Let’s Talk About Turkey & The Stories Behind The Photos

Since my passport was expiring, I wanted to take one more big trip and I wanted it to be the trip of a lifetime. I’ve had several amazing vacations in the past and exploring Turkey was right up there with the best of them!

Many of you saw the hundreds of photos I shared from my ten days trekking across the country. But, today, I’m sharing some stories behind the pictures and some things I learned.

However, I’ll get the sadness out of the way first. Last weekend, just three weeks after I arrived in Istanbul and eleven days after I left the city and country, police arrested a Syrian woman they say set off a deadly explosion that killed six people and injured more than 80 others.

The Turkish Interior Minister is now accusing the United States of complicity in the attack. It’s because we have a military partnership with a Kurdish-led militia in northeastern Syria originally formed to battle the Islamic State. American condolence messages were dismissed by the IM. He said, it’s like “the killer is among the first ones returning to the scene”.

My heart aches for the people of Istanbul and Turkey because of this senseless violence because everyone I encountered on my trip was very warm and hospitable despite language and cultural differences.

As the Turkish move forward to find security and peace again, I want to share more of this beautiful and geographically diverse country with you.

This photo is from Imagination Valley in Cappadocia. Can you see the couple dancing? That’s nature, volcanic activity, and imagination for you!

It was a very long two days getting to Istanbul.

After waking up at 2:30 a.m. Friday at home and working the morning show, I went home, packed, and then drove an hour to the airport.

Three flights later (fifteen total hours in the air) hitting three counties and two continents while straddling a third, I arrived in Istanbul.

This beautiful display was at the airport. Once I got to my hotel, I showered and went to bed!

What a way to spend a Saturday night in the largest city in the Middle East (Istanbul’s population is officially 15 million, but in reality, it’s about 18 million counting refugees, mostly from Syria. That’s about twice the population of the Chicago metropolitan area!)

Bright and early Sunday morning, I enjoyed a delicious breakfast and set off for the day.

First up was the breathtaking “Spice Market”…

the beautiful “Blue Mosque” from the outside…

and the going inside St. Sophia Basilica.

When my tour group of forty people left Istanbul the next day, it was wild how quickly the landscape changed from the sprawling metropolis of traffic and skyscrapers to vast empty land to forests to big cities again.

The photo below is Pamukkale in western Turkey.

This is not ice and snow. It’s terraces of mineral deposits (calcium carbonate) from seventeen hot springs!

The most beautiful city I explored on my own was the Aegean Sea-seaside town of Kusadasi.

That was the stunning sunset looking toward Greece while I sipped beverages with my new friends, Eleanor, and her daughter, Allison.

And, in Kusadasi, I couldn’t resist taking a selfie with this background. If only I could convince my morning colleagues I’m the “Greatest of All Time”! 🙂

The highlight of the trip was a sunrise hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia just 3,000 feet about the jagged, volcanic terrain — an absolutely breath-taking experience!

We did experience a little more excitement that wasn’t part of the package. As we were heading to the balloon ride by van in the morning darkness, our driver was on his phone and rear-ended the car in front of us. No one was seriously injured and we obviously made the balloon flight in time!

One interesting thing about the Cappadocia balloon ride is how vital it is to the area’s economy. Do the math — about 100 to 150 balloons take off each day (weather-permitting) with about 20 people on board. This is a half-million dollar per day industry!

While I love my photos, this video is even more stunning to capture the experience.

As the trip wound down and we returned to Istanbul, I really enjoyed a beautiful cruise on the Bosporus (Bosphorus) Strait to see the city’s structures on both the European and Asian continents.

We then visited the “Grand Bazaar”, which was huge, but other than the beauty of some of the lamps and tea sets I’d love to have, it mostly left me unimpressed.

I loved the “Spice Market” from the first day in Istanbul more.

Now, let’s talk about food since you know how much I love eating and plating it for photos!

I so looked forward to the Mediterranean breakfasts and I ate plenty. There were many days I skipped lunch because I ate such hearty breakfasts.

This was one of my favorites breakfasts there.

Yes, I ate every bite on the plate since I don’t waste food and I only take what I’ll eat!

