Visiting Andrew

This is the reception bldg. for the FamCamp at Andrews AFB.  It felt very nostalgic to be back in an AF community after all these years. To hear retreat sounded and the National Anthem played every day at5pm...and then taps at 9pm....brought back many memories. We stayed for 7 days and tried to do things we had not done before, since we have visited the DC area several times over the years.

This is the Daughters of the American Revolution Headquarters and the picture is actually of Constitution Hall. Several years ago, with the help of some very dear friends, I was able to complete my application to join this organization.  I am very proud to say I have an ancestor Patriot, John Shanks, who helped bring about my wonderful country!  Just 8 generations away from the American Revolution....wow!  Of course I wanted to see this historic building, tour the State Rooms and see the Library Lay Lights.  I was totally impressed with our tour guide and her presentation and learned many interesting facts regarding the history of the DAR and the building in general.  We visited many of the 30 State Rooms filled with wonderful treasures from American History.  We learned when the ladies decided to have a building built, they also decided to pay for it completely and they did! No debt for the DAR, good for them!  The Library is impressive, not only in architecture, but also in the amount of volumns of genealogy in their vast collection.  The Lay Lights are original to the building, they are not sky lights, but rather layered window treatments.  After the earthquake in the DC area, the DAR was concerned about damage that might have affected the building so they had professionals look at the building for any related damages, well, they found no structural damage, but did find problems with the ceiling in the library due mainly to age alone.  So, with such a great treasure to maintain, it was decided to begin complete repair of all the lay lights.  A Very expensive undertaking, but impossible to ignore.  Our President General began a campaign to inform and implore all members to consider donating to this undertaking and she has not been disapointed, the membership has risen to the challange and much of the money required has been given or pledged! 

 

Above you can see the square in the middle is missing

This is the first compled and restored Lay Light from that missing spot in the library photo above.

 

Here's the North Carolina Room

We enjoyed our afternoon at the DAR. 

Tally Ho,

Cathy

Staying with the Prince

We are SET for luck on this journey thanks to my friends in the Victorian Tea Society.  They presented us with our very own set of purple fuzzy dice to hang from our rear view mirror!

And here is the "Prince"our first national forest stay.  We bought our senior passes and paid the $10 per night camping fee and found a lovely spot to camp...that is the good news....the bad news is no water, no electric, no sewer, no internet....no cell phone signal.  Wow, we were roughing it,but it was very pretty and cheap, so how could we complain?  We learned what to use and not use if we want our battery to last more than a day, that was fun.  We were also close to several places we wanted to visit, so off we went to The Museum of the Marine Corps.  What an impressive place. You could see the building from the highway and wondered what on earth it was.  The architect's vision was a reproduction of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima and the building was truly a vision.  And inside was equally awesome.  We spent several hours touring and enjoyed every minute.  Then, we ate at their very good pub! The museum was free, the pub was not.  Give this place 5 stars  

 Paul is standing outside of the museum and you can get the idea of the shape of the building.

Next we went to my kind of place....a fabulous grocery store called WEGMANS.  25 + years ago we lived in upstate NY,  Liverpool outside of Syracuse, and  one of the best things about the area besides some very good friends, was Wegmans. Undeniably the best grocery store I have ever shopped at.  So, when I get a chance to walk the aisles, well, I take it.  Some of you may not understand my affection for grocery shopping, but, well, it is genetic...all us Wrights love our food and food prep and food shopping and just talking about food ....say "amen" all my cousins! The sad part is that I bought very little as I have very little space in our new home!  oh, well....

The last place we visited was another of my choices....IKEA.  We kept our shopping to a minimum here as well, it was a rainy day, as you can see, and chilly too.  We were on our way north to Andrews AFB....the drive was hairy because of heavy traffic and wet roads, but we made it thanks to the Garmon (and the lucky dice)

Tally Ho,

Cathy

Good byes

 Leaving is not easy.  I had to say good bye to Sweet Bird....

 We are all loaded up ready to hit the trail

 Our girls came out to say one last bon voyage.

Celebrating Woody's graduation.  Amy treated us all to an excellent lunch.

So, leaving was heart breaking, but also heartful....lots of hugs and well wishes, all of us have roads before us to travel....Woody as a young man making life decisions, Sarah with a new job and a whole new life to build, Amy as an "empty nester".  And we are gypsies learning how to adjust to life in a 17 foot trailer with a dog who has huge anxieties.  (we bought her a thunder shirt....also had the vet prescribe tranqulizers...not working so far.....)

