East Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth & Norfolk, and Back Again

A rather full day of sightseeing, eating out and shopping... making one big circle around Hampton Roads.

Got up before 8am again (just barely), and this time went back to my favorite cafe in the area... the Sandfiddler Cafe in East Beach, just five miles down the road from here. From there I continued on the freeway to the Greenbrier Mall, where among other things, there is a Coast Guard Exchange. I got the idea during my last underway of buying the solid blue Coast Guard parka (same style as ours) to go along with my solid blue coveralls (since the only working coat we have is the black liner to the camo parka). Have to get permission to wear it though, so we'll see what they say. I can return it when we get back if it's a no. It was fun to see what they have in a CGX, as they call them, anyway. Got a frame at Michael's and a couple books at B&N while I was waiting for it to open.

Then I got back on the freeway and swung around I-64 and I-464 back to Portsmouth. Found free parking (the town is dead on Sundays in the winter!) and had some lunch at a Chinese buffet. Stopped in a Dollar store for a couple things, then made my way to the waterfront and the Naval Shipyard Museum. This was a pretty awesome collection and presentation for a little, one-room building and a $2 admission. There was yet another piece of the CSS Virginia, along with models and photographs... and a woman's 2nd class US Navy uniform from WWI! They say there were over 11,000 Yeoman (F) [for Female] during the war that held stateside jobs... sort of a precursor to the WAVES. Loved the wool skirt and cape... ugh! They were nicknamed the Yeomanettes. :)

Next on the haphazard agenda was a trip across the Elizabeth River to the MacArthur Memorial Museum. I had been trying to find a good time to go for a while, and this was it. They had a half-hour film in one building, then the former City Hall/courthouse was the actual memorial. He and his wife are buried there... the rotunda has famous quotes by him, the names of all his military campaigns, and flags of all his commands. The museum starts just outside it and wraps around and to the second floor. At the very end are his famous cap, corn-cob pipe and sunglasses, just as you see in all the pictures. Although marked with lots of questions about his last campaigns, it was very impressive, and interesting to look at.

I tried stopping at Bob's Gun Shop on Granby St, just to look around, but it was closed. I continued on my way and went to dinner at The Ship's Cabin, a seafood restaurant across the street from the breakfast place. Back at home (whew!), I watched the other movie I rented the other day... The Descendants (2011, George Clooney) that I've always been sort of interested in seeing since it came out. It ended up being pretty good, although kind of heavy. Set and filmed on location in Hawai'i, so there were lots of scenes that made me remember my trip to Oahu in 2007. Returned the rentals, and then here I am. Staying up too late one more time. :)

The oddest thing about today was the fact that I forgot to bring a camera and my phone's battery died while I was in Portsmouth. So I saw two museums without any way of taking pictures... it was a new experience for me. Oh, and while I was getting gas (same town), an ambulance came to the intersection nearby with sirens and lights going... and two cars continued through the intersection as if nothing was happening...  and I managed to navigate all these roads without any electronic device after Chesapeake! Good-ness!

Fun day!
Jw

North, To the Heart of the Confederacy

A day trip to Richmond.

While last night I enjoyed a late lunch with a couple sonar tech friends at a local sushi place, my first trip to a movie rental store in ages, watching the rental movie The Princess and the Frog (Disney, 2009), a trip to VB for poster frames and a late Mexican dinner, setting up the posters back home and finishing the puzzle too... this morning I finally got 8 hours of sleep. Woke up to a refreshing shower and a good breakfast before I headed off on today's adventure. I almost changed plans and went south to Roanoke Island, NC (aquarium, history, location), but because of the dense fog and the fact that I had already put this trip off once made me go with my original plan. That and the only local Post Office open on Saturday is on the way in Hampton (had a couple things to get off).

