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K.C. Knouse's avatar

Pet rock, pure Mark Starlin. Wonderful photos. We have a tram in my city. I have ridden it several times. Used to take visitors on it. Very small. Often out of service for repairs. You should come and give it a try, Mark!;)

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Mark Starlin's avatar

What city, K.C.?

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K.C. Knouse's avatar

El Paso, TX

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Mark Starlin's avatar

I have never been to Texas. We have done east and west but not much of the center. Minnesota and South Dakota is all.

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K.C. Knouse's avatar

I did a quick search and discovered the tram has been closed since 2018, however plans to build a new one are in the works. https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/life/outdoors/2024/04/30/texas-plans-new-el-paso-tramway-abandoning-original-design/73355958007/

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Cool.

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Colin Devonshire's avatar

US English is not wrong. Just different!

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Mark Starlin's avatar

True. Even state to state it's different. 🤣 In the midwest a soft drink is called a pop. In most of the rest of the country it is called a soda.

Most of the country says "you guys" when addressing a group (even females.) In the south it's "Y'all."

In California the put "the" before highway names. "Take the 23 to Ohio." In Michigan they would say "Take 23 to Ohio."

And then, of course, there are accents. In the north, they pronounce oil "oyil." In the south, they drop the i and pronounce it "ole."

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Colin Devonshire's avatar

Similar here, the UK is small but the spoken word varies greatly. I have a friend from Dundee, have you ever heard them talk?

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Mark Starlin's avatar

I have been to England (mainly London) twice and Scotland once. There was definitely a difference in accent between those two. 🤣

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Cyn Taylor's avatar

Too long for who? What else have you got to do? That writing thing?

Some of our best times have been on the road. Especially when we take side trips and uncharted roads. Now those can be fun! And there are so many interesting people to meet. Most of whom are not on planes and the majority of them are not axe murderers. To each his own I guess.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Work. I am not retired yet. We did a five state, five day southeast road trip. But we flew to Phoenix to start it. It would take at least two days to drive there from North Carolina (too long!)

I don't like driving more than four hours per day. I will stretch that ocassionally, but I prefer to fly somewhere and then do shorter drives.

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Cyn Taylor's avatar

Did someone say road trip?!?

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Mark Starlin's avatar

We have taken lots of road trips. But we fly somewhere and then rent a car. We are doing the same this summer for Idaho. It takes too long to drive cross country.

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Cyn Taylor's avatar

Your pet rock is smiling, but still looks like Jabba the Hutt! In a good way. We only have three states left to visit not counting Hawaii and Alaska! We are still missing North Dakota along with Oregon and Washington state too!

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Impressive. After this trip, we will be missing mainly the central states. We keep flying over them. 😂

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Colin Devonshire's avatar

I wish!

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Come and see America. We speak English (sort of.)

I will be checking off states 30 through 34 when I visit Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington this summer.

I’ve been to England and Scotland but not Wales or Ireland.

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Chris Cohlmeyer's avatar

Yikes, you got me thinking, nine states I haven't been to but flew over most except Hawaii, California and Mississippi. Well California is a yes but no as the road from there to there crossed the border. Ticked off Scotland last Christmas as son and significant other are there for a couple of years... of course you tried hagus 😛.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

I did not try hagus. But we did go a Highland games in Callander. And visited Sterling Castle and Culzean Castle.

I don't count a state unless I put a foot on its soil.

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Connie Starlin's avatar

thank you for the added information and pictures

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Hard to believe that was ten years ago.

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John K Adams's avatar

You say that like it's a bad thing.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Nope. I love Dad Jokes. And Grandpa Jokes.

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C.L. Steiner's avatar

Mountain ranges are funnier than forests. They’re hill-areas.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

He shoots, he scores!

Yeah, but forests are more high-tech. They have streaming.

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C.L. Steiner's avatar

Ba-dum-pum!

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John K Adams's avatar

Your willingness to admit to doing insane things is one of your charms, Mark.

Your pet rock reminded me of the world class collection of skipping stones I once owned. I was the envy of rock collectors the world over.

But I threw it all away.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

🤣 I am adding Secretary of Dad Jokes to your duties.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

I would prefer encountering dragons than riding on that high-dangling tram. I mean, if given a choice...

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Mark Starlin's avatar

A tram dangling from a cable going up a mountain is a crazy thing, for sure. But I guess it beats climbing to the top. Fortunately, we didn't encounter any talking drangons on this mountain. 😉

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