All I have to say is that life is all about change and the sooner you realize that the better off you will be! 

It has been two weeks since we left, our internet service was not good in ether place, so I apologize for not posting, I hope to do better. 

We left on Sunday, June 10 and headed north to Virginia.....

Tally Ho,

Cathy

Must Haves for Full time part 2

My electic kettle

We are drinkers of hot beverages...He-coffee, Me-tea....this little fellow can make us both nice hot cups of....also makes good iced tea.  The only problem is you need electricity.  But, nevermind, that won't happen much....HA!  We just spent two days "dry" camping....oh joy!!! That is another blog, coming soon. 

We have been living in our Pearl for over a month now...time flies!  Yes, it is small....yes, we see alot of each other, yes, it gets crowded.  (I am being honest).  We are surrounded by huge rvs, 5th wheels and trailers, there is a whole lot of big going on, but somehow, it the midst of it all, I am content, still pleased with our choice and smugly low-key in the face of all this aluminum.  We are in our 3rd day on the road.  Yesterday, our drive was only 32 miles, but it took us 5 hours!  (a wee stop at IKEA and getting lost and horrific traffic and driving rain added to the time).

So far, we have camped by a lake, by the ocean, in the woods and now, we are in the city! The "FamCamp" at Andrews AFB is right next to a busy street and we hear the noise of traffic (and a few chirping birds....oh, in the woods, we had a big mouth whippoorwill entertain us....nice). We have full hook ups, which is heaven, and only $100 for 7 days, great deal for DC. An added bonus, lots of free ice and wifi (slow, but free). So, today, we make our plans for the week, stop by pass and id for new id cards, check out the BX and commissary along with MWR (morale, welfare and recreation) to see what free-bees we can muster, then it is off to see some sights!

Tally-ho,

Cathy

Kure Beach/ Fort Fisher

 This is what "Home" looked like while we stayed for 10 days here at the Air Force Recreation Center at Fort Fisher, NC.

We only spent one afternoon on the beach, but we had a great time.  Here is what our beach gear looked like all packed and ready to haul the whole two blocks to the beach! 

Here is the beach gear all set up and did we enjoy that cool little tent!  I am not big on sitting in the sun.  I burn so, this tent was bliss. 

Fiona is not allowed on the beach, so she had to stay home and pout....actually, she is not fond of water, so she was faking her pout ;-)

Kure (pronounced Curry) Beach is a lovely little community with the ocean on one side and the Cape Fear River on the other....a family place with not a single mini golf to be seen....but good sea food, friendly folks and a real beach atmosphere.  We have always enjoyed ourselves while staying here and it was a good place to relax and adjust to our new life-style! Paul is getting a wonderful tan...I am not.  Paul takes 40-60 min. bike rides....I do not.  I fix wonderful meals and ride my bike and use alot of sun screen!  I am getting a "healthy glow" perhaps from the sun screen????  This time next week we will be on our way to Virginia....wow. 

The wind blows here so we are careful using our awning, but it sure is nice to have and when we can use it, it makes a lovely shade...which we need here as there are NO trees of any kind in our camping spot.  We are looking forward to the shade of Jordan Lake back in Apex.  We head there tomorrow.  Will stay for Zion's graduating from Elem. School and Woody graduating from High School, then we head out.

I enjoy reading blogs, some more than others and so I thought about which blogs I enjoyed, what qualities they possessed that attracted me to them and kept me wanting to read them and here's what I discovered...

1) I enjoy blogs where I learn something

2) I enjoy blogs with pictures

3) I enjoy blogs with humor

So....at least to keep me happy....I am going to try to do all the above in each blog I post....at least I will keep reading, and maybe you will too ;-)

Oh, I need to tell you something about this area....If you come down this way you can drive all the way on HWY 40! A "no brainer"....and while here there is the Civil War Fort Fisher to visit and the NC Acquarium, which is very cool and at the very tip of the penninsula is the Southpoint/Ft. Fisher Ferry which is a great little ride and takes you to the very neat little town of Southpoint and then on to Calabash (a great tea room here in this little town) and then North Myrtle Beach....So, now you learned something, perhaps.

Tally-ho,

Cathy