Other things we discovered while there...

We didn't spend all of our time just lying around on the beach while we visited the Outer Banks, even though Pam probably could have just used the whole time walking along the ocean, listening to the surf and watching the birds.  And, in the spirit of fairness, I could have spent lots more time on the golf courses there.  We actually got out and drove around to see what all was there.  I read a review of the area from someone who went there and said there was nothing to do.  Now I know that wasn't true -- I suspect that person just never went out and looked.

One one afternoon, we drove around looking for lighthouses.  I figured since we were near the ocean, and this was, after all the graveyard of the Atlantic, there had to be lighthouses, even if they were not still working or were automated like most of the rest of them around the country.  We were successful in finding several.

 The Bodie lighthouse(right), a horizontally striped one,  was located south of Nag's Head.  We stopped here for a short time, and walked around the grounds.  And even though it doesn't look like it in the picture, just to the right of the scene, there was a severe storm churning out at sea and the winds and rain were making their way toward us.  The rangers closed the lighthouse because the storm appeared to be gaining strength as it came up north, toward the coast.  As it turned out, the whole thing changed course and went back out to sea.  Pranked us.

The other one what we saw, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse (below-right) was pretty cool.  There was a whole village there that has been preserved over the years.  The Currituck area was a private home for one of the very wealthy people of the time.  The whole island area was his private retreat.  At 162' feet tall, the lighthouse's First Order Fresnel light, (the largest size available for American lighthouses), can be seen for 18 nautical miles as the light rotates in 20 second increments.  

This lighthouse stands out for its distinctive red exterior. This design was intentional, to set the Currituck Lighthouse apart from its Outer Banks neighbors.  After completion, the lighthouse was left unpainted, allowing visitors to marvel at the sheer number of bricks involved in its construction.  

The mansion (shown below) was built by Edward Collings Knight Jr. for his wife Marie Louise.  They shared a passion for hunting waterfowl. But in those days, Mrs. Knight wasn’t welcomed in the all-male hunt clubs. Mr. Knight’s answer was to build a 21,000-square-foot “mansion by the sea” just for his bride.  With its bold yellow paint, copper roof and mahogany doors, the Whalehead invites you to explore a fascinating period in Outer Banks history. Nearly every inch of the home has been carefully restored to the way it looked when Edward Collins Knight Jr. and his wife, Marie Louise, first opened the doors as a lavish hunting retreat in 1925.

We did not tour the mansion, but one thing I was told was that the copper roof was used to draw heat and help cool the place.  It also would allow rain water to flow unimpeded into collecting tanks  as that was their source of water for some cooling, household drinking and other requirements.  Evidently, Knight was very much into conservation and the ecology.  I was told that the center chimney was not really a means of letting smoke out of the building.  Rather, it served as a means of letting cool fresh air into the structure as it was drawn in by the flow created through the lower story windows.  There was no air conditioning back then, and the mansions still is not retrofitted for A/C.

Whether it was marveling at the amount of work required to build the Currituck lighthouse, one brick at a time, and my losing count after about ten rounds of bricklaying, or trying to figure out the aerodynamic flow of air and heat through the Knight's mansion, I came away convinced that there were some pretty amazing and industrious people in this country in the old days.With crude tools and methods, lots of sweat and muscle, and NO computers to fall back on, they built this country and made it a truly GREAT place.

Whoever wrote the bad review of the OBX must not have made their way over here.

Men, great and small, must act like the lighthouse; they must shine day and night for the goodness of everyone.  They must take their light, no matter how bright, and reach out into the darkness in search of those who need help.
 Hooah

What a strange place for a state highway...

I have to admit...this was our first trip to the Outer Banks and we really didn't know where to go and what were the fun things to do.  So we thumbed through a AAA tour book and came up with some things.  We also asked some people who had gone there before what they enjoyed and what they would pass on if they were to go again.