After this breakfast, I walked from the hotel into town and back twice that day to work it off!

And, the art work along the Aegean Sea was stimulating!

In addition to the breakfasts, I loved the desserts, especially the baklava and the honeycombs dripping with honey that you just cut off what part of it you want!

Also, the lamb kebabs were tasty and the homemade breads were incredible!

On this day, I ate two loaves of that bread with my kebab!

Out of everything I ate in Turkey, my favorite food was the persimmons — so sweet and delicious. Sadly, I was told by people familiar with them here in the States to skip them because they taste nothing like the ones in the Mediterranean!

And, while we’re talking fruit, I had freshly squeeze pomegranate juice with a splash of orange to sweeten it. This gives me a chance to show one of my favorite pictures I took on the trip — a fresh pomegranate splitting on the tree!

One of the best meals on the trip because of the heart-felt feelings behind it was when we stop at a small village and had lunch made and served to use by local women. (Again, notice the bread basket sitting right in front of me!) 🙂

The food was great and the environment was so warm and inviting!

Also, on the trip, I ended up eating beef twice and both occasions were part of a “set menu”.

I gave up beef more than a decade ago and only had it once before this trip. (Disclaimer: These beef medallions were tasty, but I’m okay with it being another eight years before I eat cow again. If I want beef again, I’ll get the plant-based, fake beef “Impossible Whopper” at Burger King!)

Back in 2014, in Tel Aviv, Israel, when ordering beef and lamb kebabs to share, we Americans were expecting separate pieces of each. However, they were mixed together and so we ate them! (This Tel Aviv meal below is one of my all-time favorites! This is the “salad” part of the feast, even though they brought out fish, too.)

Yes, I ate a lot of food and enjoyed every bite. (I gained five pounds!)

At home, I only eat one meal a day — dinner. Unless I’m eating out, which is rare, or having dinner with my sister, Tammy, my dinner six days a week consists of a huge salad, and a piece of chicken or pork as a side dish, with my bread, salted butter, and wine.

Enough about food, I’m getting hungry.

In addition to Eleanor and Allison, I enjoyed spending time with Mike and Apar (next to me in the back) and Jonathan and Colleen.

One thing I learned the hard way in Cappadocia was not to get too close to a hungry camel. While this one was eating, I thought I’d a take a selfie.

The next thing I felt was its hard teeth biting at the back of my head! I didn’t get the selfie, but it hurt like hell for several minutes. Luckily, the skin wasn’t broken, so I didn’t get camel cooties!

There were many beautiful Turkish men and women. Here’s one example…

and, here’s another (on the left). I assume he was Turkish. He might have been a tourist like me!

I think he actually flirted with me, as much as you can in Turkey.

In Turkey, gay sex is legal, yet many in the LGBTQ community still face discrimination, harassment, and even violence and death from their relatives and neighbors. However, acceptance is slowly gaining there. This is especially true in the metropolitan city of Istanbul.

Oh, that photo above was part of a belly dancing lesson. The beautiful professional called some of us onto the floor to teach us some moves.

I think my moves were actually belly flopping instead of belly dancing! I definitely didn’t have “Moves Like Jagger”!

Now, here are a few things I learned about the country:

Turkey is 98% Muslim, but it’s much more relaxed than most other Muslim countries. (However, while I wasn’t looking to hook up, apps like Grindr are banned!)

Turkey’s population is officially 85 million, but there are about six million more refugees, mostly from Syria. (Turkey is the 18th most populated country in the world — the U.S. is at #3 behind China and India!)

Like any country, there are in the incredibly rich in Turkey. However, the average annual salary in Turkey is just about three thousand dollars a year per person! $3,000!!! In the United States, the average salary is 23 times higher, even though I don’t even make the average salary here, but I’m not complaining when I heard that sad statistic!

This incredible photo is on a ferry ride from the European continent of Turkey to the Asian continent of the country!

50 million people will visit Turkey in 2023, yet tourism is not a Top Five money maker for the country!

Like many other places I’ve visited, there are many stray animals. In Tel Aviv, it was cats.

