully charged battery and two big days, including my first day over goal in the state of Illinois in nearly a year, pushed me back over 30,000 steps for the week.  The week got off to an excellent start on Sunday thanks to a Mother’s Day trip to Brookfield Zoo, needing 39 additional steps to reach 7700 and surpassing my daily goal for the first time in six weeks.  Monday saw an expected decline, coming 2 steps shy of 3900.  Tuesday saw a slight improvement, falling just 20 steps short of 4200.  Another small improvement on Wednesday left me 23 steps away from 4300.  The worst day of the week came on Thursday, as I managed only 2800 steps.  Friday bounced back up, ending up 38 steps away from 4200.  An afternoon at Wrigley Field for the latest installment of the Crosstown Classic left me just 3 steps shy of 7300.

Total steps: 34,313

Daily average: 4901.9

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Travelling The 50 States – Tennessee

Over my 48 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 16th state to be added to the Union: Tennessee.

State: Tennessee
Joined the Union: 1796
Visits: 3

I’ve made three visits to the Volunteer State, once for fun and twice to charge while heading somewhere else.

My first visit to Tennessee came in June of 2015 as part of a Mother’s Day gift of an Elvis-themed trip.  Things got off to an early start on Saturday morning as we left home around 5 AM and headed south, rolling into Memphis around 2:00.  Our first stop was the Memphis Zoo, where we ran into some pandas and other animals.  After the zoo, we headed to our hotel for some relaxing in the pool, followed by dinner at a charming BBQ joint known as Corky’s, winners of multiple best BBQ awards.  After a long day, it was time to call it a night.

Sunday morning got off to an early, if wet, start at Graceland, home, and eternal resting place, of Elvis Presley.  Aside from the mansion, which is strangely small for what would be considered a mansion, there were a few other attractions to see, including a car museum and his 2 planes.

After lunch at Graceland (a fried peanut butter/banana sandwich, natch), it was time to visit Sun Studios, where Elvis made his first recordings.  While waiting for our tour, we made a quick trip over to the Peabody Hotel, where they have trained ducks hanging out in the lobby, which is supposedly a thing.  Back to Sun for the tour, which included the actual recording studio space, which is still in use at night.  Following the tour, we headed across the border to Arkansas for dinner and the rest of the trip.

My next two stops in Tennessee came in 2021, when I needed to charge my car on the way to and back from Florida.  Both times I was directed to the Dunkin’ Donuts in Manchester, Tennessee, where I was able to make use of the Superchargers while enjoying a nice treat.

Will I return?  I would think so.  At some point, I’d like to make it to Nashville and see what the vibe there is like.

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200 Things To Do In Illinois – Superman

Illinois celebrated its bicentennial as a state in December of 2018.  To celebrate, the Chicago Tribune published the Bicentennial Bucket List: 200 Things To Do In Illinois, celebrating the best the state has to offer in history, food, architecture, culture, sports, nature, drink, and oddities.  With the state shutting down tonight due to the corona virus outbreak, I figured this was the second-best time to look through this collection and cover the ones I’ve done/eaten/seen.

We kick things off with one of the entries from the Oddities category: Superman, from Metropolis, IL.

DC Comics proclaimed this small town with a big statue the official home of Superman in 1972, and Metropolis isn’t about to let you forget it.  A 15-foot-tall bronze Man of Steel overlooks Superman Square, where you’ll also find the Super Museum packed with toys and props, amassed by Superman super fan Jim Hambrick.  This town on the banks of the Ohio River – from here, you can practically throw a chunk of Kryptonite into Kentucky – hosts an annual four-day Superman Celebration.

My one trip to Metropolis occurred in 2015, as part of a Mother’s Day Elvis trip.  On our way home from Tupelo, Mississippi, we decided to make a detour towards Metropolis, IL to see the symbolic home of Superman and, at least according to the travel guide we picked up at a rest station along the way, the world’s largest Dippin’ Dots store.  Sadly, the Dippin’ Dots store had closed and was replaced by a gift shop filled with DC merchandise and a cooler in the corner that did supply said Dippin’ Dots.  In the center of town, we found the giant Superman statue and posed for pictures.  We decided against going through the museum, which was probably the correct call.

