Starting a Travel Blog

Greetings and salutations!

I regularly travel for work, events, and sport activities. In the past, I mainly just went to my destination and back. But in the past year, I have put more time and effort into exploring the locale.

As for why put my thoughts into a blog, part of it is to document things since memories fade and details get fuzzy. If you visit a lot of museums or zoos or aquariums the finer points of differentiation may blur together. Also, I tend to be very analytical and detail-oriented, so perhaps others may find my observations and assessments to be helpful. While it would be nice if other people actually read and benefit from these posts, I am primarily doing this for fun and so I am not really concerned about likes/upvotes, number of reads, follows, or virality.

My particular interests include:

#1. Animals, especially cute animals (zoos, aquariums)

#2. Museums (natural history, art, science, historical)

#3. Historical and cultural landmarks

#4. Impressive architecture or beautiful scenery

Furthermore, I enjoy browsing gift shops for cute things. Even if I usually don't buy anything, I do take note of (and often pictures of) cute and interesting trinkets.

To get a sense of my cuteness art aesthetic, here are two of the special cards I created and designed for Splinterlands, a blockchain card game. (I designed many cards but these were two personalized cards where I also got to create the theme, the name, and art specs):

BYZANTINE KITTY
(with quokka and otter friends)

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(Byzantine Kitty got made into a plushie through Makeship. Next to Byzantine Kitty is Yodin Zaku).

LILY SHIELDPAW
(with Yumbo the giant panda and Onegin the snow leopard)

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Here is a list of upcoming blog posts that I intend to write about. All of the pictures below were taken by me.

(From 2024):

A1: Sarasota Overview & South Lido Key Beach

A2: Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium and Save Our Seabirds Wild Bird Learning Center

A3: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

A4: The Ringling, Museum of Art, Bayfront Gardens, Ca' d'Zan, and Circus Museum

B1: Chicago Overview, CityPASS, & Millennium Park

B2: Field Museum of Natural History

B3: Shedd Aquarium

B4: Museum of Science and Industry

B5: Art Institute of Chicago (Part 1)

B6: Art Institute of Chicago (Part 2)

B7: Willis/Sears Tower Skydeck, the Rookery, Chicago Fed Money Museum, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago Cultural Center, & Design Museum of Chicago

B8: Medieval Torture Museum (NSFW)

C1: Kenora, Ontario, Canada

D1: Nice, France Overview & Museum Pass

D2: Musée d'Archéologie de Nice-Cimiez, Musée Matisse, Arènes de Cimiez, Monastère de Cimiez, & Jardin du Monastère de Cimiez

D3: Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre, Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, L'artistique, & Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice

D4: Musée Masséna & Palais Lascaris

D5: Antibes - Musée d'Archéologie d'Antibes, Musée Peynet et du Dessin Humoristique, & Musée Picasso

E1: Genoa, Italy Overview & Museum Card

E2: Musei di Strada Nuova - Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco, & Palazzo Doria-Tursi

E3: Acquario di Genova & Biosfera (Aquarium & Biosphere)

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E4: Bagni San Nazaro (Beach)

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E5: Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria

E6: Cattedrale di San Lorenzo, Museo del Tesoro di San Lorenzo, Museo Diocesano, Museo Biblioteca dell'Attore, Museo di Sant'Agostino, Galata Museo del Mare, & Villa del Principe

F1: Milan, Italy Overview, City Passes, & Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

F2: Duomo di Milano, Museo del Duomo, & Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (Cathedral & Museums)

F3: Civico Museo Archeologico, Chiesa di San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore, Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, & Museo del Novecento

F4: Acquario Civico di Milano, Castello Sforzesco, & Museo di Storia Naturale

G1: Oklahoma River (Oklahoma City)

H1: Philadelphia Overview

H2: Rodin Museum & Philadelphia Museum of Art

I1: Indianapolis Museum of Art, Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, and Holcomb Observatory

J1: Chicago suburbs: Six Flags Great America

J2: Chicago suburbs: Six Flags Great America - Fright Fest

J3: Chicago suburbs: Morton Arboretum

J4: Chicago suburbs: Brookfield Zoo

K1: San Francisco Bay Area Overview & CityPASS

K2: Winchester Mystery House, Santana Row, & Valley Fair

K3: Triton Museum of Art & San Jose History Park

K4: San Jose Museum of Art

K5: California Academy of Sciences, Blue & Gold Fleet SF Bay Cruise, & San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

K6: Legion of Honor, de Young Museum, & San Francisco Zoo & Gardens

K7: Monterey Bay Aquarium

K8: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

K9: Foster City Lagoon

(From 2023):

L1: Atlanta Overview, CityPASS, Lenox Square Mall, & Phipps Plaza

L2: Michael C Carlos Museum & CDC Museum

L3: Center for Puppetry Arts, Museum of Illusions, Millennium Gate, Woodruff Arts Center, & High Museum of Art

L4: Georgia Aquarium & World of Coca-Cola

L5: Atlanta History Center & Swan House

L6: National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Centennial Olympic Park, & Fernbank Museum of Natural History

L7: Zoo Atlanta

M1: New Orleans Overview, Jackson Square, French Market, Woldenberg Riverfront Park, Holocaust Memorial, Spanish Plaza, Riverwalk Outlets, & Convention Center

M2: Mardi Gras World

M3: Audubon Aquarium & Audubon Insectarium

M4: World War 2 Museum

M5: Audubon Zoo

M6: New Orleans Museum of Art & Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden

I did not take pictures at a few of my earlier visits (the Michael C Carlos Museum & CDC Museum in Atlanta and the interiors of the Musée d'Archéologie de Nice-Cimiez & Musée Matisse in Nice, France) but I do have various pictures of all the other places I visited. It may be relevant to note that I am NOT a fan of selfies, nor do I like to be in pictures. So most of the pictures are of the attractions and that is the center of attention - not me! Also the photos are taken by my cell phone, which is a little old. Apologies for any pictures that are blurry.