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When my father passed away in 2004, we gave his 1988 Mercury Grand Marquis station wagon to my nephew who was in college at the time. He had many fond memories of the car from his childhood when he & his grandfather (my dad) would take road trips together, often just the two of them. For a few years, it was his daily driver back and forth to college. This car was the typical "Grandfather car". The big, boxy with a hood as long as an aircraft carrier. Wire wheel covers, opera lights, fake wood grain paneling, velour seats, etc. I thought it he'd be embarrassed driving the car to school but the opposite was true. It somehow came across as "Retro-cool" (yeah, I don't get it either) and when my nephew told people the story as to why he had the car, well, let's just say he did very well with the ladies. Anyways, once he started his career, he purchased better daily drivers including a BMW and Cadillac ATS with manual transmission but he still would love to drive the old Mercury wagon on weekends. Eventually, he drove it less and less and time & the elements caught up with the car. Too much rust and he had too little time to maintain the car even though he is quite the backyard mechanic.

Ah, never mind. I agree with everyone else. Time to move on. Need to bump up the 99.4% nasty free a little closer to 100%. 🙂

Amazing videos!! Your DD should start a travel blog.

Maybe we can blend it with a few other long time CC topics. Such as: If I tip the pool/towel attendant extra, can I hog a unattended pool lounger all day? How formal should I dress when handing the head waiter his tip envelope? 😉

Sounds delish. I'll bring the wine, some of NY States finest Finger Lake wine. I recommend a dry Riesling on a warm summer day but I have all the colors and flavors of wine.

My claim to fame: Some people provide photography advice, some cooking instructions. I advise people how to "float", a very useful everyday skill. 😆

I think you are on the right track, your muscles are tensing up. Not sure I can describe it correctly but I will just "go limp" in the water, as if I'm dead, and try to relax every muscle in my body. I keep my legs spread fairly far apart and knees slightly bent, so they are sticking a little further up out of the water. Salt water in the ocean certainly helps with my um, "natural buoyancy" Lake water isn't much of an issue as well but in pools my legs do tend to sink as well so I have to do some occasional kicking motion to keep them near the surface. But I'm not a Certified Floating Instructor so I absolved myself of responsibility should you follow my advice. 😉 And I haven't slept in a Holiday Inn Express either. 😄

Coincidentally, I just watched that movie as well. Started last night but fell asleep half-way thru the movie as it's almost 3 hours long. Watched the last half this morning but before I did that, I did something really stupid. I was wondering where it was filmed as I found the exotic locations to be beautiful and of course, I came across a spoiler as I was consulting Mr. Google. 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️ Currently watching The Lost City with Sandra Bullock. Love her! Also has some very exotic beautiful locations although I can pretty much guess where it's filmed. Hawaii, I think, even though in the movie it's somewhere mid-Atlantic. And with most rom-coms, I have a pretty good idea how this movie will end.

I agree. Back in the 1970's & even 1980's, I used to love Dunkin Donuts. Back when each location made their own. I still remember the old commercial of the baker getting up in the wee hours of the morning (the middle of the night for most of us) and shuffling off to the store muttering "Time to make the donuts" over and over. If I was lucky, I'd be in the store when a new batch came out. Coffee was real good back then as well. Not sure when they switched to factory made donuts but the quality has declined. So did the coffee which now resembles hot water with a hint of coffee flavor. To be fair, it's been years - maybe decades - since i last had DD coffee so maybe it's gotten better again? A couple of years ago, they removed "Donuts" from their name and now are just "Dunkin". No longer just about the donuts, I guess.

If he's like me, he probably rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath "There will be another sunset tomorrow". 😊😉

Add me to the list of people that can't swim. I can float, I'm a real good floater. Lake, pool, ocean, doesn't matter. There have been times when I float on my back and the water is calm enough, I start dozing off only to be awakened by the life guard whistle if I drift to far away. But when I start to swim, one of two things happen: I start to sink or I stay abouve water but no forward momentum. Just a lot of thrashing and splashing.

Probably teaching the kids the Electric Slide or Cupid Shuffle. And it's only rude if they didn't dance with the bride. 😁😉

@dani negreanu Finally got around to reading your Beyond review over on the Celebrity boards. The thread is now locked and only 4 pages long. I remember it being longer a few days ago. I'm assuming things got a bit nasty & many posts needed to be deleted? Anyway, sorry the long awaited cruise was such a disappointment. As was the "meeting" with Captain Kate

Mohegan Sun casino in CT has a Krispy Kreme bakery right by the entrance from the parking garage. It would always be our first stop when arriving and last stop when leaving. 🙂 Want to park in the other parking garage? Well they have a small store by that entrance as well. And in the shopping court connecting the casino to the hotel and food courts. There is no avoiding their donuts! lol.

I'm glad I read all the posts before responding. I was just about to respond that I had been to VooDoo donuts in Portland, OR and didn't know they had made it this far east. Having said that, I've been to many a gourmet donuts shops over the years and while all were pretty good, not quite sure they are worth the price. But then again, I'm a pretty basic donuts guy. Just give me some Krispy Kreme or store bought Glazed Entermanns and I'm good. 🙂

And my innocent mind was thinking the Twin Peaks restaurant was named after the TV show with similar theme. Now I get it!! 😲 lol

I wonder how many of those people were NY Ranger fans? Or Florida Panther fans? I was in Tampa a few weeks ago for Game 2 & 3 of the Ranger/Lightning series. Watched Game 2 in a sports bar but attended Game 3 in person. I want to say 40-50% of the crowd was Rangers fans, no shock as there are a lot of NY refugees living there now. At the sports bar, it was a lot less. In fact, one of the sports bar , Hattricks, about a 5 minute walk from Amelia Arena, the bouncer got on the PA systems and jokingly asked everyone to boo the Rangers fans. Nobody did. At another bar, the bartender shut off the house music and turned on the game with sound at my request. Most of my Ranger fan friends fall into one of two categories: They cheered on the Bolts to win as there is no shame in the Rangers losing to the eventual champions. And then there is me, the bitter fan, who wanted the Avs to beat the Bolts so bad the would wave the white flag and forfeit the series after 2 games.🤣 Having said that, Amelia Arena is nice, great layout, Thunder Alley a lot of fun and I plan on vsiting again next season.

@dani negreanu Wishing you a speedy recovery. @George C Happy Anniversary. And the pictures of Mayflies reminded my of the infamous "Bug Game" between the NY Yankees and the Cleveland Indians in Cleveland back in 2007. A up-and-coming rookie pitcher Joba Chamberlain for the Yanks was lights-out un-hittable in what was a stellar season. That is, until a gazillion midges (close cousin to Mayflies) hatched on a warm October day and invaded the stadium, attracted by the bright lights. Joba was covered in midges, lost his composure and a Yankee win quickly turned into a Yankee lose. I can still see images of young Joba covered with the bugs. The pitcher of Cleveland was unfazed. Who says home-field advantage doesn't count?? https://www.mlb.com/news/bug-game-forever-part-of-tribe-yankees-lore-c257346172

There will be a test afterwards. lol

Make sure to post the "after" photo after the holiday weekend. The more you clear glass you can see thru, the better the weekend. 🙂