The Blue Ghost "USS Lexington"

I arrived today in the city of Corpus Christi. It is a very nice place to be. I went to visit the USS Lexington today. I must say I was moved and enjoyed the experience very much. This historic aircraft carrier, is truly the pride and joy of the American Navy. It served in the cause of freedom from 1943 to it's retirement in 1991. This post is to honor and remember all those who fought and served on this great ship. Because of there sacrifice and great efforts. It gave us, the opportunity to live our lives. Hope everyone enjoys the pictures I took today.

Here is the history of this historic ship:
USS Lexington (CV/CVA/CVS/CVT/AVT-16), known as "The Blue Ghost", is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name, is named in honor of the Revolutionary War Battle of Lexington. She was originally to have been named Cabot, but she was renamed while under construction to commemorate USS Lexington (CV-2), lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. [1]

Lexington was commissioned in February 1943, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, receiving the Presidential Unit Citation and 11 battle stars for World War II service. Like many of her sister ships, Lexington was decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, but was modernized and reactivated in the early 1950s, being reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA), and then an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she operated both in the Atlantic/Mediterranean and the Pacific, but spent most of her time, nearly 30 years, on the east coast as a training carrier (CVT).

She was decommissioned in 1991, remaining active longer than any other Essex-class ship, and was donated for use as a museum ship in Corpus Christi, Texas. Lexington was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003.

Good Woman, Very Bad Temper!!!!!!!!

Bad weather, oh no! Well Mother Nature is female, after all. The saying is "hell knows no fury, like a woman's scorn". That accurately describes the weather pattern in the eastern part of the U.S.  In the last few days. Washington D.C., N.Y. City, and Philadelphia all received record snow fall, and are in a state of disaster.

When I arrived in Port Aransas yesterday, The weather was very cold for this area. Today nothing but poring rain, all day. It was good day to be inside today. Southern Texas was lucky because the Dallas-Fort Worth area, located in Northern Texas, received 6.5 inches of snow. They have not received that kind of snowfall for 32 years. Yes Mother Nature is throwing a very serious temper tantrum. The good news is that sun is suppose to reappear tomorrow. Also the temperatures are heading back in a positive direction. Back in the 50's Fahrenheit is in the forecast.

I went out a took a few pictures to try and remember when I was here. Also to capture the bad weather today. Created by a very good woman with an extremely bad temper!!!!!!!

I had a great dinner tonight. Thanks to the San Juan (Mexican) Restaurant, located on G Avenue in Port Aransas. I enjoyed a nice plate of steak and shrimp fajita.

I have a picture at the beginning of this post of a popular brand of Mexican soda pop, named Jarritos. This brand of soda pop began in 1950. The soda pop has less carbonation then North American brands. Also they only offer fruit flavors. So far I like mango and lime the best. Also they still use good old fashion glass bottles. You can't beat that.

Pictures from top to bottom.

Two pictures of the parking lot at the Travel Lodge- the flood
Pictures from I.B. Magee Beach Park- the stormy surf, and mean looking clouds, and strong winds

A Day Spent in Rockport

Well the weather has turned nasty in the U.S.A. Here in southern Texas the weather has turned abnormally cold for this time of the year. Today the high temperature is only going to be 51 degrees Fahrenheit. The normal temperatures should be in the mid 70's Fahrenheit. But were not complaining. After all I am on holidays. Also most of the U.S.A is receiving cooler then normal temperatures. Also most of the Eastern parts of the United States is socked in with blizzard like conditions.

So I am just going to stay relaxed and enjoy riding my bike today, and try and get some interesting pictures of Rockport.

There is a very nice DQ (Dairy Queen) restaurant located here in Rockport. Lucky for me, they offer free W-FI (Wireless Internet). Because the dump I am staying does not. To do a proper job to post to this blog. I need to keep the blog updated on a daily basis. Also the food is very good at DQ, compared to our locations in Canada. This is the nicest DQ location I have every been in. Maybe it is this way because it is located in a small community, compared to a large urban center. This location seems to be a popular meeting place with the locals.

Ii did take my bike out for a nice ride today. The weather would have been really nice today. However a very strong a chilly wind. Made riding my bike uncomfortable at times. But I love to ride, and also I need to exercise to prevent putting on any unwanted pounds.