One of the attractions that came up several times in conversations with seasoned veterans was the trip up Route 12.  OK.  I just drove several hundred miles and now they wanted me to take a ride up some stupid old state route?  Probably a curvy, two-laned thing.  They said we would get to see Duck and wild horses.  OK, ducks and wild horses.  What was the big deal with that.

As it turns out, Duck is the name of a really cool town...ritzy, but nice.  And the wild horses are truly wild, they roam freely throughout the dunes area, are protected by law and date back to the Spanish explorers who came to that area.  That was the big deal with those two things, and I'll write about them later.  But the trip up Route 12 (Ocean Trail) was fun.  We read all the warnings about driving anything other than a heavy duty 4-wheel-drive Jeep out there.  The road went through the town of Duck and through a gate and onto the beach.  In fact, it was sand dunes pretty much all the way up to Virginia.  People lived out there and had to drive this sand beach road any time they wanted to go to town, go to the grocery store or, as often was the case, to evacuate the area due to storms.I bet this was pretty tricky at times.  The sand was pretty deep and soft in lots of places and cars would tent to bottom out and get stuck quite a bit.  Our understanding from those who have been there before is that it can cost up to $400 to get pulled out by the tow truck guys who are parked all along the route, sipping a cool one or working on their tans while they wait for tourists to get bogged down.  The two pictures shown above give you an idea of what the road looked like at the beginning, just as you come through the gate that marks the edge of the town of Duck.  It didn't look too bad -- real hard sand.  That quickly changed.

Another thing that stood out when you started down Route 12 -- the fence marking the end of the sand portion of Route 12, which also served as the end of the wildlife preserve, ran out a long ways into the ocean.  That was to keep the wild horses from getting out of their area and into the civilized world.

Even though I have a Jeep (a Grand Cherokee, not a Wrangler) , I was not going to drive it out in the sand dunes.  I used to do that in the Army and remember getting a lot of sand in the universal joint areas as well as the brakes and wheel joints.  Enough of that and you can really screw up your vehicle.

These kinds of Jeeps were made for this kind of "on-roading."  This particular day was a beautiful, sun-filled, slightly breezy chamber of commerce afternoon.  These vehicles are technically parked in the median.  To their front is the beach and the road is to the rear.  It is like this practically every foot of the way to Virginia.

Imagine driving down a road with this view out the front, and the sides.  This really is a two-lane road, but it's anyone's guess as to where the lanes are.  Rule of the road -- just keep it off the grassy banks and out of the deep water.

Oh, yeah, so how did we get down this road?  We were on a tour, heading down to see the wild horses.  The vehicle we were on was a kinda African safari-looking thing.  A couple of times the driver hit some sand ruts and nearly threw everyone out of the back end of the vehicle.  Kinda reminded me of being bounced around in the back of a "deuce-and-a-half" back in the early days of the Army.

Wonder what kind of maintenance they have to do on that road, if any.  Wonder how much different this road is at night --  in the really, really dark.  This is not a Sunday afternoon drive -- this is more like a commitment.

Just because someone isn't on the same road as you doesn't mean he is lost.
Hooah

Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost
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Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/hjacksonb101503.html?src=t_road

Kitty Hawk...

A long time ago, I wrote a lot of articles about my flying days.  Those times were right up there with the most challenging and exciting events of my life.  I am still a little bitter about having that taken away from me by the government, but every once in a while I get together with one of my friends from the pilot's club and we "go out" for a spin.  I guess what Sam doesn't know won't hurt him.

Anyway, Pam and I had the opportunity to take a trip to the Outer Banks area of North Carolina this past summer.  I know -- that has been a while ago and I'm just now getting around to writing about it.  I find I do my best golfing in temps above 45 and my best writing at temps below that.  BTW -- it's minus 1 degree outside now. There are lots of really great things to write about, but I wanted to start out with our visit to the Kitty Hawk area where the Wright Brothers first flew their plane.  There are lots of excellent exhibits and plenty of historical sights laying out what must have been an awesome time to live.  There are also plenty of displays that chronicle the written history of their work.  Probably much more than most people would want to take the time to read.