Miraculously, I made it to the Museum of the Confederacy without any wrong turns (and without GPS). The first thing was a guided tour of the restored White House of the Confederacy. It was used as a Union HQ and schoolhouse after the war; it was saved from destruction by a group of women in 1896 and turned into a museum. With the expansion of the collection over the years, they built a museum next door and restored the White House to the way it was when the Davis family lived there. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and very intense as he pointed out details in all of the rooms, like how the gas chandeliers, cotton floor mat in the entry and squares of marble-looking wallpaper were the latest and greatest of the period. Lots of originals and the rest were period or reproductions... all patented and copyrighted, so there was no touching or picture-taking allowed! :)

The museum next door was filled with originals... pistols, sabres, saddles, belts, field glasses, boots, etc. of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, George Pickett, Jeb Stuart, John Hood, and others. Incredibly cool to look at. In the spirit of the place, I bought a beautiful, hardback, recreational reader's biography of Robert E. Lee (lots of full page pictures). Also a mini booklet biography of Grant (hey, I am a northerner!), and Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott. The bookmark, patch and letter opener sword were also nice.

From there I was famished and located a sandwich shop down by the river. Had a "cheeseburger in a skirt", meaning it had a skirt of grilled cheddar cheese all around it. Watched the stuff on ESPN about the NFL playoffs and looked on my map at all the places I wanted to see with my remaining hour. Ended up driving to the capitol and the Justice John Marshall house, just looking from the outside. Then I went back to the waterfront and to the Tredegar Iron Works and NPS visitor center for their last half hour of operation.

And miraculously, I made it back onto I-64. GPS freaked out on me, so the Lord blessed me as I found the right on-ramp pretty soon. The drive back was all in the dark, and I got a bit sleepy, but made it home safely despite this and all the obnoxious drivers who acted like they would drive right over me if they only had a big enough vehicle.

Napping and Puzzling

As for today after work... I found my Christmas present (framed cross-stitch of 1 Cor. 13) on my doorstep when I pulled up. In perfect condition, as promised, and sitting comfortably upstairs in my bedroom. :)

First order of business was getting something to eat! I was starved! Ate up the remaining salmon steak that I had cooked the night before, grilled some zucchini and yellow squash, had a marvelous salad, and finished later on with some bread and a bowl of chicken noodle.

I worked a lot more on my puzzle, getting it pretty close to being done. Between working on it, I shut my eyes and leaned back on the couch for a pleasant little nap. Got up the gumption to take care of a few phone calls, and felt better when I did.

Jw

One-and-a-Half Day Weekend

Friday afternoon I spent pretty leisurely. I got my "compact" puzzle out... a lake-side sunset theme (that I bought in Florida). Turns out although it's 500 pieces, it's only 8" by 10" in size. So each piece is a little smaller than a dime! A little challenging when piecing together, but that makes it fun. I cleaned up a bit around the house, then had mac'n cheese for dinner as I watched two episodes of Tintin, and then a present from Linda, The House Without a Christmas Tree, which I enjoyed very much (thank you!). On the way home from work, I picked up my dry-cleaned dress blues, and also a lasagna dinner from Mike's next door (I successfully kept the lasagna off the blues) which I brought home to eat. :) This felt like the first day I didn't have to do something to take care of, or set up the house... only live in it... and suddenly I was very lonely. Talking to Mike really made me feel better.

Saturday I slept in way too long for my plan from the night before of heading to Richmond for a day trip. So I took it easy instead, had a nice breakfast, then took a shorter trip to the Virginia War Museum in Huntington Park, Newport News, on the east side of the James River. Been curious about it for a while, and I'm very glad I made the effort. Not only did they have a wonderful collection of things from every American war (including an original G. Washington letter and Capt. Harry S. Truman's WWI helmet), but they also had a very unique display of things from Germany, Japan and Italy during WWII.

