Vacation 2007 Wrap

Okay, a week from today will find me back at work. Vacation is almost at an end. Overall, it’s been a very good month. A lot of it has been about reconnecting with family.

It started with a day on my own in Knoxville. It was my first visit there and from what little I saw of it, it seemed like a nice enough city. Next came the Baker Family Reunion in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It was a big success and it felt really good to get to know my Aunt and Cousins again and to get to meet their children. The only thing I wanted to do on that trip which I didn’t do was to go horseback riding.

Once back in West Virginia it was the usual situation of there being just enough to do to keep me busy and also enough free time to enjoy the pool and read. I visited with my Dad’s side of the family down in Ceredo, the little village on the Ohio River where I grew up. That included my great Aunt Sissy (my grandmother’s sister), Uncle Pat (Dad’s brother) and my cousins Norma Jean and Kyle. I visited with them twice. Uncle Pat gave us homegrown tomatoes, corn, cucumbers and cabbage. Things fresh from the garden really do taste better—it’s not a psyche thing either.

There was shopping to do at the Huntington Mall and downtown. There were new restaurants to try and some old ones to return to. Rocco’s 21 Club made for a nice meal and we saw Dancing With The Stars people there. Went to the movies and saw “The Bourne Ultimatum” and thought it was good for an action pic. Visited with some of Mom’s neighbors here in Island Estates. It’s never really that difficult to fill a day when I come home.

There was the Marilyn Monroe exhibit at the Huntington Galleries. We took Morgan, my 7-year old niece and introduced her to Marilyn. We took a trip up to Tamarack near Beckley and shopped the arts and crafts there after we had trout cooked by the Greenbrier Resort. We visited the new arts and crafts shop that opened in downtown Huntington called The Downtown Depot. They offer local artists, wood carvers, potters, photographers, glass blowers, etc. a place to sell their art.

I was really looking forward to flying to Boston and meeting up with Bronagh and Betsy and driving around Massachusetts and Brattleboro, Vermont, where we had first met in graduate school about 17 years ago. I was just putting my shirt on that Friday morning when the phone rang and an automated call told me my flight had been canceled. I rebooked a flight for 4 pm and switched on CNN. The reason the flight had been canceled was due to a security breach at the Charlotte airport. See, to get out of Huntington, you pretty much have to fly first to Charlotte and then onward. Anyway, I’d arranged with Jennifer to come by for me about 3 to take me to the airport. The woman (who was very nice and helpful btw) from the local USAir office called me about 12:20 and asked if I could get to the airport by 1. I knew I couldn’t and told her and she told me that my 4 flight was already showing 20 minutes late and that I couldn’t make my Charlotte connection to Boston. I canceled the trip and sulked my way up to the pool. I called Bronagh and Betsy the next day and they were having fun without me.

My brother-in-law Kent has a new boat and it’s killer. He took us out on the Ohio River twice. Both days the sun was out and the water was nice and warm. We went out yesterday, Saturday, and his father, Ken, and his Grandma Browning joined us on their pontoon boat. Ken does great grill and he cooked burgers and we swam and I got too much sun. Kent is an engineer for the Army Corps. Of Engineers and works on their river projects. He took us up near the Robert C. Byrd dam and showed us their dredging operation there. It was interesting watching them sucking the silt out of the shipping lanes and dumping it through this huge pipe to the other side of the river to let it drift on downriver.

Visited several times with my sister, Judy and her husband, Chuck. Judy has a new job and she seems to be a lot happier than I’ve seen her in awhile. One evening I took Judy, Mom, and our friend Carol out to Ironton, Ohio for dinner. A new steak house (Austyn’s) opened in the old railroad depot. It was heaving and we had an hour wait for a table. Carol knew of an old bar down by the river called The Fuzzy Duck. We walked across the parking lot and through the floodwall gates and there were like 30 hogs parked there and on the deck of the bar were their riders et al. There was some kind of biker convention going on in Ironton. We went in anyway and I got us drinks and we sat outside and watched the bikers and the river and talked and drank. The food at the restaurant was excellent, nothing fancy, just good eatin’.

Mom’s gone out of her way to cook some of my favorite foods. She’s sorta gotten out of the habit of cooking but she managed to put together several good meals. She cooked a turkey and we did an early Thanksgiving. Today she cooked meat loaf and Judy and Chuck joined us. We hit the pool after and my skin feels like it’s fried, especially after yesterday’s run on the river. Mom also makes great homemade barbeque and then she always does pinto beans and fresh kale. Kent also does a great grill and he did burgers for us one night at his and Jennifer’s house. I know I’ve definitely added a little to that spare tire around my waist.

I won’t be posting the pics from all of this until I get back to Abu Dhabi. Mom’s computer just doesn’t have the power. It barely hangs on so I can do this. Also, I have a political rant coming on and I’ll probably save that until I get back home. So, Thursday I fly home and Friday night I will sleep in my own bed again. I will have Saturday to recover from an 8-hour time zone leap and then back to work on Sunday. Wish me luck. Cheers.


Joe Klein Says Read This Now
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/19/20110/0110