Sunday, October 18, 2015

2,200 mile trip to the beach and back

This past Tuesday we arrived home from a trip to N. Carolina to visit Bud's brother's family at Bald Head Island.  We were thankful that the recent storm did not have any impact on our visit.  Our trip down was quite uneventful and the island hadn't received any damage, just some standing water around the area.
 
 We arrived in time to catch the ferry over to the island with Olivia and her friend.  We hadn't seen Olivia in quite a while so it was good to see her.  She is working on her Master's Degree at Boston College and is looking forward to moving back to the south as soon as possible.  She spent this past winter (the worst winter in decades) in Boston and has had enough of the cold and snow. 
 Joseph who is almost 15 has grown a LOT since we last saw him.  He is a VERY cool teenager. 
 Bud and David rented bikes and toured the island a couple of times. 
 I stuck to riding around in the golf carts.  Private cars are not allowed on the island so golf carts are the primary method of transportation. 
 
 
 They had rented a very nice house on the beach.  We slept right off the porch and could hear the surf all the time. 
 Sunday we went on a "house tour" and this is one of the houses we saw. It was an old boathouse that has been turned into a private house.  Most of the houses are the type that they rented, but it is a very old island that was used as a military fort many years ago. 
 I managed to catch Joseph in 'mid-jump' here. 

 
 Old Baldy or the main OLD lighthouse here on the island.  We spent Friday-Monday with them and were on our way early Monday morning, heading north to Charlottsville, VA to visit the other David who is going to medical school at UVA.  He was just home a couple of weeks ago but we hadn't seen his new place and felt he needed to have a little company since we were passing by. 
We had a great dinner and checked out the historic downtown. 

 Of course technology is always around us and here David and Bud are trying to find us a place to stay for the night. 


 Here we have another view of David's apartment. 
 The guys were goofing off and somewhat making fun of all my picture taking.  NO smile for this group.
 After visiting David we drove up to the D.C. area and visited Uncle Tom and Margaret.  We arrived in time for lunch at a great nearby Greek Restaurant and then visited a beautiful garden in the area.  The exhibit was wonderful.
 And the fall flowers were nice too. 
 That evening we had dinner at the famous Cosmo's Club in D.C.  Uncle Tom is a member along with many famous Americans.  If you are interested in more information about this prestigious place, 'google it'.  It has quite the reputation. 
 The halls are covered with pictures of some of the famous Americans including a section just for the Nobel Prize winners.  These guys look pretty handsome all dressed up for the evening. 
 Uncle Tom is pointing out some of the men he knows, including some of most famous physicists.  It was a very nice evening. 
Finally, this is the exterior of the building. It was wonderful to visit Uncle Tom, listen to his stories and enjoy a wonderful meal.

Tuesday morning we were up early and shared a breakfast with Uncle Tom and Margaret before heading out on the road again.  We had planned to drive as far north as our bodies would take us and spend the night but we cleared the Michigan border by about 5:30 and realized that we could be home by bedtime so we drove on.  We arrived about 11:00 after having driven over 700 miles in one day.  I know that isn't far for some drivers but it was a long day for us. 
There you have our over 2,000 mile week long trip.  It was great to see family. 

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Fall activities

Today is a blog day for me I guess.  I already posted on FB and thought I would update here with other pictures. 
YES, fall finally came to N. Michigan.  The month of September was the warmest one in a long time so we enjoyed the beautiful weather and the leaves are just now turning colors.
 
 Because he had a fall break, David came home last weekend.  Sorry this isn't a very good picture but I was in kind of a hurry.  Anyway, we went over to the cottage and had dinner and caught up on their activities.  Danielle came up for the weekend too so it was great to see her. 
 Bud bought a new chainsaw and went to work on the tree that fell in our yard with the last storm.  It is a much more powerful saw but it was still a lot of work clearing this tree.  We now have LOTS of firewood and we still need to take down a couple more trees.  We will have the professionals do that for us. 
Sunday he wanted to go for his last motorcycle ride of the season.  However, he went about 5 miles south and decided it was too cold and came home.  Monday he did get one more ride out to the shop to drop off the motorcycle for the winter.  I picked him up on my way back from volunteering in Kingsley and managed to get in a stop at a quilt shop near the motorcycle shop. It was a "twofer"  and we both won. 
This past Saturday weekend we went to a wedding (maybe you saw my dilemma on what to wear on FB??) and it was a very nice evening.  The bride is one of the most beautiful ladies in Grand Traverse County AND she has an equally beautiful sister.  They are beautiful women both inside and out.  The wedding was in Leland at a nice little venue.  I usually go to that place to see the Fiber Arts Show but that is this coming weekend and we will be out of town.
We hit the road this afternoon and will be gone for a few days.  I will keep you posted but probably on FB.