Make A Memory

Friday morning began our trek to the beach. The Outer Banks are special -- it's a nice, quiet kind of place where you can go and relax. We only had time to spend one night there, so my friends weren't really able to get the whole picture. It was cold and windy, but beautiful at the same time.

We tried to get a little bit of history into the trip so the kids would learn about their surroundings and take some of the sights home with them. To that end, we visited the Wright Brothers monument in Kill Devil Hills.

Ed and his cast couldn't go down to the sand and Kim needed a rest, so I took the kids down to the water. I think I took almost one hundred pictures while we were there. There is a moment in The Bridge to Terebithia where Leslie calls upon the Terebithians to show themselves and all the winds pick up. Kaitlyn called upon them to talk to her too and the waves all started crashing around her. It was so cute.

After a night at the beach we got up early the next morning (with the gang of Bikers for Jesus) and packed up the car. While Christian and I were hitting the breakfast buffet I got into a chat with one of the bikers who looked like someone you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, but he gave me a nice little pamphlet about church services the next day down in Myrtle beach.

Six hours and two states later, we arrived at Mount Vernon. Now, Kim and I stopped by Mount Vernon about four years ago when she came out to visit me before and it rained and rained. Just as we arrived this time, the sky opened up. Now we can say it "always" rains when we go to Mount Vernon. Christian and Kaitlyn seemed to enjoy it. I'm sure it must have been a very difficult lifestyle back then, even for the pampered elite. George and Martha sure had a gorgeous view to wake up to each day. I'd love to get up there to see it in autumn.

From there it was on to the hotel and an evening hanging out at the pool. The pool inside the building. Nice, but odd.

Next up, three days in DC.

[Note on a totally different topic...I sometimes have to dig for my song titles. I finally found this one and not 30 seconds later it was coming out of my TV, during a NHL commercial before the 3rd period of game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. As I looked over at the screen to see hockey heroes raising the Cup, knowing in all likelihood that a new team should be doing that within an hour or so, thereby ending the Canes reign, they settled on our Rod Brind'amour. Sigh. Only 4 months more.]

Have a Nice Day

The rules for attending any type of game or sporting event are easy and should just be known. ( I swear I'm not making them up -- true fans know them.)

1. DO NOT make people stand up to let you pass to get to your seat while the game is in play. You wait until there is a whistle or a buzzer or a time out. You do not return from the concession stand and expect 10 people to stand up, blocking the view of everyone behind them, while the game is in progress. I promise if you wait one minute, maybe two, there will be a break and you can get to your seat and no one will mind. Really, it's just the polite thing to do.

2. If you don't know where your seat is, ask someone. Fans are friendly and will always help. The last three hockey games I have been to have been a comedy of errors as the untrained masses spent whole periods moving from one wrong seat to another -- while the game was in progress -- generally making everyone there to see the game miserable.

3. If you happen to be sitting in the upper reaches of your venue, don't complain about how high your seats are. You are the one who didn't want to spend the money to sit closer. You got what you paid for and others would be thrilled to be where you are. Zip it.

Have fun. Tell your friends. Go Canes.