Charlotte-Virginia Trip - Day Eight

The final day was uneventful:  a seven hour drive from Centreville VA to home in Rochester.  Weather was good and traffic light.  It was a long but very good trip.  I missed Marilyn and was glad to be back home for dinner and relaxation.  Oh, yes, and Archie as well.

Charlotte-Virginia Trip - Day Seven

Starboard engines of the Enola Gay

Tom and I spent the day at the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  It is located adjacent to Dulles International which is about 10 minutes from Tom's house.  It is break taking in its size and the scope of its exhibits.

The collection is so extensive that it is difficult to describe.  Here is a list of some of those that caught my eye:

Fully deployed satellite

1. SR-71 Blackbird:  mach 3.2 at 80,000 feet.
2. The Enola Gay
3. Concorde SST
4. Boeing 707
5. Space Shuttle
6. American, German and Japanese warplanes
7. F14 Tomcat
8. F4 Phantom

Tom and Bill

In the evening we had a chance to spend some time with my nephew Bill.  I  was shocked to see how he had grown since I had seen him last.

View an album of photos from Udvar-Hazy.

View the updated trip album.

Charlotte-Virginia Trip - Day Six

Here I am with Katie Shannon

I drove from Charlotte to Centreville VA.  It was cold but warmed up to 50 degrees by the time I got there.  When I arrived, I found Katie waiting for me with her Dad.  She is my about to be 17 year old niece.  It was great to see her and to spend the afternoon visiting with.

I got to watch a video she is creating to celebrate her brother Bill's 18 birthday which is later this month.  It had many pictures of both of them as children both in Russia and here in the U.S.  She had carefully selected some tune for the soundtrack.

After I got cleaned up we drove over to Sarah's house where we were having dinner.  Well, actually Katie drove us over in my car.  She has her learner's permit but need 80 hours of supervised practice driving before she can take the driving test.  She presses every opportunity to get behind the wheel.  She did great although she pulled up to Sarah's house a little hot and almost snagged the mailbox.  However, no harm, no foul as they say.  I told her if she were a NASCAR driver she would been flagged for exceeding the speed limit on pit row.

Sarah and Tom

Tom and Sarah made dinner for us and it was, of course, delicious.  What was even more delicious was seeing what a nice and warm couple they are as they went about getting things ready.  They have an easy and comfortable way with each other which is so pleasing for me to see.

We were joined by Sarah's daughter Larissa who is just two days away from a school trip to France.  There was a lot of goodhearted teasing about the fact that she hadn't started packing yet and something about needing to take 15 pairs of shoes.  Surely I misheard that.  Didn't I?

Tom grilled chicken and Sarah prepared some smashed potatoes that were different and delicious.  For dessert she had made some gingerbread which she served with ice cream and warmed caramel sauce.  Fortunately she served it in reasonable portions.  Let to my own devices I would have eaten at least three times the amount I did.  It was soooooooooooooo good, as the kids say.

(r-l) Tom, Sarah, Larissa, and Katie

When we got home, Tom showed me some nice tricks with my iPad and we talked about our trip the next day to the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  You can look forward to a special album of photos from that trip.

For now, visit the updated trip album.

Finally I can't resist showing this little bit of video of Katie trying to teach her Dad how to participate in a secret handshake she and I friend have developed.  Being his father's son, he is pretending not to get it...at least I think he is pretending.

Charlotte-Virginia Trip - Day Five

View from the outdoor Terrace Grill looking down into the valley.

Ralph and Buffie picked me up at 9:00 and we drove up to Asheville to meet Pat and Jackie.  It was a cool morning but the sky was beautiful with large puffy clouds.  We arrived at  the Grove park Inn with a few minutes to spare and had the chance to step out on the terrace and enjoy the view down into the valley.

Ralph and Pat

Pat and Jackie arrived and we repaired to our table for a two hour lunch filled with delicious food, friendship, and laughter and more laughter.  We told some of the old stories, recalled mutually remembered stories, and wondered "what ever happened to..." old friends and classmates.  It was so good to see Ralph and Buffie after all those years, 47 years to be exact.

Patrick surprised us with some Rockhurst College memorabilia which he picked up at the closeout at the college bookstore as the college transitioned to Rockhurst University.  Great and thoughtful surprises.