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Book 12 (of 52) – Tender Wings Of Desire

Tender Wings Of Desire – Harland Sanders

If you are a multi-national fast food chicken restaurant, how do you promote yourself for Mother’s Day?  Well, if you are KFC, you publish a novella where your founder, Colonel Sanders, falls in love in England during the 1800s.  Attributed to Harland Sanders, who died in 1980, this tale is an insult to all who read it.  If their food doesn’t turn you off, reading this dreck surely will.

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Fitbit III: Week 16

After 2 down weeks, I managed to make it back over 50,000 steps for the week and finished above goal every day for the first time since early April.  Things got off to good start on Sunday, thanks to a Mother’s Day trip to Brookfield Zoo and, for the first time in years, decent weather.  The nice weather continued Monday and Tuesday, which enabled me to put in some extra time outside to far surpass the daily goal.  Wednesday managed to just barely surpass 6500 steps, while Thursday was able to use a trip to Michael’s band concert to cross the 7000 step barrier.  Friday was looking rough, until an after work trip to purchase a new mattress pushed me over the top.  Saturday was another big day, thanks to a pointless trip to Wrigley Field, where I stood in the rain for an hour waiting for the gates to open in order to get a bobblehead, only to have the game called literally 1 minute before the gates opened.

Total steps: 52,640

Daily average: 7520

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FB2: Week 15

FB2_Week15A good week, as I surpassed my 6,000 step goal every day.  Things got off to a good start on Sunday thanks to a Mother’s Day trip to Brookfield Zoo.  The work week was pretty uneventful until Friday, where some pizza screw ups led to a lot of walking around the house waiting for deliveries.  Saturday just managed to sneak across the 6000 step plateau thanks to a trip to the grocery store.

Total steps: 50,610

Daily average: 7230

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Vacation Recap: Memphis

This past January, as my mom’s birthday was rolling around, I thought about taking her to Graceland so she could see the former home of her favorite performer, Elvis Presley.  I ended up going in a different direction (literally), but my sister came up with the same idea for Mother’s Day.  So, as May was drawing to a close, (nearly) the whole family loaded into the minivan and headed down to Tennessee and Mississippi to see the Elvis-related sights.

panda

Things got off to an early start on Saturday morning as we left around 5 AM and headed south.  After a brief stop in Missouri for lunch at Lambert’s Cafe, where they throw dinner rolls at you, and so Michael could cross another state off his list, we rolled into Memphis around 2:00.  Our first stop was the Memphis Zoo, where we ran into some pandas and other animals.  After the zoo, we headed to our hotel for some relaxing in the pool, followed by dinner at a charming BBQ joint known as Corky’s, winners of multiple best BBQ awards.  After a long day, it was time to call it a night.
graceland

Sunday morning got off to an early, if wet, start at Graceland, home, and eternal resting place, of Elvis Presley.  Aside from the mansion, which is strangely small for what would be considered a mansion, there were a few other attractions to see, including a car museum and his 2 planes.

After lunch at Graceland (a fried peanut butter/banana sandwich, natch), it was time to visit Sun Studios, where Elvis made his first recordings.  While waiting for our tour, we made a quick trip over to the Peabody Hotel, where they have trained ducks hanging out in the lobby, which is supposedly a thing.  Back to Sun for the tour, which included the actual recording studio space, which is still in use at night.

Following the tour, we headed across the border to Arkansas for dinner, and another chance for Michael to add a state to his tally.  After dinner, it was on to Tupelo, Mississippi, where we would spend the night before finishing off the Elvis tour on Monday.  But more about that next time.

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Fitbit Week 15

Week15_FBA good week, where I passed the 5500 mark each day and even broke the 11,000 step plateau for my best day yet using the Fitbit.  The week got off a decent start thanks to a Mother’s Day trip to Brookfield Zoo, although the weather made sure that it was a short trip.  Monday was a normal day of work, thanks to an afternoon coffee run.  Tuesday added to that with a trip up to Milwaukee to see the White Sox battle the Brewers at Miller Park, which accounted for the high total.  The rest of the work week enjoyed decent weather, so there was some outdoor activity along with coffee runs.  Saturday also entailed a nice walk around the neighborhood.

Total steps: 53,059

Daily average: 7579.9