To Wear a Coat Again

And I will try and recount for you the month of July. With the mini vacation, all the underways and duty days, and the time I wanted to spend just sitting on the couch with my darling Michael, I never found time to write about what we did together this month. Thankfully I did jot down a couple notes:

July 3rd, when we got home from the command picnic, we packed up our car and the pets and headed west on I-64 across the bridge to go north around Richmond to Mount Vernon, Virginia for the long weekend. On the way we listened to a compilation of patriotic music starting with Frank Sinatra's The House I Live In. It was only a 3-hour drive, so even though we left after five, we still made it to our hotel at a decent hour, with time for a real rest before getting up relatively early the next morning.

Our Independence Day began at Denny's, across the street from our hotel, the Quality Inn. George Washington's Mount Vernon was an incredibly neat place to spend the fourth. Got there just in time for a front row viewing of General Washington reviewing of a Virginia militia company in the year 1777, and then listening to a reading of the Declaration. After touring his magnificent house, we watched a naturalization ceremony on the lawn overlooking the Potomac River (what a view!). We stopped by the Washington's grave, then poked through the underground museum... and a neat one it was! What I really enjoyed seeing was a porcelain serving bowl decorated with a three-masted ship. Apparently, it was a gift from Commodore Thomas Truxtun, my ship's namesake. For lunch we went to Ruby Tuesday for burgers after taking care of the pets. It was such a hot day, we were pretty worn out, so we took a little nap after lunch. Woke up in time to watch A Capitol Fourth on the HDTV in our room, even though the real thing was only a half-hour's drive north. For dinner, we returned to Ruby Tuesday for the pasta we thought about getting at lunch.

On the 5th, we had something different at Denny's, then drove up to Arlington to take a look at the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (the Iwo Jima monument), which I've wanted to see since I was about 14... well, ever since I watched Sands of Iwo Jima and read about Gen. Chesty Puller. I felt like a little kid when we got out of the car. No wonder my parents and I missed it in 2005... it's a hard to find exit for it off a freeway entrance, and it's outside the National Cemetary's fence. We went straight to downtown Alexandria from there to ride a riverboat up the Potomac to D.C. for a look at the monuments, the bridges, the parks, and the Watergate Hotel. Had iced tea and popcorn as we rode, and we even got a little salt water in the face. Went back to take care of the pets, and left early for the Nationals baseball game. The traffic to catch the train was terrible, but once we got on, it was a breeze. The baseball game was a lot of fun... lots of exciting play, the Nats winning 8-5 in eight and a half innings. The train going back was hard only because we had to wait in a long line for tickets.

On the 6th, after our last Denny's breakfast, we packed and left by noon. Michael was a darling and stopped off for me at the National U.S. Marine Corps Museum at Quantico. I looked around for a half-hour, speeding through the exhibits as fast as I could, and loved looking at the original 2nd flag from Iwo Jima (the big one). There was lots of traffic on the way home, including a car fire on the opposite freeway, and some accidents. After depositing the pets at home, we enjoyed my traditional seafood dinner before an underway at The Ship's Cabin off Ocean View Drive. What a glorious weekend!

The 7th, although a Sunday, I had to spend entirely on board ship. Then we were gone on the 8th, returning the 9th. Went out to Franco's By the Bay for a lovely Italian dinner and then spent a quiet evening together. The 10th, although a normal workday in port, was much like the day before, only we stayed home and made hamburgers. I think one of these days we watched Cinderella Man, and a Mystery Science Theater 3000 thriller the other night... one of the 3 or 4 films or shorts we watched this summer.

Monday the 15th, just back from an underway, we celebrated by going out to Captain George's again and enjoyed it just as much as before. We took the round about way home on shore drive to avoid interstate traffic. Back at home, we took out the dog.

16th: I enjoyed gathering up lots of Charlie's hair all over the floor every now and then... :) No, I'd rather have my Darling here with his animals and have to sweep more often then not. It will be lonely when I get back. Grilled some burgers for dinner, took the dog out again, watched some MST3K shorts, and the Sleeping Beauty Ice Ballet again. Missed some of the later scenes because I was so tired. Good thing I had watched it before!

