How uncanny! When I opened my mail here at work, there was a bill from Dex. They are the folks who produce the wonderful directory where we place our store advertising. I cannot tell you how many people have found us through that little book but it is plenty. They are such an easy directory to use.
What was uncanny was that I received an opportunity to write about their services. It is my pleasure to do so. Dex has online directories as well as the books where our ad is found. So, say you were planning a trip to the Mall of America in Minneapolis, and needed a hotel reservation. You could use their Minneapolis Yellow Pages directory and find a whole list of hotels from which to choose. Now, if you live near Minneapolis, you have probably discovered that Dex is the most comprehensive directory to find goods and services. From bakeries and pest control services to
auto repair in Minneapolis, you will be saved many detours and gasoline when you use the directory for phone numbers and locations. I love Dex. Like I said, they have helped customers find out that we sell floors. Dex lists our phone number and address so they know how to get to our business.
Just by looking at the screen shot of the listing for auto repair in Minneapolis, you can see that there are over 10 repair services from which to choose. Each listing gives an address and how many miles from downtown Minneapolis they are located. You can click on a tab and see a map for easy directions to the business you are contemplating using. There is also a rating system that satisfied clients of that business use to help others decide if a business is worthy of their patronage.
Dex makes your life so much simpler.
You will find southern charm incorporated with a bit of the exotic when you visit Amelia Island in Florida. The hustle and bustle of the former seaport can be found in the exotic shops but when you want to relax, you can find the perfect spot for that. Amelia Island’s Fernandina Beach escaped the mass commercialization of the 20th century and boasts a beautiful 50-block historic district with many original structures dating back to the late 19th century, including many Victorian-style mansions and Victorian cottages. Amelia Island is located at Florida’s northeastern shore, just 15 miles east of Interstate 95, and is a short, 30-minute drive from Jacksonville International Airport. It is connected to Florida’s mainland by two bridges.
The history of the island is remarkable. There are live oak trees everywhere on Amelia. One particular tree was saved by a resident of the island. She loved that tree and no one, with a mind intent on progress, was going cut that tree down. Not if she had anything to say about it. She said plenty as she stood on her front porch with a loaded shot gun. That tree stood watch over Kate Bailey’s stately Queen Anne home for years. It still stands today.
For more stories and a wonderful vacation visit, check out Amelia Island.
Living in the midwest has led us to many fun and interesting places. I love the midwest. There are so many festivals held all over Indiana that you could stay busy every weekend. There is the pork festival, the circus festival, the egg festival and the covered bridge festival to name only a few. We have been to many and always eat great food and have a good time.
When our daughter joined the military, it gave us a reason to travel outside the midwest. Her first base was in Grand Isle, Louisiana. We visited New Orleans and even went on an alligator cruise.
When she graduated from basic training in Cape May, New Jersey, we found ourselves staying in a beautiful and historic area called Wildwood. The Wildwood hotels motels and bed and breakfasts are wonderful. Most are in historic homes with the large wrap around porches and beautiful architectural features. We were thrilled to discover Wildwood Amusement park. Little did we know that this is one of New Jersey’s best amusement parks. We ended up there because it was close to Cape May! Morey’s Piers is a terrific place for a family beach vacation that your kids will never forget. Morey’s Piers offers weekly specials to enhance your visit. On Mondays they offer Magical Mondays where a lucky guest will be offered a fun prize. On Tuesday their All-You-Can-Ride wristbands are offered. There are specials every day of the week! What a great place.
My sister and her friends who ride, went to the Natural Tunnel near Kingsport, Tennessee. It looks like a beautiful area and a fun place to ride their Harleys.
Natural Tunnel, called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by William Jennings Bryan, has been attracting sightseers to the mountains of southwestern Virginia for more than 100 years. Today it is the focal point of Natural Tunnel State Park, a park which offers visitors not only spectacular sights but also swimming, camping, picnicking, hiking, a visitor center, an amphitheater and interpretive programs.
The creation of Natural Tunnel began more than a million years ago in the early glacial period when groundwater bearing carbonic acid percolated through crevices and slowly dissolved surrounding limestone and dolomite bedrock. Then, what is now Stock Creek was probably diverted underground to continue carving the tunnel slowly over many centuries. The walls of the tunnel show evidence of prehistoric life, and many fossils can be found in the creek bed and on tunnel walls.
I want to go back to all the places we took the children when they were small. I love looking through pictures that remind me of all the vacations we took. Some of our most memorable vacations were spent camping. It was fun and stressful to take small children to some places. One year we had Kennedy space center discount tickets through a friend who works for NASA. The kids were at that antsy age where it was hard to stand in line. When I think about it now, it seems so funny. Back then I was ready to rip my hair out!
These days it is easy to get great ideas for vacations and even weekend travel. The Trusted Tours newsletter keeps us up to date on all the new places to visit. We always learn new things about some of the new features of the places we have been. That makes us want to go back all the more. Right now is the perfect time to sign up for a Trusted Tours newsletter. They are offering a $150 Magellan’s Gift Certificate just for signing up for the newsletter. Wouldn’t that be cool to win?! Online travel guides have certainly made traveling easier. I am thinking it might be time to go back to Las Vegas since hubby won $100 in the slots on Saturday. Who knows, he might be on a winning streak.