Last night I had a light dinner at the local "Chili's" restaurant, located here in Rockport. I was disappointed. The food was alright, nothing to write home about. However the portion of the meal was minuscule, compared to most American restaurants who usually serve super sized meals. I order a cup of soup, and half a sandwich.

Tomorrow I leave for another coastal Texas town. This town is named "Port Aransas ", and is located about 14 miles from Rockport. Port Aransas is located on "Mustang Island", and actually lies right on The Gulf of Mexico.

Pictures are from top to the bottom;
first 4 pictures are of the Rockport DQ
next 3 are from Austin street (historic area)
last 5 are from the shoreline

Rockport- On the Texas Gulf Coast

I did make it to Rockport today. It is located about 185 miles south-west of Houston. The drive took me about 4 hours to complete. The weather conditions remain good. However they are cooler then normal for this area.

I got settled in to my new accommodations. I am staying at Balboa Motel. I have to admit the room is very average. This may be the worst of my places to stay for the entire trip.

The good news is that Rockport is a very nice town. I have included some pictures from the drive, and some pictures of Rockport. I took out my Yukon "Giant" mountain bike for my first ride on it, today. The ride was excellent. Finding that bike was a great deal.

What A Burger!!!!!

This trip would not be complete without enjoying a burger at "WHATABURGER". During the year 1950, an adventurous and determined entrepreneur named Harmon Dobson opened up the world’s first Whataburger on Ayers Street in Corpus Christi, Texas.

To this day. These restaurants are very popular in the state of Texas. I tried the patty melt it was very good. It received an above average rating from me. Here are the ingredients; Two beef patties, two melted slices of Monterey Jack cheese topped with a heaping helping of grilled onions and creamy pepper sauce, all served between two thick slices of Texas Toast. Sadly the french fries were average. They are similar to McDonald's fries, in the way they are cut and the taste.

I have included some pictures of my "WHATABURGER" experience!!!!!

The City of Houston

I must admit I enjoyed by short time visiting Houston. I have included a few pictures from my time wandering around the city. Most of my day was looking for a good used bike to enjoy on this trip. The last pictures post are of my new ride. It is a "Yukon" made by Giant. After breakfast on Monday. I will be leaving Houston for the southern Gulf coast town of "Rockport".

I enjoyed two great meals in Houston. These restauants are worth mentioning. They are; Bodegas Taco Shop and Tequlia Bar located at 1200 Binz Street, and "HAPPY ALL" located at 2502 West Holcombe Blvd.


The pictures from top to bottom are;
Reliant Stadium- home of the Houston Texans (NFL)
The city hall-fire station 1914 (historic district)
my rented Hyundai Accent licence plate (Texas TDP 626)
The International Hostel 5302 Crawford Street. Houston, Texas
My used "Giant" Yukon mountain bike- one cool ride!!!!

The 8th Wonder Of The World

Today is going to be full day to enjoy Houston Texas. It has been a very good day. The weather cooled off. But the excitement for my vacation is starting to really find it's best stride.

My main project today was to try and purchase a good used bike. Which I did accomplish at a very good pawn shop that I found. $60 was the price I paid. Which is a good deal considering it gets to be quite expensive to rent. Also bringing down my folding Dahon bike was not a feasible option on this trip.

I did get to see quite a bit of downtown Houston today. The area that I am staying in is called the "Museum District" It is a very nice residential area. I am glad I made the decision to stay in the hostel that is located here.

One of the main tourist sites for me to see was "The Houston Astrodome". When the first domed sports stadium was built in 1965. It was considered the 8th wonder of the world. Sadly now it just sites as a forgotten friend of the past. Very similar to our "Maple Leaf Gardens". Two historic building with a lot of history. Yet there is no future for these classic sports venues from the past.

Here is a little interesting history of the famous Astrodome.

When the Astrodome opened on April 9, 1965, it used a natural 419 Bermuda grass playing surface specifically bred for indoor use. The dome's ceiling contained numerous semitransparent panes made of Lucite. Players quickly complained that glare coming off of the panes made it impossible for them to track fly balls. Two sections of panes were painted white, which solved the glare problem but caused the grass to die from lack of sunlight. Judy Garland and The Supremes performed on opening night to a capacity crowd. For most of the 1965 season, the Astros played on green-painted dirt and dead grass. As the 1966 season approached, there was the possibility of the team playing on an all dirt infield.