In Turkey, there were cats, but I mostly saw dogs!

But, what’s interesting is that many of them are caught, vaccinated, spayed, and neutered. Most of the dogs are even ear-tagged to show they’ve been checked. And, people take care of the “strays” by feeding them and giving them water. I didn’t see one dog that was hungry and scared!

Speaking of water, there are many countries in the world where Americans are advised not to drink the water and to only drink bottled water.

However, Turkey, like China, is one of the countries where people that live there don’t even drink the water!!!

You can use tap water to make coffee and tea. However, I still used bottled water for that.

It just blows my mind. I can’t imagine that countries don’t make water drinkable for residents. (Yes, I’m aware that the U.S. doesn’t have a perfect record — Hello Flint, Michigan!)

On the trip, the hotels put out a nice breakfast buffet spread, but one thing that was missing — bananas. That’s very interesting because bananas are grown in Turkey, but mostly for export! (Yet, you could find them in stores.)

And, finally, the weather for the entire trip was perfect!!!

Not one drop of rain fell and high temperatures were mostly in the 60s in the higher elevations and in the 70s to near 80° elsewhere.

Those warmer days and nights proved a little bit too much for us Americans because the “tourist” season in Turkey usually winds down in early October and many hotels had already turned off the air conditioning for the season!

Visiting Turkey was amazing and if you every get a chance, go!

Before I wrap this up, I saw two things that I’ll call “signs” for my 2023… a wedding and this little adorable princess.

So, in 2023, I hope to become a pug dog dad and fall in love.

Hey, Turkey put it out there. It’s up to me to make it happen!

I’ll close with one of my favorite pictures I took on the trip. It was on the first day at the Spice Market. I loved that when I took the selfie, the woman behind me was smiling so warmly while her friends talked away.

It still makes me smile today seeing it!

And, here’s a song I fell in love with flipping through the channels. I mostly watched music videos because music is universal even if you don’t know what’s being said!

It’s “Hadi Bakalim” by 4 Yuz.

Again, I didn’t understand the lyrics, but it sounded so familiar. I racked my brain and realized that it a Loona song I loved while living in Chicago in 2001!

Anthony

P.S. If you’re still reading, either you’re bored or my stories and photos are interesting enough to keep your attention.

On a more twisted and morbid note, maybe it’s a good thing my passport is expiring. (Yes, I’m likely going to renew it.)

Why twisted and morbid?

Well, I talked about the terrorist attack in Istanbul just two weeks after I left the city. I know it’s only coincidence, but I’m beginning to think that bad things follow me!

I was in Ottawa, Ontario, in September 2014.

A month later, a gunman opened fire on Parliament Hill and the Canadian National War Museum.  He killed one and injured three others.

I was in Paris, France, in October 2014. Less than three months later, two French Muslim extremists attacked the “Charlie Hebdo” headquarters killing 13 people and two days later, another terrorist killed four others in a grocery story.

And, then on November 13, 2015, coordinated attacks across the city killed 137 (89 of those were at the Bataclan Theatre), including seven perpetrators.

I was in Las Vegas in March 2017, and October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a country music concert killing 58 and injuring another 851 (422 by gunfire).

I was at The Jacksonville Landing Mall in January 2017. In August 2018, a gunman opened fire there killing three (including himself) and injuring 11 others (ten by gunfire).

Maybe I should just stay home!

AP

Behind the Scenes of My Costa Rica Holiday

We work to pay bills and live our lives. When we’re lucky, there’s extra money left to buy new clothes, furniture, homes, cars, or whatever you like spending money on.

I live a simple, no frills life, so I spend my money on traveling when I can.

After vaccinations became available and a majority of Americans protected themselves against the Covid-19 pandemic (before the Omicron strain stressed us out), I jetted off to Greece for my birthday in October 2021. It was amazing, even without seeing the gorgeous beaches (I’ll have to watch “Mamma Mia” again for that!)

Once I got back, a great deal on a trip to Costa Rica presented itself, so I booked it.

I didn’t get to mark another continent off my list since Costa Rica is in Central America. As for continents, four down (North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa) and three to go (Australia, Antarctica, and South America). For the record, Antarctica won’t happen and the other two are unlikely!

