Happy Halloween!

Well for those of you who don’t know, I’m on the road heading down to Tampa to see Glenn for the weekend. It’s his Birthday Friday and thought I would be the kind, loving wife to drive 600 miles to give him his present….isn’t he lucky!

I’m traveling to Florida with Alli and Charlotte. Pretty uneventful so far….we dropped off all the dogs at the Pet Resort and then headed for the interstate. South Carolina is pretty boring, from the highway, and the only excitement had was a huge truck blowing out a tire in front of us (18-wheelers should not be going 85mph in the left-hand lane).

Tonight we are in Savannah, Georgia. Don’t have time to see anything (or go looking for any ghosts, they say Savannah is one of the most haunted cities in the United States), but we just came back from dinner and I had some great Cajun shrimp! We will back on the road tomorrow morning and should be into Tampa early afternoon.

So I guess you could say, no Halloween for me this year. Actually, I shouldn’t say that….Charlotte got dressed up in her Belle princess dress for dinner. It was so cute, and she got the most looks in the restaurant.

Anyways, I hope you all had a great Halloween!!!

I'm Guilty!

It’s true…I’ve been ignoring my blog! I’m so ashamed and I won’t give you my list of excuses, or try to elucidate further details why my cranium has been so far removed from my body…or more simply put, I’m such an luftmensch (definition: one more concerned with airy intellectual pursuits than practical matters, aka an airhead). So instead, my guilt-ridden self will just fill you in on what the hell I’ve been doing the last month!

Well the biggest news is my parents came to visit. I think they gave up on me. I haven’t been home in over a year, so they decided to come see me. (ha ha, my psychosomatic game worked: if you wait long enough, they will come to you -- just kidding Mum)

Anyways, it’s been a month long affair. You see, my mum is clean-freak (I can say it because she will agree), so it took me a few days of cleaning and organizing to have the house up to par for their arrival. Then there was three weeks of visiting, playing with the grand-dog, doing a few side trips, shopping, eating out, and more cleaning of the house! Needless to say, to finish up the month, I needed the last couple days to sleep and make my house look lived in again!

I hope that didn’t sound like we didn’t have fun. Quite the contrary! We had a great trip…check out a few thing we did over the past month:

(ps - I back dated the last 4 entries)

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

In Canada, Thanksgiving in celebrated on the second Monday in October. Unlike the American tradition of remembering Pilgrims and settling in the New World, Canadians give thanks for a successful harvest. The harvest season falls earlier in Canada compared to the United States, due to the simple fact that Canada is further north.

This year I’m thankful that I was surrounded by some of my family on Thanksgiving (honestly, I can’t remember the last Canadian Thanksgiving I was home for). Anyways, dates didn’t work out perfectly since we were on the Outer Banks for the official Canadian Thanksgiving….so, I decided to delay it a week and by doing so I was able to have my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Doug here with us too.

I think this is where I need to be a little honest. I did have a bit of an ulterior motive wanting a turkey dinner. Two things: (1) I love turkey dinner (and I haven’t had a traditional turkey dinner in a long time) and, (2) I don’t know how to cook a turkey. So my plan was to have two of the best cooks, here in my kitchen, to show me how it's done.

So, Turkey Day arrives and I’m committed to learning how to cook a turkey. But this is all I heard: “just do this….oh, little bit of that…couple spoons full, maybe more….and in the oven for 5 hours or so”. Aaaghh!!! Can we start over???

Anyways, in the end we had a wonderful turkey dinner! Not sure if I could duplicate the whole process again....but that's okay.

Raven Rock State Park

So while we waited for our Turkey to cook I took everyone for a hike at Raven Rock State Park. Raven Rock is a large park with hiking trails that lead to the Cape Fear River. It’s nothing compared to hiking in Alaska, but it’s nice to get away from the main highway and feel like your in the middle of nowhere.



Aunt Bonnie and I found the best camping spot!

Be Careful Uncle Doug!