The solution was to install a new type of artificial grass on the field, ChemGrass, which became known as AstroTurf. Because the supply of AstroTurf was still low, only a limited amount was available for the home opener on April 18, 1966. There wasn't enough for the entire outfield, but there was enough to cover the traditional grass portion of the infield. The outfield remained painted dirt until after the All-Star Break. The team was sent on an extended road trip before the break, and on July 19, 1966, the installation of the outfield portion of AstroTurf was completed and ready for play. Groundskeepers dressed as astronauts kept the turf clean with vacuum cleaners between innings. The infield dirt remained in the traditional design, with a large dirt arc, similar to natural grass fields. Hofheinz reportedly wasn't too concerned with the death of the grass, since the ambitious schedule he'd planned for the Astrodome required a more durable surface.

The 4 pictures posted are; a rare picture of the famous "Astrodome Astrolite", two pictures I took of the Astodome today, and a pictures of the skylites from the inside.

Here is the history on the Astrolite.
The Houston Astrodome was well-renowned for a four-story scoreboard called the "Astrolite", composed of thousands of light bulbs that featured numerous comical animations. After every Astros home run, the scoreboard would feature a minute-long animated celebration of pistols, bulls, and fireworks. The scoreboard remained intact until 1988 when Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams supported by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, threatened to move the franchise to Jacksonville, Florida unless stadium seating capacity was expanded to accommodate capacity demands for football. (Jacksonville won an NFL expansion franchise in 1995, and Adams eventually moved the team to Tennessee.) The city buckled to his demands, and Harris County spent $67 million of public funds on renovations.[5] The scoreboard was removed and approximately 15,000 new seats resembling the 1970s Rainbow Guts uniform pattern were installed to bring seating capacity to almost 60,000 for football. On September 5, 1988, a final celebration commemorating the scoreboard occurred prior to expansion renovations. In 1989, four cylindrical pedestrian ramp columns were constructed outside the Dome.

To view some great video and memories from the "Astrolite" follow this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzKpQyOR03Q

The Airport from Hell?

The good news is that I am writing this post from Houston, Texas. The Energy City!!!

Here is all of the bad news. I am a person who dreams, enjoys and loves to travel to wonderful places in our world. I have been very fortunate to visit many of my favorite, wonderful places. I have been in and out of many airports. There are many great airports that are passenger friendly to travelers. What is the worse airport?. That is an easy answer. The worse major airport in the world is our own Person International, located in Toronto. I had to endure. As most of the passengers at Terminal 1 were forced to endure The worst in an airport experiences!

Sure you could blame it on the added security measures that are now very necessary in our world. But I just blame this on bad management, and a very poor organization that is running the airport in Toronto. There is just no excuse what we the traveling public were forced to endure today. Big lineups, no communication. Not enough staff. All of this happens, even thought the Toronto International Airport have the nerve to charge the highest landing fees in the industry. To the airlines who operate out of Pearson International. The truth of the matter is. The people that run the Greater Toronto Airport Authority are incompetent, and don't really fucking care that there doing a poor job. Please accept my crude English. Because sadly this is the way it is!!!

Here is my experience, and for countless of other people who had to endure the same problems. I arrived at the airport for a 6 am flight with Delta airlines. I arrived at the airport terminal 1 a 3:45 am. 2 hours and 15 minutes before the flight was to leave. To save time. I had checked in with Delta, and printed my boarding pass, on the Internet. Hoping it would make my flight out of Toronto less stressful. Well it didn't do anything. There were huge lines already formed to try and check in luggage, when I arrived. So big, you couldn't figure out which line you should be in. Also of course there was no one from the airport to try and organize things into a sensible manor. By the time I checked my one suitcase in. It was already 10 minutes to 5. I now had to wait in another line to be screened by U.S. customs. By this time it was 5:15. By now there was some real concern starting to build. Would I make it to my flight. Now I had to go through airport security. More long lines moving at a snails pace. You would think they would set up an express line to accommodate passengers, with the flights that are almost ready to depart. No way! That would take some decency and intelligent on the part of the management running this terrible place.

The next line of security was a search of all of your on board luggage. Which meant more line ups. I finally made it to the departure gate for my flight to Atlanta at 5:55. In the line up for the security check for the carry on luggage. There was a nice couple who was in the same situation as me. So I was confident now that they would delay the flight. To accommodate this state of complete chaos, that we were all in.