(l to r) Bill, Buffie, Ralph, Pat, Jackie

After lunch we went back to the lobby to take some photos.  We recruited another guest to take this group shot.

It was a wonderfully warm day.  I feel so fortunate to have reconnected with such good friends and really good guys.

View the updated photo album including some of yesterday's breakfast that Ralph tool.

As we were taking the photos, some video was taken quite inadvertently.

Charlotte-Virginia Trip - Day Four

Ralph and Buffie Richardson

It was a long night Saturday.  Liam Jacob had a friend over and the three boys pretty much had free rein with the X-box with the girls gone most of th evening at a birthday party.  Today began with a breakfast at an IHOP with Ralph and Buffie Richardson, their daughter-in-law and two grandsons.  Their son was in California for the weekend and Ralph and Buffie had traveled down from Lehigh PA.

I had gone to school with Ralph from kindergarten through college and had been in their wedding but had not seen them since.  Along with two other high school and college friends, we got reconnected through FaceBook last December.  Incredibly their son--who was in California for the weekend making preparations for the bachelor party for their youngest son getting married in April--had relocated from the Los Angeles area to Charlotte last October and their house is two miles from Liam's and the kids go to the same grade school.  Even more coincidentally, they were in Charlotte this weekend.  So we got together for breakfast.  It was a wonderful taste of what awaits tomorrow when the three of us drive to Asheville for lunch with Pat--one of the high school/college friends--and Jackie Miller.

Future artist at work

I spent the afternoon being with Eibhlin as she worked on creating drawings of rainbows.  She worked in water colors, pencil, and markers.  She was very particular about the colors and the exact sequence of them in the drawing.  She is perky and delightful, if a bit willful.  However those qualities will serve her well.  While we were working, her Mom and Dad called as they were driving back from Asheville.  I was able to get a few candid photos that may well augur her future.

Future teenager at work

Click here to see the updated album of the trip.

Click here to see the rugby photos from Saturday.

Charlotte-Virginia Trip - Day Three

Aidan making a cut.

Saturday began with a rugby match.  Aidan and Liam Jacob are on the same team and played a tough, bigger, and more experienced team.  they acquitted themselves well on both sides of the ball, if that makes sense in rugby.
It had been raining all night and the field was, well, sloppy.  After the game, the coaches could evaluate the intensity of play by the amount of mud on the white jerseys.  Aidan played scrum halfback which meant that he inserted the ball into the scrum and then sought to retrieve it when it exited and passed to other players.  He did a great job and got involved in any play that was near him.

Aidan and  Liam making a tackle

Liam played center halfback, I think, and thus saw more action both offensively and defensively.  They both seemed to enjoy playing and getting muddy.  As you can see in the photo album linked below, I got several nice sequenced shots.  of course I captured 207 images so I was bound to get a few good ones.  As I say, the key to getting some good pictures is to take a lot of them.

Liam Jacob getting ready to pass

Take a look at the photos in the rugby album.

Charlotte-Virginia Trip - Day Two

Marin in her VIP room.  No boys allowed!

Friday was rainy and cloudy and so there was no golf.  Liam had to return to the hospital in Virginia to interact with the night shift and so left around 2:00 am and got back at noon.  I used the morning to visit a Planet Fitness for a workout and then back to the house to shower.  We had a late lunch at a nice stir fry restaurant.

The kids starting getting home around 4:00 in the midst of a rain storm that resulted in soccer practice being canceled.  I had my first experience of Caesar Salad pizza for dinner followed by some--OK a lot--of Marcie's brownies.  All in all, a nice family day.  Tomorrow holds my first rugby game.

View the photo album.

Charlotte-Virginia Trip - Day One

Day One of this trip was spent traveling from Rochester to Charlotte where Liam, Marcie and the kids live. The 770 miles took about 13 hours with a stop to have lunch in the Shenandoah Valley. It was rainy, misty, and foggy through New York and the mountains of Pennsylvania. Then the clouds began to break and by the time I got to Virginia it was warm and sunny. I even needed the air conditioning some of the time.

I fought my way through rush hour Charlotte traffic and got to Liam's around 6:00. Liam had been in Virginia at a go-live for his i-Stat Abbott product and he got stuck in traffic and I beat him home. We had a delicious dinner followed by some wonderful chocolate bark and a little--that's right Marilyn, a little--ice cream.


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