Questions for our American friends

[Roubignol]

Originally Posted by Arturo2nd

Mine is an ancient Welsh name. I can trace my dad's maternal line in England back a very long way as some records in Devonshire, Somerset, and Dorset go back to before 1066. The surname folk would appear to go back a very long time in North America as the common ancestor guy is referring to several generations earlier. There is a tale from my dad of religious dissenters, which would be consistent with Massachusetts and Connecticut prior to New York.

My mom's side is pretty much Irish. Tracing ends at the point where the English destroyed the Irish records. My DNA was rather uninformative yielding almost entirely British Isle results with just the trace of some other locales known from historical records. My sister's yielded a wider spread, but very much in line with the heavily Anglo-Irish-Welsh mix and the seagoing peoples of the western European coasts.

We're all products of genetic roulette and completely powerless to choose our ancestors.

But if you believe in the Darwinian religion as I believe, you first are an almost hairless monkey, as I'm too.

Which means that the origin of your name finally comes more from:

Wuuuak humm wuuuakkk

[Roubignol]

Originally Posted by bowlinggreen

I doubt that. Plenty of people in England with my surname. Even people there with my EXACT name - and in Australia too.

One day I typed the name and the surname of my father.
Believe me or not but I found something incredible...

There was a man called exactly like my father, who was born the same year and having the same profession but living in the USA.

So I clicked on the link to be sure that was not my father taking the Concorde to have a second life each night when we were sleeping.

No... it wasn't. The American usurper was wearing a beard and mustache, when my father wasn't.

[Budo]

Originally Posted by Arturo2nd

Summer is notorious for often being chilly.

Really? I guess that's one difference then, because we tend to be quite warm in the summer, especially in the southern counties, with sun for most of the summer and temperatures reaching as high as 34C in the day and the low to mid 20s at night, and seeing that most homes in the UK don't have air conditioning fans are at full pelt all summer. These days droughts in the summer are also pretty common.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by Budo

Really? I guess that's one difference then, because we tend to be quite warm in the summer, especially in the southern counties, with sun for most of the summer and temperatures reaching as high as 34C in the day and the low to mid 20s at night, and seeing that most homes in the UK don't have air conditioning fans are at full pelt all summer. These days droughts in the summer are also pretty common.

You don't have a large central valley just over the ridge of hills that stays between 27C and 45C from May through September. The warm air rises and brings the cooler ocean air upon us, with fog and overcast. Mostly it is pleasant around the Bay with temps from 20C to 27C. It is San Francisco where it will drop into the teens at night.

[dbailey]

It is that time of year friends. I am looking for insider advice on good things to do in Tucson (already got PIMA and Boneyard) and some short walks of up to 6 miles around Sedona. The usual drill, I enjoy space, flight, science, natural history, landscapes, cityscapes, museums, animals, beer, local foods ( value not fancy) music of all kinds

[Budo]

Originally Posted by dbailey

It is that time of year friends. I am looking for insider advice on good things to do in Tucson (already got PIMA and Boneyard) and some short walks of up to 6 miles around Sedona. The usual drill, I enjoy space, flight, science, natural history, landscapes, cityscapes, museums, animals, beer, local foods ( value not fancy) music of all kinds

Is that where that massive military aircraft boneyard is? I wouldn't mind to see that place myself.

[seany65]

Why are there so many broken drinks in the US?

In a huge number of tv programmes and films etc. at least one character will say at least once:

"Why don't I fix us a drink?"

[cginok]

Originally Posted by dbailey

It is that time of year friends. I am looking for insider advice on good things to do in Tucson (already got PIMA and Boneyard) and some short walks of up to 6 miles around Sedona. The usual drill, I enjoy space, flight, science, natural history, landscapes, cityscapes, museums, animals, beer, local foods ( value not fancy) music of all kinds

Sedona: Cowboy Club for eats...kinda pricey though. Sedona is a rich folks town that caters to rich tourists. It's difficult to find anywhere to eat in Sedona that isn't pricey. Cathedral rock for hiking...you can actually climb the thing if you're brave enough. Make sure to go to the airport overlook at dusk. The sun shining in from the west, on the red rocks, is amazing. There's also Red Rock State Park for hiking. It's kinda northwest of Cathedral Rock. Southeast of Sedona is a place called Montezuma's Castle...indian pueblos. There's also a Montezuma's well in the same area as Montezuma's Castle.



If you're going that far, make a trip up 89A to Flagstaff...it's about a 45 minute drive. Be careful though. The road is kinda twisty turny in places and you're busy rubbernecking. People have been known to drive right off the road and into the canyon. In Flagstaff, Lowell Observatory is a "do not miss." For eats try Martanns...southwest/Mexican place...on Business I40. There's like 7 micro breweries...last time I heard...in Flagstaff. I've been to 5 of them. Beaver Street brewery is great for both drink and eats. LaFondas is also another Mexican place. They used to have $1 tacos on Tuesdays. The tacos were pretty good sized...not the cheapie Taco Bell sized tacos. Around Flagstaff there's the Sunset Crater, Wupatki Village, there's Walnut Canyon east of Flagstaff...Indian pueblos built down in the canyon. Also the meteor crater is east of Flagstaff. Interesting place, but they charge like $20 a person to get into the thing.



IIRC how it works, if you go to Walnut Canyon, it's $5. You keep that ticket, it's good for one week, and take it to Sunset Crater, and it will get you into it as well...saves a few $ that way.

[prok]

Originally Posted by dbailey

It is that time of year friends. I am looking for insider advice on good things to do in Tucson (already got PIMA and Boneyard) and some short walks of up to 6 miles around Sedona. The usual drill, I enjoy space, flight, science, natural history, landscapes, cityscapes, museums, animals, beer, local foods ( value not fancy) music of all kinds

There is a decommissioned missile silo just outside of Tucson. I always have wanted to go in there.

https://titanmissilemuseum.org/

[Orchardway]

Originally Posted by seany65

Why are there so many broken drinks in the US?

In a huge number of tv programmes and films etc. at least one character will say at least once:

"Why don't I fix us a drink?"

Simply another way of saying you'll get someone a drink.

Another use of 'fix' is when you order say a hamburger, the wait staff may ask what kind of 'fixings' you want on it. They are asking if you want any or all of the following: lettuce, pickles, onions, mayonnaise, cheese, tomato, ketchup, mustard, peppers, salt, pepper etc.