This plaque in the huge rock marked the spot where the first flight took place, going from there to  the first rock on that flight, the second rock on the second flight, and the third rock on the third and longest flight.  I do not recall if the small rail located to the right of the rock is the actual rail used in conjunction with the flight or if it is merely a visual aid.

The weather didn't hold allowing them to do much more beyond that, but their theory had been proven.  Powered flight was now a reality.

On the grounds there is also a mock-up of the work shop/shed where they supposedly did lots of work on the plane's parts, and supposedly parked things when they needed to get them in , out of the elements.  There were a lot of visitors there that day and since there was no Ranger around to watch the sheds, all the little kids felt they had to run around inside them.Not so sure I would have wanted my kids running around inside them.

Again, having been a pilot, I was pretty much into this place and what was done here.  But by itself, this wouldn't even begin to show the brilliance of these two brothers from Dayton, Ohio.  To get a better glimpse into the history of flying, people need to visit the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB, which is located in Dayton, OH.  Ironic. What they need to do here at Kitty Hawk is come up with some sort of time travel machine that would take visitors back and forth between Dayton and Kitty Hawk.  It is truly incredible to see the rapid advancement of aviation that took place after the Wright's flight of December 17, 1903.

Oh, and one other thing -- I don't know why it struck me as such a revelation, but there is a small airfield (NR01 is the field identifier.  Elevation is only 10' ASL - estimated)  there on the grounds.  When Pam and I were out on the  beach, I would see the typical tourist thing of an airplane flying over the beach, towing a banner advertising eating establishments, etc. But I never knew where they came from.  Now I know.

I would have loved to have been able to take the controls of one of their Cessna's and flown on the same grounds as the Wrights, the place where it all began.

Again, this was just one part of our vacation trip to the Outer Banks (a.k.a. "OBX"), but for me it was like going back to my favorite malt shop in Zanesville where I grew up.  I kinda think I knew what took place there and kinda remember what it all led to, but it was so much fun to see it.

When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.  (Leonardo Da Vinci) 

Hooah

You just never know how things will turn out...

I was in church last Sunday and a friend came in with some of his family with him.  One of the people was a lady, probably in her late 30s, who looked familiar.  Now, before you start shooting harpoons at me being a dirty old man, remember I was in church. So, cut me some slack.

As I was looking at the young lady, trying to remember a name, she said "I know you. You're Mr. B."  So that narrowed it down to the low thousands of people it could have been.  If I had remembered who she walked in with, I probably would have remembered quicker. 

Anyway, it seems that she was a student at THS back in the day.  She reminded me that when I returned to work (I was the Assistant Principal there) following a deployment for Desert Storm, I happened to be observing a teacher who was conducting a math class.  The students were asking that time honored question:  "When are we ever going to use this stuff."  I asked the teacher if I could answer that and proceded to tell them how important math was in figuring azimuths and back azimuths in something called land navigation, a skill that was very important in the military.  Of course, that was then and this is now.  All they have to know is how to turn on a GPS.  Progress?

I taught the class for the next two days and then I took the class out to the football field where I had laid out a compass course and let them have at it.  As they came to the correct location, they were either given a front azimuth or a back azimuth and they had to figure out which one they had and then find their way to the next spot.  If they navigated the course correctly, they got a candy bar at the end. 

She said she has remembered that course and how much fun it was.  Then, surprisingly, she told me she now is a math teacher.  Go figure. With all the pressure on teachers today to be "accountable" and teach for the "test" I doubt she could take time to teach something like this.  Too bad.

And then, just when we finished talking about that, another friend who was listening to all of this said he was talking to a young person up town  who said they were from Anna.  He said if that was the case, then you probably know Mr. B.  The young person said yes -- he used to have writing contests at the school and the one who won would get a plane ride from him (back when I had my pilot's license).  I also would take the middle school student of the month up for a ride.  That was fun and the kids really enjoyed seeing Wal-Mart and their grand parents' farm from 3,000 ft.