A couple of weeks ago, I added that new stamp to my passport!

While you may have seen some of the pictures, here are some stories behind those photos — one is scary (and hilarious) from my last night in the country!!!! 🙂

The Wikipedia page on Costa Rica perfectly sums up the country in a soundbite: “Costa Rica is a rugged, rainforested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific. Though its capital, San Jose, is home to cultural institutions like the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, Costa Rica is known for its beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity. Roughly a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle, teeming with wildlife including spider monkeys and quetzal birds.”

Surprisingly, because some people are loud when they should be quiet in nature, I did snap a few pictures of spider monkeys in the wild in the Arenal Volcano National Park…

and a cute little White-Nosed Coatimundi.

I posted that description of Costa Rica because it plays a big role in the beauty, yet the frustration of traveling there.

My Gate 1 Travel trip was the “9 Day Kaleidoscope of Costa Rica with Guanacaste”, which was a step up from the “7 Day Classic Costa Rica”. And, I’m so glad I did that because the two days in Guanacaste (Tamarindo) was definitely worth it for the gorgeous hotel, my room and balcony, and the Pacific Ocean sunsets.

However, of that “9 Day” trip, two were travel days, which were exhausting. Heading there, I drove an hour from Decatur to the airport in Bloomington, Illinois, for the first of three flights! It was a short flight to Chicago, three hours of sit time, then a three-hour flight to Miami, sitting three more hours, and then the final three hour flight to San Jose, Costa Rica.

The return trip was just as long: driving to the airport in San Jose, sitting three hours, a three-hour flight to Miami, trying to get through U.S. Customs in less than two hours to catch a three-plus-hour flight to Dallas. Once there, five hours of sitting before the flight to Bloomington, Illinois, and then the one hour drive home!

But, it was worth it to see Costa Rica. Here’s some of that biodiversity!

I absolutely love taking photos and the one below is one of my favorites. While the church in Zarcero was gorgeous, this is what captured my eye and my imagination!

In my travels, I’ve often talked about how much I love, love, love Mediterranean food and, especially, Mediterranean breakfasts.

This one is from Tel Aviv, Israel…

and, this one is from Greece.

Well, Costa Rican breakfasts are much simpler. One interesting staple of the diet there, even at breakfast, is beans and rice!

While I love beans and I love rice, I don’t eat them too often at home. But, since it’s part of the diet in Costa Rica, I had beans and rice each morning with my eggs. Also, the papaya was incredible!

My favorite meal there was a sea bass, which was preceded by a delicious shrimp and lobster bisque, and followed by pineapple cheesecake.

My favorite dessert was raspberry panna cotta, which came after a tasty Greek salad, and salmon with pesto linguine, my second favorite meal.

Costa Rica was my sixth trip with Gate 1 Travel. The other five were a Danube River cruise (2013), Scandinavia (2017), Morocco (2018), Bangkok, Thailand (2019), and Greece (2021). (My 2016 China trip was through another company and my 50th birthday excursion to Paris, France, and Tel Aviv, Israel was a trip I planned on my own.)

On many of these trips, I meet people that I’ve kept in touch with over the years! Hi Barbara, Maureen, Izzy, Katrina, Marcellus, Matt, Cortney, Shirley, and Robert.

In Costa Rica, I met four amazing people that I’ll be keeping in touch with from southern California. I spent most of my time socializing with Bill and Sandi…

and Kathy and Tim.

An interesting side note is that the four of them live within thirty miles of each other and Costa Rica brought them together!

The most scenic experience was the Arenal Volcano National Park, where I took this selfie.

One of coolest adventures was walking across eight hanging bridges, some of which were hundreds of feet long and hundreds of feet over the vast forest of trees.

Sadly, I was most disappointed with the Rio Frio River Boat Tour because of not seeing too many reptiles and creatures. We did see some small crocodiles, “Jesus Christ” lizards, birds, a sleeping sloth, and a few howler monkeys.

But, a stop for a bathroom break gave me the opportunity to see this beautiful macaw!

