Vacation Photos
We arrived mid afternoon on Saturday the 13th and headed right for the ocean...cocktail in hand! After a long couple days of driving it was good to be out of the car and finally relaxing. By 6pm, most everyone that was going to be there for the week had arrived and settled in. By 7pm, I think the pool already had half the beach in it. 60 people in all, 17 kids and 43 adults...with a couple stragglers that were there only a few days. Each night, a family was in charge of dinner. Saturday was lasagna/bread/salad, Sunday was Thanksgiving with all the trimmings (our night), Monday was spaghetti/salad, Tuesday was tacos/bean dip/chips, Wednesday was a pig roast, Thursday was subs/pizza and Friday was leftover night. By Wednesday I think I had down most everyone's name too, minus the youngest kids.
Everyone had a blast. From billiard and horseshoe tournaments, to eating and drinking everything in site. From walks on the beach to shopping in town. Well, not me on the shopping part. Lots of games for the kids during the day and games at night for the adults. Everything is for points, and the family with the most points at the end of the week wins the trophy. Walk on the beach, you get points. Win at golf, you get points (first time that happened for Sarah and her family, as they don't golf and I won on Wednesday!). Take the trash out, you get points. Don't lose your cup for the week, you get points. Win a game of horseshoes (for fun or tournament), you get points. And oh, if you lose a game you must go into the ocean...all the way, not just your feet/legs. Either by choice or by being thrown in. And speaking of the ocean, if you tossed Nicholas in, you get points. Hahaha. Poor kid.
Monday and Wednesday mornings I was up for golf at 6:30am (shot an 85 on Wednesday, my best round ever) and Sunday and Tuesday were days we slept in. The weather wasn't the best as most days were filled with partly cloudy to cloudy skies and a few sprinkles here and there. Got buggy at night too and by Monday, our legs and ankles were all covered with bites. A few nights it did cleared up after sundown though so we could see all the stars and the moon. Spent all of Sunday on the beach/in the ocean and Monday afternoon/evening was spent pool side. Wednesday was the best weather day, as it was mostly sunny the entire time. Beside the pig roast that day, there was also a wedding reenactment so that family that couldn't make the actual wedding back in January could share in the occasion. However, I woke up that morning sick and by early evening after the pig roast was ready for bed. Thursday morning I was miserable. I spent most of it in bed. We decided that night then to instead of drive the entire way back on Saturday we would leave Friday afternoon and break it up into 2 days just like we did coming down. Also that night, bad storms rolled in from the north and that included water spouts in the ocean south of Virgina Beach. We could see the storm build starting around 9:30pm and by 1am, we had a fantastic thunder and lightning show. No damage in our area but it was a wild storm. We spent Friday morning at the beach before leaving around 2pm. With the storm blowing through overnight, Friday turned out to be the best day weather wise for those who were still there, although the ocean temp was pretty cool...around 62.Wednesday was the only day I got the camera out as the weather cooperated the best. The camera wasn't something I was going to keep on me at beach/golf/poolside every day so there isn't a lot of photos. The first few are of the house we were stationed in; then of the pig roast, main house and wedding reenactment; and finally of the sunset that night.
Enjoy the photos!
And oh yeah, the drive. Going down, came along a stretch of southbound US-35 that was closed completely. Not merged over to northbound like normal construction projects. That detour, just under 2 miles, put us back over 1 1/2 hours, probably closer to 2 hours as I didn't start keeping track of time until we came to a complete stop for 10 minutes or so. Think of the amount of traffic I-75 creates around Toledo and route it through a small town with 5 traffic lights at 4pm on a Friday afternoon. F'n Ohio!
Coming back to MI, there was a southbound semi that lost it and wrecked/dumped it's load on the northbound lanes; that was almost an hour set back of not moving at all. Engine off and parked. We were vehicle 6 or 7 from the front. Lastly, Sarah left her purse where we stopped for a late lunch. Thankfully, everything was intact...cash, phone, CCs, etc. We were around 89 miles from the Michigan border when it was discovered missing and we had to back track about 25 miles south of Columbus. Close to 2 1/2 extra hours when that was all said and done. We were all glad to finally get home that day.
posted by Hooter @ 9:45 AM
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I forgot my ladder again, but was able to get some good shots even with the covered chain link fence in the way. It helps to be tall and have a camera with a titling LCD screen :) A couple photos turned out pretty good and I deleted the bad ones.