Those were some really great times and I thoroughly enjoyed working with young people. I think some of them learned a few things and really liked flying.  I enjoyed any excuse to take the plane out.

When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.

Hooah

You gotta be old to have 50 of anything...

Well, this month marked a milestone for Pam and me.  Both of us attended our 50th high school class reunions.  It was kinda a funny around here when I told my neighbors and my golf buddies that we were doing that -- they got a kick out of us saying it was our 50th.  Well, except for the neighbors, the rest of them had better check their calendars because their 50th will be coming up sooner than they think.  I know ours did.  When they would rag on me about getting old, I told them that we couldn't be getting old -- they still play our music (60s music) on the radio.

Pam's high school class was 438 or so students.  She went to the big high school in Zanesville.  My graduating class was somewhere around 90 brave souls.  And in case you're wondering, Pam was in the top 10% of her class, while I on the other hand had not realized any of my potential yet.  I told one of the members of my class that at West Point, there is a tradition that the lowest graduating cadet is paid a dollar by all the rest of the cadets at graduation (an old tradition).  I said that if that was a tradition at my high school, I probably could have made a car payment with my dollars.  Oh, well.  I guess it's not where you start that counts.

Pam's reunion dinner was held at the country club in Zanesville.  It was very nice and they had a little over a hundred class members there.  It was really good for us to get to talk to a lot of the old friends from those days.  They had lost a few to the Vietnam war, and others to cancers and other illnesses.  But those who were there looked to be in pretty good shape overall.

My reunion dinner was held at a classmate's house.  She and her husband have a big old two-story house that was built in the 1860s and sits above the Muskingum River.  It was really cool.  I expected U.S. Grant to come walking out of the kitchen at any time.  The dinner was catered and we ate on their lawn. It was very nice and the torches and old house set quite a nice mood for the evening.  Of our 90-some classmates, we have lost a little over 20 to various things -- war, cancer, other illnesses.  A couple of them had had strokes since the last reunion, but they got around real well and it was fun talking with them.  One of them, Gene, who was my best man at our wedding, is still farming and still hunts on his property.

The reunions also served as another opportunity for both of us to do other things.  Pam was able to visit some friends and go to breakfast with one of her old girl friends.  I was also able to get in 18 holes with my old Sergeant Major at the golf course we played as golf team members in high school.  When we paid our greens fees, the guy there asked if I had ever played here before.  I gave him a laugh when I told him that the last time I played this course was 50 years ago.

One thing that came out of both reunions was the idea that these reunions should be held a little more often now that we all are getting on in years.  I know the ones who still live in Zanesville are always running into others of the class and they see the ones they want to see regularly.  It's the ones who have moved away who would probably get the most out of that idea.  Those who went to my school (Rosecrans) have the parish picnic each year where there is an alumni tent for such gatherings.  We could go to that if we wanted.  I am not so sure there is anything like that for Pam's classes.  Perhaps something at the football homecoming,  maybe. 

Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every reunion a hint of the resurrection. (A. Schopenhauer)

Hooah

Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection. Arthur Schopenhauer
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Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection. Arthur Schopenhauer
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/reunion.html

When all else fails, eat a peach...

Dave and I have not been fishing for probably a couple of years.  So, when Pam and I were walking around the campgrounds at Lake Loramie a couple of weeks ago, I called him to see if he had recovered from all the excitement of the last time and to see if he might want to take a break from the links and try our hand again.We figured the fish had recovered from that fantastic day by now so we set a date for Tuesday morning. 

This was the first time I had taken the boat out to fish for a while, so I had to get everything ready.  The only problem was that I had forgotten to check the battery for the trolling motor until late the night before.  Yep!  Deader than a door nail.  Oh well, we had enough juice from the main battery so off we went.  I took the dead battery out of the boat, figured we might need the extra weight capacity if we hit a BIG fish or two.