And, the flowers and plants were stunning. This was my favorite!

And, this one was the most intruiging!

One of the negatives to the trip was the horrible infrastructure. It took many hours to travel just a distance of 60-100 miles, and even longer in a large tour bus!

If you added up all the hours on the bus from one stop to another, we probably lost two to three days. But, we did see gorgeous landscapes along the way and sadly, forest fires that were burning up parts of Coast Rica.

One shocking (and interesting) thing I learned visiting the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum in San Jose on my last night in town was back in 1944, due to the fear of contagion from tuberculosis and leprosy, special currency was minted or pierced for internal use inside sanatoriums and leper asylums!

That’s just crazy!

But, there’s some justification to this paranoia. Almost a century before, in 1856, Costa Rica was under attack by a group of mercenaries led by American William Walker. Walker ended up dumping bodies into the wells which polluted the water supply. This caused a cholera outbreak that killed almost 10% of Costa Rica’s population (nearly 10,000 people)!

And, now that scary and funny story!

My trip started and ended in San Jose, the capital and most populous city (2.1 million of the country’s 5.1 million residents).

Since I had to get up at 2:30 a.m. for my return trip home, I went to bed around 9 p.m. While this may be TMI, it’s important to the story and adds the humor to it.

I sleep naked and usually I have my lounge wear on the bed with me. But, since it was a very early wake-up call, I had the clothes I was wearing home sitting out — across the room.

At 10:30 p.m., I woke up and I thought I heard a noise. I listened for a bit longer and I realized that someone had opened my door! In hotels, I always put the safety lock across the door and I’m so glad I did.

With the new visitors arriving at the hotel that evening, the reception desk must have programmed my room number onto the magnetic key for someone else.

Since I couldn’t reach my clothes, I yelled out, “Hello”, and I heard someone say, “There’s someone in there!”.

I’m totally convinced that it was a mistake downstairs and it scared them as much as it did me. If it had been burglars, I don’t think they would have responded and just left.

So, I almost had someone in my room, but not in the way I wanted! 🙂

Thank you for coming along to Costa Rica with me through this travelogue!

If you ever get a chance to visit the country, the people are very nice and it’ll make you appreciate all that you have even more.

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — February 26, 2021

The shortest month of the year is almost over and that means spring is right around the corner!

Thank you for taking time to check out what I’m thinking about this week!

I always value your opinions even if we disagree. Just do it diplomatically!

DOGNAPPING AND SHOOTING!

UPDATE: A woman brought the two missing dogs into the LAPD’s Olympic station in Koreatown Friday night UNHARMED!

Two of Lady Gaga’s French Bulldogs were stolen and the other one, Asia, escaped after the dog walker was shot in West Hollywood early Wednesday night. 

The 30-year-old victim was taken to a local hospital and CNN reports that he is recovering well.

While they were missing, TMZ reported that Gaga was offering a “no questions” asked $500,000 reward for Koji and Gustav’s safe return!

FORGIVING STUDENT LOANS

Many in Congress want President Joe Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in student debt.student

Biden told a town hall group in mid-February that he was prepared to write off $10,000, but not $50,000.

He added that community colleges should be free and that “any family making under $125,000 whose kids go to a state university they get into, that should be free, as well.”

I’m totally against forgiving $50,000 of debt! Why?

When I went to college and earned my degree in 1989 and I went back to school for three more years in the early-2000s for another certification, I paid for my education both times all by myself. My parents didn’t assist me financially and the government definitely didn’t erase my debt.

And, once I got my degree, it took more than a year (fall 1990) before I was offered a job in my field of study (television news). I wasn’t even able to take that job, which would have only paid a measly $13,000 a year!

After that, it wouldn’t be until the summer of 1996 that I was finally able to start my career. The offer, again, was $13,000!

With that being said, you can see why I have a problem just forgiving student loan debt!

ONE MORE THING…

Did you know that only 1.25 million students were enrolled in college in 1938?

With the G.I. Bill following World War II, nearly 7.8 million of the 16 million veterans that served in the armed forces decided to take advantage of the bill and go to college!