We Made It!

Wings over Wayne Air Show -- Goldsboro, NC

Well it seemed like we only had time to come home, get a few loads of laundry done, and we were on the road again. But this time we only headed 90 minutes away to Goldsboro, NC for the Wings over Wayne Air Show at Seymour Johnson AFB.

The other nice surprise we had for the air show was my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Doug from Ottawa, Ontario were able to drive all the down to NC and meet us. It was so great to see them and fun for Glenn to walk them around the planes and explain was he does for a living.

Aunt Bonnie & Uncle Doug with the A-10

I’ve been to a lot of air shows in my life but this one was a lot more special because Glenn got to fly the A-10 in the Combined Armed Demonstration. The regular demo pilot was there to do his show, but there was an additional part where Glenn and Varmint did fly-by’s as they blow stuff up on the ground to make it look like bombs were going off. It was fun for us on the ground knowing he was up there, but most of all Glenn said he enjoyed it and could see all of us waving our arms frantically as he taxied by the crowd.

Glenn's first pass over the air field

Glenn talking to people after the demonstration

Road Trip to the Outer Banks

The first week Mum and Dad were here, Glenn took some time off work and we all headed to the Outer Banks. The good news, the weather held out….the bad news, I had the flu! The glands in my throat were the size of golf balls and it felt like my ears were going to fall off, but I was determined not to be the wet blanket and spoil the fun.

Here is a map of our road trip:



We traveled in a clockwise direction...first heading to the area of Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head & Manteo. We spent a few nights in Nags Head at an old Bed & Breakfast called the First Colony Inn. It is really pretty and being so old it had a lot of personality. But I think the best part was having a few beers at night, in the hammocks on the old veranda and listening to the sounds of the ocean.

Mum and Dad on the beach at the First Colony Inn

It was windy...check out Boe's ears flapping around

Only 15 minutes from our B & B was the town of Kitty Hawk and the famous beach where on December 17, 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright made their historic first flight. There is a small museum with a full size replica of the Wright Flyer and marked spots outside where you can see the 4 flights made by the Wright Brothers.

This boulder marks the spot where the first airplane left the ground.

Before leaving the area we went over to Roanoke Island to the Fort Raleigh National Historic site. This is the location of the first English settlement in North America (1584 – 1590) and the famous “Lost Colony”. Besides a small museum there really isn’t too much to see. In the summer there is an outdoor drama performed at the Waterside Theatre, but we were too late in the year and missed it.



Next we headed down the Outer Banks to Hatteras Island. At the end of the long island is the largest lighthouse on the east coast, Cape Hatteras Light. The lighthouse is still used today, although, it was moved inland 3000 feet in 1999 due to erosion of the shore.



Leaving Hatteras Island is done by one of two ways....you turn around and go back -- or take the free ferry to Ocracoke Island. Obviously we went for the ferry! The island of Ocracoke is small (actually, I should describe it as skinny), can only be accessed by boat or small plane, and consists of a single paved two-land road from one end to the other. The village of Ocracoke is located at the far end of the island and has a population around 700, but can easily double in the summer with tourists. Tourist love it here… it has great beaches and fishing, and is home to the oldest operating lighthouse in NC and the second oldest in the United States. Another great reason to love Ocracoke, there are no chains for franchises! The most popular restaurant on the island is Howard’s Pub…the food was great and their beer list was huge, with over 200 beers to choose from (not bad for a small island with only ferry access).

The next morning was on to another ferry, this time over to Cedar Island. I have to comment this but really my Vancouver Island friends will only understand, but the 2-hour ferry only cost $15 and it included a reservation. You guys are being ripped off! Moving on….Cedar Island isn’t much but from here we were able to take an bridge back over to the main land. For lunch we stopped at Beaufort, known for being the oldest town in NC and home of the famed pirate Blackbeard.

So that was it. After lunch we headed inland and realized we had almost completed the circle... and in only 4 hours were back home in the Sandhills!