The boat went into the water at about 0700 and the second thing that I had forgotten to check was the bait store opening hours.  We had to use artificial bait until about 0800.  No strikes -- no nibbles -- not even a snagged twig in that first hour.  Should have been clear by that early hour that this was not going to be a good day.

We went around to two or three "promising" places and the extent of our "catches" was a handful of lilly pad leaves and a couple of twigs.  By this time, it was starting to get hot out.  We had been in the midst of a protracted dry, hot spell here in Shelby County.  Upper 80s and low 90s pretty much controlled the thermometers for about a month.  The lake water was kinda warm at the surface, which was good for the kids over at the beach, but not so good for fishermen.

So now it's about 1030 and nothing.  That's when Dave whipped out a couple of peaches or nectarines.  Boy the old supply Sergeant comes through in the clutch.  These hit the spot and were really juicy.  Only got a little on the front of my shirt as we were motoring back to the docks -- empty- handed, but full!

We'll go back.  It is against the law (some law) to buy a fishing license and get out only once and then get shut out.  I don't know if there is any real fine for this, but I know the shame of it all that has to be carried through the winter would be unbearable.  About the only thing that would give either of us an "out" would be to get a hole-in-one at our home courses in front of witnesses (and that probably isn't going to happen any time soon).  Stay tuned -- I will update you all on either event.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.  Teach him how to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer (or eat peaches) all day.  (Author Unknown)
 
Hooah

Family road trip...

It's hard to believe that all of us are in our 60s and 70s, and this is the first "road trip" we have taken together.  But we finally managed to get everyone's schedules to align in the cosmos and we took a weekend trip to Cincinnati to take in a river boat dinner cruise and a Reds game. 

Pam and I had been on the BB Riverboat dinner cruises before, so I thought the group would like to do this,  We signed up for the Thursday evening captain's dinner cruise which consists of a very nice buffet dinner, about a two hour twilight cruise up and down the Ohio river, and a relaxing "sit around" up on the top deck of the boat, watching the skyline of the Queen City.  The evening was very pleasant and quite relaxing.


It was funny that the evening turned out so well, because when we left our hotel in Newport, just across the river by the Aquarium, we got caught in a heavy downpour.  We caught the trolley and took it part of the way to the BB location,  but had to go about two blocks in that rain.  The ladies' shoes were soaked and the hair got frizzed, but once we got there it rain stopped and the sunshine came out.

The boat people take these pictures when you  board.

So, the next day, we walked around the river park area over in Cincinnati near the ball diamond.  We had a good lunch at the Holy Grail and then went over to ride the carousel.  This was fun.

There is just something about these old rides.  And this one had some hidden things on the horses and other animals that you were supposed to find.  Pretty good way to act like a kid again, but not stand out too  much.

Also a must-do when visiting the old ball diamond is looking around the gift shop.  Gotta have a Reds cap or maybe a shirt.

One nice thing about this weekend is this was the '76 Reds reunion weekend (Friday's pre-game activity) and a Fireworks Friday game.  They were also expecting big crowds for the induction ceremony of Pete Rose into the Reds Hall of Fame (Saturday game) and the retirement of his jersey during the Sunday game.  These were 3 sell-out games in a row -- pretty good considering their struggles on the field this year during their rebuilding phase.  We did not stay for the Saturday and Sunday activities. 

Since this was a reunion of the '76 World Champion Reds team, we wanted to get there early to see the old guys come out on the field for the pre-game ceremonies.  While we were there waiting for the gates to open, out walked Johnny Bench.  He went over to his statue and spent about 45 min. talking to fans and having ;pictures taken.  The whole team was there for the ceremony, but Bench was the only one who came out to spend time with the fans.  Class guy.

Oh, by the way, here is a picture of three "wild and crazy guys" waiting for the gates to open.

