A Reunion Wrap-Up
For the last 8 months I have been looking forward to our trip to Virginia Beach, via the Cape May Ferry and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. I plotted and planned. I looked at good routes to drive and of course, places to stay in the Cape May area. As the days got closer, my excitement grew.
The dog sitter was booked, sadly, we lost Greta right before our departure, but I felt everyone would be fine in K’s more than competent hands.
Our departure was nice and early on the 25th of September and we arrived down in Cape May in time to watch a beautiful sunset and have a delicious meal at a Greek restaurant.
We arrived at the hotel in Virginia Beach and got settle in, despite the 90+ degree heat! I should say, I got the room settled as Jack immediately got sidetracked talking to the guys. This was okay, but it was so hot, I felt like heat stroke might set in! Ha!
Okay, I do not want to dwell on things for too long but, the carpet in the room was awful! The shower left a lot to be desired, the food was terrible, and there were these little back flies everywhere in our room that seemed to enjoy feasting on me. I am hopeful that next year they will book better accommodations and meals than they did this year.
The tours of Fort Eustis was wonderful. Seeing all the Army Aircraft of days gone by, reminded me of how our men and women fought for their country under difficult circumstances.
We had a lovely time at the Officers Club on the base at Fort Eustis, and as we were about to leave I noticed I’d dropped an earring! A brand new earring at that! Geraldine and I raced back into the Officer’s Club and we did find it!
When we went to the McArthur Museum, I noted a Nordstrom Store across the street! Gerry and I quietly slipped away and off we went for 45 minutes of wild shopping! This is where I found a nighty originally marked at $70.00 on a clearance for $14.95! It sure is a nice one!
Each evening before dinner, Jim, Gerry, Jack and I would meet in our mini-suite (it was small with the crappy rug, but the company was great!) and have cocktails and munchies. Jim has Celiac Disease, and I shopped carefully for him, so he could easily munch! This was a good thing because the food at the hotel was not Gluten Free despite his filling this out on his registration form.
Jack recieved a special Medal for his time serving in Vietnam. I was so proud of him. He is also now a senior member of the Otter-Caribou Association. (Otters and Caribous are the planes flown during this time in Vietnam.)
On a private tour, we went to Fort Monroe, which was not closed until September 15, 2011. It had a long history and our friends, Jim and Geraldine were based there early in his military career. It is such a beautiful place, and thankfully the National Park Service has taken over control of a lot of the area. So it is being preserved.
The entertainment at the Welcome Dinner was a man who sang Frank Sinatra Songs and told us about the life of Frank. He was really very good. Ever wonder what a Marine does when he retires? Yes, he goes off and sings at Military Events!
The events ended late on Saturday and Jack decided we should leave as early as we could to head home. I woke at 5:30 and started to finish getting ready, and Jack woke, got ready and we were on the road at 6:45 am!
We stopped about every 2-3 hours to walk around and arrived home last night at 7:34 pm! It was a long trip with a lot of traffic, but we made it!
So the accommodation was the only real blight on the trip. But gosh, what a long drive. I would be very reluctant to do that, and we Australians do know about and drive long distances.