Yes there was good news to be had when I made it to the gate. I was still going on my trip!!! Delta had switched me to a different flight. I was now on a flight to Cincinnati, then on to Houston from there. I then had to be escorted back through security to get to another gate for my new flight. It was a great feeling of relief when I was finally on my way, for my holiday. It is like I was Indiana Jones, who had somehow survived the opening of "Raiders Of The Lost Ark"

The story is not over yet. When my airplane was landing at Cincinnati- North Kentucky Airport. It was easy to see that we were landing in the middle of a snow storm. Oh no, now another problem. It was a shock I have to admit to see all of this snow in Cincinnati. When we had no snow in Toronto. But very happy to say. My flight from Cincinnati to Houston was only delayed 2 hours, due to having to have our airplane deiced prior to takeoff.

I had made it!!! What a fantastic feeling came over me. When the wheels of the Canadair CRJ-50 touched down in Houston. It was even a better feeling when I got out of the terminal building and started to feel that warm Texas Sunshine. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was about 19C.

I picked up my rented car, and was on my way. I set my GPS for my new home in Houston. The International Hostel. Which is located at 5302 Crawford Street. My GPS worked like a charm. It took me right to the address. How did I ever survive without this devise? I just don't know.

I couldn't check into my new digs until 5pm. So I grabbed a Texas Cheese steak sandwich for lunch, and started to wander around Houston. In search of a bicycle to be used on this trip. No luck it in finding a bike. But it was fun to try. I came back to the hostel and checked in. I had dinner in a great Mexican Place just a short walk from the hostel. The chicken burrito I enjoyed for dinner was one of the best I've ever had. If you like Mexican food this is an area where you will enjoy some excellent Mexican fare.

The rest of this day was spent relaxing in the hostel, and writing the beginning of this post.

The first picture from this trip is looking out of the window of the terminal building at Cincinnati-North Kentucky Airport. The joy of travel leaving all that bad weather behind!!!

Hello Texas!!!!!

Well I'm back at it, again. I just purchased my ticket to fly away. On what I hope will be another fantastic trip. My destination this time is Texas, "The Lone Star State". Another place that I have never been and always wanted to go.

Here is my itinerary for this exciting trip. I fly with Delta Airlines on this trip from Toronto. I leave on Saturday February 6, and fly to the city of Houston, Texas. I plan to spend a copy of days looking around Houston. With the hope of obtaining a cheap decent bike that I can throw into my rented car. To be used and enjoyed on my Texas adventure.

Then on February 9th I will start to meander south along the Texas Gulf coast. I may stop and look around in the coastal city of Corpus Christie. By February the 9th I will be in Brownsville, Texas. I will have a look around there. This is the furthest south you can go in Texas. The temperatures should be very pleasant for enjoying life at this point. From Brownsville I will head on over to South Padre Island. This island is one of the best kept secrets in the U.S.A. for getting away from it all!!!!! South Padre Island gives her visitors the gift of really enjoying the Gulf of Mexico. Miles of excellent sandy beach and vistas of nothing but various shades of blue water. Can be found on this island in abundance. Sound excellent right?

After I have reached an incredible state of relaxed euphoria. I will have to head north again. I should reach the city of Laredo, Texas by the 16th of February. By the 18th I should have arrived in the classy and old city of San Antonio, Texas. This city is the home of the most historic place in Texas history. The Alamo is the place where an undermanned mostly volunteer force of Texas patriots. Tried to defend the Texas from the Mexican Army. The Texas Army and The Alamo were both lost on March 6, 1836. But not the spirit of Texas. For the spirit of the Defenders of The Alamo will forever live in the people that proudly call themselves Texans!

The last part of this journey will be spent in the state capital of Texas. Which of course in the city of Austin. It is also suppose to a very nice city. It is considered the music city of Texas. I can only dream of obtaining a ticket to see Austin City Limits. Which is a long running live PBS music show. Isn't fun to dream? Keep dreaming, and it is possible that a dream can come true. That's what I say.

The tittle for this post is of an appropriate but obscure Jimmy Buffett song. Here is a verse to really put your mind somewhere in Texas . Here's to hoping I leave a piece of my heart somewhere in Texas!

"You know we ain't knockin' the rest of the country
No we really think it's great
Just seems I left a part of my heart
Somewhere in the lone star state"