 We had pretty good seats too.  It was REALLY hot that afternoon, but we had seats in the second level, and we were in the shade.  Great seats to see the game and the fireworks following the game.  The Reds put on a pretty good show on those Fireworks Fridays.

Overall, this was a pretty good get-away for all of us.  .Too bad we had to wait so long to do this; maybe the next one won't be too far down the road.

Oh, by the way, the Reds lost.

I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.  (Mark Twain)

Hooah

Another day trip...

Every once in a while, we like to take day trips to some location in this state.  A pretty good stand-by is the Columbus Zoo -- it is pretty close, usually has something new to see or do, and is not very expensive (they have a military veteran discount). 

This trip was no exception to the "something new to see or do" rule.  It seems that somehow in my long life, I have never had the pleasure of tasting a cup of "dip-n-dots."  So, as we were walking around the grounds looking for a place to buy a cold bottle of water, we came across one of the food vendors who had both the water and the aforementioned ice cream treat.  I saw that they had a mint flavor so I got a small helping.  It was actually pretty good, and kinda fun to eat.  Guess I had been missing out all these years.  I don't know if it was healthy or not, but it tasted good so it probably wasn't. But then again, the food I got from a street vendor in Korea while on a military assignment probably wasn't healthy either, but tasted and smelled good and I survived.

The second area that we came across that was "new" to us was the big open range area up past the elephants.  It was a big open range that had several different kinds of animals roaming around in an environment that was more like what they would normally live in.  All of these animals were grass eaters and it was really fun to just stand there and watch them roaming around.

There was also a feeding platform where you could watch the giraffes get fed.  Pam really liked that part and she was able to have one of them eat something from her hand.  Couldn't pet them, but the zoo personnel would supervise and you could reach down enough to give them a leaf . Like I said, something new and different.

There are lots of fun things to do on these day trips if one just takes the time to look for them.  Speaking of looking for something to do, I did notice that the zoo has a nice looking 18-hole golf course co-located on the grounds.  I told Pam that the next time we came over, she could walk the zoo grounds and I would walk the golf grounds.  Sounds like a plan.

Hooah

A Memorial Day walk to the park...

I did not know this, but Memorial Day is a big, big deal in Brooklyn.  The city has celebrations, storefronts are outfitted with the U.S. flag and other patriotic bunting, and there is a big parade.  One whole street is blocked off and the parade goes from somewhere around Bay Ridge Parkway and 3rd Avenue (I could be wrong about the streets) clear down to the Ft. Hamilton area, a distance of over 30 blocks.  There are bands, floats, civic and fraternal organizations, scouting groups and military groups from the various branches.  All in all, it is a big parade and quite remarkable for this day and age when it seems that displaying patriotism is something that is talked about but not often observed.

Quinn's cub scout troop was going to march in the parade and he had asked me to walk with him.  I was really looking forward to doing this.  We talked and laughed as we made our way to the finishing area.

Once we got to the finishing area, they took a team picture of the scouts.

The rest of the family picked out a nice area with some shade where they could watch the parade and wait for us to pass by.  Of course, the sun tends to move and what once was a shady area is not so much so later on.  It seems that this was as good a place as any for Miss Vivian to take a nap...the heck with grandpa and Quinn.

So, when Pam and I planned our trip to visit D&D and the grandkids, we knew that this would be a busy weekend with lots of traffic and plenty of warm temperatures.  But we had done this many times before.  The kids have plenty of fun in the parks, where they can generally run through the fountains and play on the swings and jungle-gyms.  And, they can always cool off in the pool in the back yard.

After the parade, there was ice cream all around, complete with sprinkles and gummy-bear toppings.

Of course, no trip to NY would be complete without lots of "grandma and grandpa time."  This is the time we get to spend with them as they grow up -- which seems to be way too fast.  This is the fun time for us, getting to hold them, read to them, interact with them, and even get beat in a game or two by them.  We got to watch Miss Vivian drive around in the little red car they were playing with.  At one point, she just sat in it in front of the TV and it looked like she was sitting at a drive-in (old people remember those).