“ARMY OF THE DEAD” IS FINALLY COMING!!!!!!

“Army of the Dead”, Zack Synder’s highly anticipated zombie heist movie, finally has a Netflix release date of May 21st and the first trailer dropped Thursday! I’m so excited because it takes place in my favorite U.S. city!

It follows a group of mercenaries plotting a Las Vegas casino heist during a zombie outbreak. 

The ensemble cast includes Dave Bautista (“Guardians of the Galaxy” series), Garret Dillahunt (“Fear The Walking Dead” and “Justified”), and Raúl Castillo (“Looking”).

While I wouldn’t want it to happen with the real places, it’s fun seeing Planet Hollywood, Paris, and the iconic “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas” sign crumble in a disaster flick!

“THE HUNT”

This is the movie that got Republicans and Donald Trump in an uproar — before any of them even saw it!

It’s a very sadistic and crazy survival story!

If you love “The Purge” series, you’ll enjoy it and Betty Gilpin (“Glow”) was amazing.

It was my #11 movie of 2020.

GRADE: B

“MRS. AMERICA”

This nine-episode FX on Hulu miniseries focused on the fight for women’s rights in the early-1970s with an all-star cast.

Uzo Aduba won an Emmy Award for her Shirley Chisholm, the first black candidate for a major party’s nomination for President of the United States.

Cate Blanchett was incredible as the mean, close-minded Phyllis Schlafly. (Her Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations are pending!)

I know it was the ’70s, but I still can’t understand how women (a lot of homemakers) could be against equal rights for women. And, about Schlafly again, it shocks me that she’d be opposed to gay rights with a gay soon. Sadly, she’s not alone. It still happens today!

One complaint I had about the series (unless I missed it somehow), how can you have a series about women’s rights and the ERA and not mention Helen Reddy and “I Am Woman”?

GRADE: B

THEY SAID WHAT???

Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd U.S. President (in 1807): “The appointment of a woman to office is an innovation for which the public is not prepared, nor am I.”

Supreme Court Justice Joseph Bradley (in 1873): “The paramount mission and destiny of women are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator.”

“GROCERY”

All month long, in February, I’ve been sharing fun things from Michael Ruhlman’s awesome 2017 book, “Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America”.

Here are the final mind boggling or interesting things I learned:

Sugar Crisps cereal was introduced in 1949 by Post. It was the first cereal to be covered in sugar and now some cereals are more than 50% sugar!

Frito-Lay started putting 5% fewer chips in the bag and this added as much as $80 million dollars to the company’s bottom line since chips are a $1.6 billion a year business.

Apples are held in vast warehouses filled with oxygen and carbon dioxide, which puts them “to sleep”. When needed, companies “break the room”, thus “if you’re buying a ‘fresh’ American apple in August, it was harvested late last year.”

Between December and May, as much as 90% of fresh domestic tomatoes come from south Florida.

Americans eat 10 billion pounds of cheese each year!

And, one more fun fact!!!!

A 200-pound man uses 30% of his calories to feed his three-pound brain!

STORMY DANIELS BARES IT ALL

“Full Disclosure”, Stormy Daniels’ autobiography, came out in the fall of 2018 to critical success.

What a compelling story!

I’m not talking just about the encounter with Donald Trump and the subsequent threats on her life after her involvement with 45 came out.

From her very painful childhood to working in a strip bar while still a teenager in high school, Daniels is an incredible story teller.

While the book is a great read, her Twitter account is even better and wittier!

And, speaking of that…. In November, I tweeted Stormy to let her know I enjoyed reading her story and she “liked” it!

(By the way, while thunder and lightning are weather terms, it’s also what she calls her boobs!)

“AFTER VISITING FRIENDS: A SON’S STORY”

I just read this 2013 book by “GQ” editor Michael Hainey’s, which tries to find answers about his father’s death.

As a six-year-old, Hainey always believed that his 35-year-old father died of a heart attack in 1970.

However, as an adult, reading the three Chicago newspapers obituaries of his journalist father didn’t add up, so he started inquiring about the mystery decades later.

Great book!

