Friday, May 19
We got to Hagerstown with Dave and Carol in 5 hours even with a 45 minute stop to eat a fine dinner at Hardees. The Days Inn hotel wasn't the greatest. Did some tailgating on our actual tailgate, but didn't see the rest of the family.
Saturday, May 20
After talking to everyone in the morning it appears that the Days Inn was even worse than it seemed; several beds weren't right and although there were eggs and hash browns and toast the next morning, that's all there was. Dave called out to Ed and told him not to touch the coffee - that it was awful. But since Ed was across the room, the entire restaurant became aware of Dave's opinion.
Absolutely awful traffic jam on route 168 south of Norfolk. Never found the cause. Dave also indicated that Val drove slower than Grandma. The wonderful lunch at Hardees made up for that bad experience however. Everyone (except John and Jill who drove through the night) got to the house within about 20 minutes of each other.
Drum Runner is certainly the house for us: 6 bedrooms and more importantly, 6 bathrooms. All the amenities. Except for a pool - there's one for the community though. Val's happy to have her own little room.
We have to walk across the street to get to the boardwalk to the beach. Not a big deal. But the deerfly “gauntlet” once we’re on the boardwalk IS a big deal. They live in the juniper bushes that crowd certain portions of the path.
Sunday, May 21
Val, Debbie and I went to church in Buxton with Mom. It was standing room only and very hot. Debbie and I wound up on the side deck with some other hot and over-crowded folk. We all left at half-time (after communion).
Stopped at Food Lion for lots of necessities afterwards.
Val, Debbie and I made dinner for everyone that evening: stir-fried veggies with undone teriyaki chicken. I felt a little bad about the chicken. But lookyahere. It was starting to rain, and Dave (the other chef) and I felt rushed – we did just finish before the hard rain began. I do know that Carol prefers her chicken slightly undone anyway.
That rainstorm became a Very Heavy rainstorm in the evening.
Monday, May 22
Most of us drove to Manteo to go to the newly expanded aquarium. Big traffic jam in Rodanthe where they were installing a culvert. It was bad heading up, but much worse coming back. Everyone enjoyed the aquarium even though Austin had said, "I don't want to just go see a bunch of fish swimming around."
Dave, Carol, Debbie, Val and I Stopped at the Weeping Radish for beer and dinner including spatzle and onion rings on the way back. Everyone else went to the Down Under.
Another Big electrical storm in the evening. Lots of lightning. Fun stuff.
Tuesday, May 23
Val and I went kayaking along with Deanna and Jack and family. This was a guided tour, and although it was an easy and serene 3 hours, we saw very little wildlife. We all applied sunscreen, except for the bottoms of Val's and Deanna's legs. Val has a nice handprint where her burn starts.
I was no smarter. Dave and I walked to the Food Lion and back and then I helped Val launch her new kite - all without sunscreen. As a result my shoulders are bright red.
Lasagne galore for dinner. Lots of wine too.
Played miniature golf at Uncle Eddy's in the evening with Val, Deanna and Jack and family, and Jill and John and family. It turned out to be about 4 holes too many for tired little JT who had a little temper tantrum despite some good after-match ice cream. I asked John if that's how he acts when his golf games turn out poorly.
Electricity went out a little after 10 even though there was no storm. Must have been making up for the nights when there was a storm but no outage. It was fun trying to find flashlights and candles.
Wednesday, May 24
Jack caught the limit of 3 BIG FISH - all Yellowfin Tuna. It cooked up just great.
John and Ed went golfing.
Thursday, May 25
Betsy, Debbie and I went on a bird walk at Pea Island. Saw lots of birds. Appropriately named Kim King-Wren was our guide.
Most of us stayed home - it was necessary to eat and dispose of the leftovers. Jack and Deanna and family went to Ocracoke.
I went into the ocean after a noontime run and Yeeeeow! My skin was burning and itching like crazy. Other folks had the same problem. That’s got us all really wondering: could it be billions of tiny jellyfish? Bacteria caused by pollution from the storms? Biological warfare from Saddam Hussein?
The biggest storm of all came in the late afternoon. Valerie, Carol, Debbie, Dave and I were squished into a dry 8 foot square area on the deck.
Friday, May 26
Several of us went shopping while others went to the Wright Brothers Memorial and Museum. The highlight of the day was throwing moldy hot dog buns to the seagulls after our wienie roast.
Built a major sand castle. It spanned several acres.
Everyone went out to the Soundside restaurant in the evening.
Saturday, May 27
Lots of traffic coming back through DC, but things were much worse going the other way. The whole trip took almost exactly 12 hours.
Interesting things heard in the car for this and other parts of the trip:
· "Won't we need to de-thaw it?" (Valerie wondering about the leftover Chinese food for when we got home.)
· "They're making spoof of the Europeans" (Debbie discussing the little round car plates that say HI and OBX, since they look like the European country plates.)
· "You're going to pee yourself silly" (Debbie to me for drinking too much water during the trip.)
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