So, here are some of those "G&G" moments I mentioned.

 So, that was pretty much the weekend.  They always go too fast, and there are way too many unseen changes in these youngsters between visits.

So we have to Skype every once in a while, and get in a few words during phone calls.  I came up with a new way to get connected...I wrote a letter to Quinn in Morse Code.  I am doing some refresher stuff for my Ham Radio hobby and I think (I am not sure if they still do this one) Quinn can get a badge for doing something with Morse Code.  We'll see.  I told him that this would be our secret pirate code way of communicating (....   ..  /  --.-   ..-   ..   -.   -.).

We brought our children and they brought theirs into this world because it/we needed the light that only they can bring.

Hooah (....  ---  ---  .-   ....)

Golf tournament at Jack's place...

Shortly after returning from our island vacation, we had the opportunity to go to the Memorial Tournament.  It has been many, many years since Pam and I went there, and I happened to see an advertisement on line from the Nationwide Insurance people that they were giving free admission to Veterans and up to 3 guests for the pro-am practice round on Wednesday of the tournament week.  Seemed like an offer too good to turn down, so off we went.

They issued this badge to all military personnel and their guests .  Seeing this, there were several people who would come up and talk to us and we would talk with other veterans.  Made for a nice time.

This was a very hot day, and we did a lot of walking, but it was fun and we got to see a really beautiful golf course as well as some professional golfers up close.  But even more than that, I got to spend a whole day with my wife -- just the two of us.

Thanks to the Nationwide people for sponsoring all of us. 

Golf -- A passion, an obsession, a romance, a nice acquaintanceship with trees, sand, and water. (Bob Ryan)

Hooah

St. Thomas, Part 1...

Well, our first big vacation of this year was a trip we planned for the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Thomas.  We have never been to an island together for a vacation, so this seemed like the easiest one to start with...same language, money, and travel rules.

After sitting on the runway at the Dayton Airport, waiting for the plane to be de-iced, we finally took off and made our way to Atlanta and then to St. Thomas.  We were on a real plane for this last leg -- not a wind-up jobbie.  Upon landing, however, the heat smacked us in the face as we walked down the ramp.  Reminded me of some of the places I "visited" on Uncle Sam's dime.

But once we got to the hotel, it was all great from there.  The Marriott was really very nice and the whole layout was just about what we were promised by the travel agent...lots of people, lots of hustle and bustle, room haggles with the front desk, and some good old fashioned "hurry up and wait."  But all of that got smoothed out in about an hour and it was smooth sailing from there. They must have had plenty of experience with check-in lines in the past as they have a guy who comes up and offers you a rum cooler or a lemonade while you are standing there.  Oh well, just a minor inconvenience.

Once we got into the room and got our bags unpacked, we headed out to explore.  First stop was the beach.

Hard to go wrong with something like this.  What a beautiful place.  All that stuff of getting here is all in the past now.

We spent a lot of time out here on the sand.  And in some of the other entries, you will read about other adventures we had.  But we also got some history on this trip when we went over to St. Johns Island and saw some of the remains of the old rum facilities.  Shown here is one of the remaining cooking facilities on this plantation.  There was also a cooking house, and the remains of some store houses and other out buildings.

We did get one of the scattered showers that were forecasted for each day.  It rains for about 20 min. and then clears off and goes back to the tropical weather you would expect.

There were so many outstanding sights and activities that it is hard to narrow it down  to individual blog entries.  I will put a slide show of some of the pictures in one of the side bars on the right.  That way you can have the option of looking at some of these pictures without being held captive to "home movies of our vacation."

I would like to leave you with a couple of shots, however, of the area and things that stuck with me as being the essence of this trip.

So this might give you a small taste of what this trip was like and what you might read in the following entries.  Enjoy.

My heart doctor said that I need a six month vacation at least 2x per year.

Hooah