Yesterday when we visited the casino in Anderson, Indiana, we were lucky to happen upon a jazz festival being held on the grounds. The Hoosier Blues & BBQ Fest was being held at the Hoosier Park Racing & Casino. Since I don’t really get into playing the slot machines as much as my husband, I was thrilled to listen to the different groups perform. When we walked out onto the grounds where the bands were playing, we were given blues brothers sun glasses to help us get into the mood of the blues. The Gordon Bonham Blues Band from Indianapolis performed first. I enjoyed them as they sang clear and rhythm filled blues. Tom Harold played the harmonica and oh my gosh could he ever make that instrument sing. Next, a group from Chicago, Steve Specter & The Bluebirds played. I didn’t enjoy them as much because they played more instrumentally filled songs. That was until their featured acts began showing their stuff. Jimmy Johnson and “Brother” John Kattke showed what playing the blues was all about. They had so much fun. I didn’t hear the last two bands because hubby had won a hundred dollars and wanted to leave before he was tempted to put it back into the machines. I was ready to go before the mosquitoes began to feast on me.
We decided to take the day off yesterday and make a tour of Indiana. We had been wanting to check out the Triumph motorcycles ever since we passed by the dealership while in Indy for another purpose. So off we headed.
Our first stop was to get some breakfast at Panera Bread. I have to tell you that their breakfast sandwiches are very yummy. They use swiss cheese and a flat bread to make them and so they are a bit different than the ones you get at fast food places.
Of course you know, Panera Bread offers free Wii Fi. I didn’t indulge but I saw plenty of other people working with their laptops. More and more people are finding out how wonderful the Internet is for gathering information. Webhosting is a difficult choice. It would be beneficial for you to check out the webhosting at Superchargerpros.com. They have excellent customer service and their pricing is very competitive. Their articles are very helpful. I learned new things from their choosing a domain article. If you are looking for a new host or are thinking of starting a web site, be sure to check with Superchargerpros and see how they rate webhosts. It will save you from many headaches.
It cannot possibly be that a month has gone by since my vacation in Tennessee. It seems like last week when we went river rafting.
There is a thriving business along the Pigeon river in Tennessee. It is river rafting. Many companies up and down the river offer guides, boats and equipment for rafting. We chose a company because our dog groomer recommended it.
When we arrived, I was amazed at how many people were going rafting that day. The ages of rafters were as young as 8 and up to 80. Everyone was fitted with helmets and life vests. Don’t we look chic in our pink helmets. I am hidden behind my daughter. She and my niece are the paddlers in the front. The life vests are aired out rarely and are very stinky. We listened to instructions as to how to hold the paddle and how to use it. It was important not to bonk each other in the head. We learned how to pull someone back in the boat if necessary. We boarded an old rickety school bus for our trip to the place where we would start our adventure.
After a twenty-minute ride, we were in North Carolina. We stopped at a dam and waited for the boats to be unloaded. The rafts had been placed on top of the bus. The order and manner in which the rafts were stored on the bus was precise and methodical. The guides knew what they were doing and had done it countless times that summer.
We had ten people in our group so we were split up into groups of five. The guides could have done a better job dividing us because my husband’s raft was full of the guys. Needless to say, their raft got stuck on the rocks more than our raft full of ladies and our male guide.
We were off on our trip down the river! I’ll tell you more about the actual rafting trip in another post.
I don’t know how we traveled before we had cell phones. We never have to worry about finding each other now that we have cell phones. I absolutely love living in this age of technology. Because we found a great deal at Best in Cell Phones dot com, we had the ability to use a free Sierra Wireless aircard to boot up our laptop. There were a few times when we needed directions and phone numbers to make reservations on our trip. It sure does take the hassle out of finding places when you are in unfamiliar territory. Hubby gets cranky when he doesn’t know where he is going!
You really need to check out the Verizon Wireless deals at bestincellphones.com. They can get you into a great package that fits your needs. They can assist you in making the switch to Verizon Wireless or assist you to switch existing number to T-Mobile. They deal with the top providers to get you the deal you need. They offer fantastic deals on the best touch screen phones. Touch screen phones are so much easier to see when you where trifocals like I do. Why pay more than you have to pay? Why settle for a mediocre phone service? Check out Best in Cell Phones dot com today.
I found a segment on this morning’s Today show very interesting. The subject was calligraphy in China.
Calligraphy is the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner. Calligraphy is a beautiful form of writing. Most official documents in China are signed with calligraphy. Modern calligraphy ranges from functional hand lettered inscriptions and designs to fine art pieces where the abstract expression of the handwritten mark may or may not supersede the legibility of the letters. Classical calligraphy differs from typography and non-classical hand-lettering, though a calligrapher may create all of these; characters are historically disciplined yet fluid and spontaneous, improvised at the moment of writing