“THE WOMAN WHO LOST HER SOUL”

Bob Shacochis’ 2013 book is fiction, yet it covers five decades of tragedies based on real-life events — rape and murder in World War II Europe as the Germans invaded small countries, murder in the Middle East and Turkey in the 1980s, to destitution in war and hurricane-ravaged Haiti in the 1990s.

It was interesting to see how the story would be weaved together with Haitian voodoo.

The book is a lengthy one at 715 pages and it’s definitely not happy feely with only one semi-redeeming character!

And, I wouldn’t call it a “masterpiece” as is quoted on the cover!

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Move Forward & Stop Looking Back

Birthdays are interesting annual events.  Some people count down to the big day and some would rather it pass unnoticed.

As life goes on, the way we celebrate the natal day changes.  As a kid, we’re excited for a cake, a party, and gifts.

That’s me celebrating my first birthday with a cake that ISN’T chocolate! 😦

In retrospective, I’m grateful I got to celebrate that birthday.  When I arrived six weeks early, in the fall of 1964, I weighed about three pounds and I wasn’t expected to make it.  The survival rate for preemies back then was only 28%!

For many, becoming a teenager is exciting and to others, it’s a terrifying time. Then, there’s 16, 18, and 21.

After that the pressure settles in as 25 nears and you become frantic at 30 feeling as though your youth is gone.  It’s time to evaluate where you’re at in life and where you’re heading.

I survived college, partying, and finding myself in my teens and 20s, starting my career in my 30s, finding love in my 40s, and losing it in my 50s.

There are days of bitterness and anger, but many more are now filled with uncertainty — not only of what lies ahead down this road of life we travel, but mortality!   

While the average life expectancy in the U.S. is now 78.7 years, my beautiful mother, Dessie, didn’t get anywhere near that.

She died at 47 (in 1990).  My father died three years earlier at 55.

I’m optimistic that I have many years left since I’m physically and mentally healthy.  I just have to work on becoming emotionally and mentally happy!

My next birthday is right around the corner (October 13).

If you send birthday wishes to me via Facebook, I’ll get around to responding to them when I can since I’ll be out of the country!

I’m marking another continent off my travel list!

This will be the fourth continent I’ve visited — following North America, Europe, and Asia!

To help you narrow it down, I don’t think I need to visit Antarctica and going to South America isn’t high on my travel “bucket list”.

Final clues before you see the pictures on Facebook when I have internet:  It’s north of the Equator (never been south of it), 99% Muslim, and it’s ruled by a King.

And, in August, Madonna spent her 60th birthday there.  I’m sure that her arrangements were on a grander scale! 🙂

P.S. I share my birthday with Sacha Baron Cohen (47), Nancy Kerrigan (49), Fox Mulder (57), and Marie Osmond (59).  Oh, I can’t forget my dear friend, Crystal Craddock-Posey!

With that being said, I want to share some of my favorites birthdays of the past with you.

BIRTHDAY 2016

BIRTHDAY 2014

For my 50th birthday, I wanted to visit Tel Aviv, Israel.

When booking the trip, the connecting flight was through Paris, so it was decided to spend three nights in Paris and four in Tel Aviv.

For my birthday, I was treated to a Seine River dinner cruise, a view of Paris from atop the Eiffel Tower, and sitting stage side at the historic Moulin Rogue sipping champagne at midnight as I turned 50!

Days later, in Tel Aviv, I had the best meal ever at Benny The Fisherman, right on the Mediterranean Sea!

BIRTHDAY 2012

The day started with an incredible brunch at the Stratosphere (back when it was good) in Las Vegas and ended with seeing Madonna and the incredible “MDNA Tour”.

BIRTHDAY 2011

This would be the last one with my best buddy in the world, my beautiful golden retriever, Miss ABBA.  It was a warm fall day in the Quad Cities and we spent it outside playing.

BIRTHDAY 2009

As I head into my 55th year and beyond, I’ll live by the words of Kylie Minogue and her life affirming hit “Golden” (which chronicles her turning 50 earlier this year)!

My one goal for 2019 — seeing Kylie’s “Golden Tour” here in the U.S.!

Here’s to future!

Anthony