After two hours in the museum, I stuck around outside and watched the sun set over the James River bridge from a park bench. I opened up Andrew Nelson's new book Fight for Grace for the first time, and really enjoyed that too. He was my small group leader in San Diego, so it's really neat to read his stuff! Stopped by Food Lion on the way home for hamburger and things, and made an amazing dinner while I watched Bing Crosby in Going My Way. Before stopping by chat, I got into searching for a particular Navy poster on allposters.com, and after looking through nearly 2,000 posters, I found it! It's the "Enlist and Help Him" one that I have on my Navy Times. Also picked up the "For Liberty's Sake" one while I was at it. :)

After Sunday's duty day, I was excited to be let off early on Monday. Unfortunately, I locked my keys in my car and had to wait a good long while for AAA and the Navy Police (escort required on base). The sonar tech I was driving home took me out to eat at Burger King, then I returned to the base to take a shower and do all my laundry. Had to break a $20 at McDonalds (coffee & cookie) so I could use quarters for the laundry. :) When I got home, I watched My Favorite Wife (Cary Grant), had Hamburger Helper for dinner, and had another nice long talk with my darling.

This afternoon I did a lot more on my puzzle (which is comfortably sitting out on the coffee table, as I intended it to be used for), ate some freshly cooked shrimp, salmon steak (that I picked up at the commissary on the way home), and brussel sprouts from the fridge, as I watched Hitch (Will Smith, 2005). 

Jw

Evening at Home

Today I've kept busily inside (mostly). I did manage to stop by the NEX on my way home after dropping off my dress blues at the dry cleaners and trying out that little Filipino restaurant next door. But other than that, I've stayed home. Took out the trash, swept the porch, put up a new flag, built my other bookshelf, organized my movies and books, and finally, heated a frozen rigatoni & chicken dinner, had a P&J and milk, and lastly, coffee and cookies. This may sound very hum-drum to a civilian, but to me it's like a vacation.

Jw

Bit of rain water standing where the trash bins were. Took it a while to sink in.

A Couple Firsts on New Year's Day

Getting home after my duty day called for another 3-hour nap. I was beat down tired from staying up all night with the last watch. Fell asleep with my black long-johns and turtleneck still on. It felt wonderful! Then I caught up with Mom & Dad on the phone, then decided to head downtown for a look at the MacArthur Museum... which ended up being closed for the holiday. To not waste my trip, I decided to go to the Nautilus Museum/USS Wisconsin/Hampton Roads Naval Museum on the waterfront instead. Left the car in the garage and just walked the few blocks.

Had a really lovely time. I do so love looking at historical pictures and artifacts that have to do with my service. At first I didn't think much of it, but once I got into the meat of the museum, I found it fascinating. Besides having really important things, like the Union Jack from the USS Maine, in the WWII section there was a "Soundman's" service blue uniform (forerunner to my rate of Sonar Tech)... and also the dress uniform of Thomas Truxtun's relative, Commodore William Talbot Truxtun, who served in the 1880s. But what really knocked me out was the film shorts from the Spanish-American War... !

I bought way too many things from the gift store... one was a guide to Navy medals, badges and insignia since WWII... very cool! a CD of loon music, a present for Mom, a present for my Darling, a magnet, a BB-64 patch, a red garden banner (pictured), and a deck of cards of US WWI & II posters.

You may ask why the Marine flag... well, the Navy one wasn't as cool, and I folded over the part on top that says US Marines. Since their core values are the same as ours, I thought it just fine. Not to mention the 2nd guy from the right (without a rifle) is a Navy Corpsman, and the quote on the monument is from Admiral Nimitz. Okay... I proved my point.

Walked back to MacArthur Center Mall for a burger and shake at Johnny Rockets. Made it in there two minutes before they closed! Gee, they close early! 6pm! Then I decided to poke around the mall. Bought gummy bears at a candy shop for the next underway, then looked in on one of those cheap art galleries. Here comes my first first... I ended up buying one... a very lovely still-life original oil painting...

Then I left the mall and stopped by the little ice rink on the other side. I have never ice-skated as an adult... and I was terrified as soon as both feet were on ice. Went around three or four times... by the end I was even going little distances without hovering over the wall with my hands. :)

Got home and impulsively watched Holiday (1938, Cary Grant) and stayed up way too late! During stand-down I feel as if I'm still on holiday, but I still have to go into work pretty early! When will I learn? :)

Jw