Wednesday the 17th was lots of fun! Had a quick snack before heading out to the base to show Mike how to get to my ship (so he could visit me on my upcoming Saturday duty), then since the base laundry was jammed, we went back to the laundromat in Ocean View. While the clothes dried, we stopped at Walmart on Tidewater to pick up a couple things. The main event though was heading out to the Cinema Cafe in Hampton to see Despicable Me 2, and have dinner. Had another lovely walk with the dog when we got back.

The 18th was rather laid back. Watched some music videos on YouTube, especially Michelle Tumes and Enya, along with a few literal versions of 80s hits. I put the shelf I got at Walmart together to put all my dinosaurs from home on, and Mike prepared a wonderful salmon dinner with lots of fixings. I really loved just sitting and talking for a while... that's the beauty of living together, I guess. I also managed to write about the Navy on my other blog.

Friday, the 19th was grand. Got off pretty early from work finally, and we enjoyed an afternoon in Virginia Beach by having burgers at Abby Road, walking along Atlantic Avenue, window shopping, playing a 18-round of indoor mini golf, and buying souvenir t-shirts.  Went home to relax and take care of the pets, then we had a late dinner at the Macaroni Grill.

Even though Saturday was my duty day, I got to see Mike when he came to share a pizza and take a tour of the ship. When I got back home Sunday morning the 21st, we both got lots more sleep. For dinner, we went to El Azteca on East Little Creek Rd., my favorite local Mexican restaurant. That evening there was a deluge of rain that flooded the backyard (even a little rain will flood the backyard, but for this one I thought of the boat shoes that Leonardo da Vinci invents in the film Ever After and how useful they'd be).

On Monday the 22nd, we went out to dinner at Fellini's, another local Italian place, but one we went to last year when we first transferred here. And there was more RAIN.

I was very tired the evening of the 23rd. Didn't even want to drive very far for dinner, so we tried out the Sunset Grill at the very end of the Willoughby Spit... just about sunset too... and it was wonderful! Shared some broiled shrimp and a delicious fried fillet of halibut.

Wednesday the 24th we went to the last Tides baseball game we could manage to go to. I brought some Chipotle in with me, and Mike had his usual pizza... the game was really, really long. At the end of two-and-a-half hours, it was only the top of the eighth, so since they were losing and I had to work early, we left. We did enjoy watching the Tides come back to within one run, but as we found out at home, they ended up giving up another run before it was over. We also missed another late rain... so it was good that we did what we did.

The evening of Thursday the 25th, we returned to Mom and Pops for dinner, and ran into another light rain as we drove to get a couple things at the grocery store, and on to the nearest Krispy Kreme for dessert.

Friday I had duty again, so when I got home on Saturday the 27th, I had a big breakfast, then took a long nap. We had a light dinner at Pollard's Chicken (like a local KFC... but tasting much better), went shopping for groceries and for the pets, came home and mixed up a chocolate cake, took the dog on a walk while it baked, cooked up a marvelous dinner of scallops, shrimp and steak with corn-on-the-cob, biscuits and pasta. The best surprise was wanting to put on coats while we sat outside as Mike smoked his pipe and we talked... it's been a very hot summer in Virginia, so this was a wonderful change. Back inside we watched more YouTube music videos on my TV for fun and relaxation.

Today, Sunday, July 28th: I was finally able to sleep in! ...for the first time since... June. Cleaned up the dinner mess, caught up blogging (obviously), had a lovely breakfast at noon, watched a silly Fred MacMurray film from 1963 (Kisses for My President) which felt like a kid movie with adult themes. But Fred was as fun as ever to watch. Then we went to church, met the Daugherty's, then went to Red Lobster on Independence Blvd. for our traditional farewell dinner. As the saying goes about all good things... and living with my husband was a very, very good thing.

I love you, Darling. I know we both will look back on this time we shared with the fondest of memories.