Karen’s Place

Check this out-It made me laugh so hard!  If you have a cat, you’ll understand!

Friday I was to have a date with my new guy. We were supposed to go to dinner at a fairly new entertainment area between his house and mine. When I got off work I received a text message from him asking me how I would feel about going camping at an area lake instead. I sent back a message asking if he was kidding, I would LOVE to go camping! It was a beautiful day and due to be a gorgeous weekend. I threw some clothes in a bag (he told me he would supply everything else) and after dropping my dog off at a friend’s house, I headed to his place and together on to the lake.

Mother Nature did not disappoint us-

This was our view when we were all settled in:

Here are some more pictures from the weekend:

It doesn’t get any better than this!!!

A friend of mine is out of town this weekend and asked me to look after his dog. I’ve been going over to his place the past couple of days, letting her out playing with her feeding her you know the norm. This morning we were playing with the baseball-one of her absolute favorite games. We were in the middle of a great game when she had that ball, turned and looked at me then proceeded to bury the baseball in the dirt. Literally! She dug up the dirt, dropped the baseball in and covered it up. Then turned to me as if to say, now try and get it sucker!

My friend better watch it, he may be missing a dog when he gets home. With that kind of attitude she’ll fit in perfectly in this house!

Here’s a picture of Kizzy playing with Katie out at the lake last summer.

I’ve been fortunate in my life to of been to a lot of places.  Not as many as some but more than others.  I’ve seen a lot of historical locations.  I’ve seen a lot of tourist areas, and I’ve seen a lot of ‘must haves’.  This vacation, by far has topped them all.

I’m a little uncertain as to why this has been the best vacation.  Is it the company I kept?  Is it being in control of what I wanted to do?  Is it the fact that everything went exactly as planned?  Or is it the fact that at the end of the day, I was in a hotel room all by myself not having to share my much deserved off time with anyone?  That really has got to be the most selfish statement ever made, I know.  And really, with thoughts like that, how is someone supposed to ever find love?

So, to pick up where I left off in my last blog entry.  I did indeed go back to Paddy’s pub Friday night.  Bill’s friend Stephanie from the night before met me there and we hung out.  The guys were right; it was really packed in there.  I’m a little claustrophobic in crowds, but we were lucky enough to get a table up front and didn’t even notice all the people.  I met a really nice guy.  We hit it off right away because I overheard him telling someone he was a travel writer.  Being that my dream job would be a travel photographer, I couldn’t help but jump into his conversation.  We hit it off and talked the entire rest of the night.  Figures I find a really nice guy and at the end of the day he chooses to never come to the mid-west.  It’s his least favorite area of the country.  Oh well, he was a great guy all the same.

I left Saturday morning, with only a tiny bit of a hang over.  My contacts were on strike, so I was extremely glad I brought my glasses along!  This time I was able to see I-95 and Hwy 58 in the daytime.  I really think I-95 is the most beautiful Hwy I’ve ever been on.  Although the trip felt longer this time, probably since I had a remote idea of where I was going, the landscape was so pretty to look at.  I wished I’d had the time and opportunity to pull over and snap some photos.  One thing I did discover, is NC and Virginia are really particular when it comes to who they allow to pull over on the shoulder and where!  Side note, NC may have the most beautiful hwy, but Virginia had the most confusing!  Ugh!

I was instructed to call my Navy friend as soon as I hit the outskirts of Norfolk.  He stays off the ship with friends on the weekends.  I did just that and by good timing on his part, I ended up following him the last 20 or 30 miles into town and to my hotel.  By doing this, I didn’t get to drive through the cool tunnel again.  Oh well, it made it all the more worth being stuck in traffic on the way out of town that Friday night.  I was starving so as soon as I dropped my bags off we went to eat, then headed for my tour of the beach.

Side note.  It has been gorgeous here this weekend.  I took Katie out to the lake yesterday for a run (she ran-not me.  I’m not crazy!), she ran straight into the lake!  She didn’t even act like it was cold.  Mind you on another section of the same lake still had ice on it.  Guess it pays to have two coats.  We went out again today with my brother and my niece for a nice long walk.  We’re guessing maybe 3 miles or so.  I let her off leash in several areas today and she ran straight into the creek for a quick swim.  I guess in her world the water is always just fine.

It’s a little scary to fly when the pilot tells you the plane needs to be deiced before you can take off.

How is it that your luggage still makes your connecting flight even when you barely do?

What did we do before GPS?

I’m in a tiny terminal in Detroit and overhear the very nice man next to me on the phone talking about having to write a letter to MY department at MY company.  Can I ever really get away from work?  To answer your question, yes I helped him.  Just because I wasn’t on the clock, doesn’t mean I don’t still believe in great Customer Service.

Surprise whirlpool bathtubs in hotel rooms are a VERY good thing!

So, as you can tell, I’ve begun my journey East and I’ve brought my GPS along for the ride.  I tell you what.  With Jill as my co-pilot.  I think I could drive just about anywhere!  I’m not all that confident she doesn’t take me in circles sometimes around town, but you know what, as long as I get there that’s all that matters to me at this point.  Jill was the Garmin budget model and right now she’s working out just fine.  As a matter of fact, considering I don’t know the town anyway-how do I really know if I’m going in circles???  hummm??? 

Yesterday I flew into Norfolk, then rented a car and drove down here to Fayetteville NC.  I love this part of the country.  I’m serious when I say I’ve never felt more at home anywhere.  My company has an office in Raleigh,  I often look for openings one day if the time is right…The first thing I had to do was maneuver through downtown Norfolk.   I really had no idea how big this city was.  Or how much traffic it would have at 5:00 on a week night!  Ugh!  So, I’m sitting on the freeway and all of a sudden I start seeing signs ahead for a drawbridge.  Whoa!  A drawbridge?  Now that was pretty cool!  Too bad there was too much traffic that I couldn’t actually see around it or over it, or anything else.  It just looked like any other bridge to me at that moment.  Well, except for the fact that this one had gates that raised in lowered when needed.  I’ve never seen that in the middle of a highway.  Then not long after the drawbridge I began seeing signs for a ‘tunnel’.  A tunnel?  I drive though tunnels at home once in a while, out DOT never felt the need to announce it.  Holey Moley that this was not a little tunnel that goes under a street or railroad bridge…If I’m understanding correctly, and I will have to ask my Navy friend tomorrow.  This particular tunnel went under the ELIZABETH RIVER!  Now, this was impressive!  I was a little nervous at first, but then I loved it!  Again, I owe it all to Jill (my GPS), she was there the whole time coaching me to stay to the left on I-such and such.  So my normal worry of being lost in an unfamiliar area was gone.  I could really just enjoy traveling.

Last night I was able to go to my friend’s pub and listen to the guys do their thing.  They placed this song "The Green Fields of France" just for me.  They know it’s my favorite.  With my friends all going off to Iraq (or at least it seems), it felt appropriate.  I’m heading back tonight.  I hear Friday nights are crazy and lines are around the building to get in.  Good thing I know people! 

Tomorrow I head back to Virginia to spend the weekend with my Navy friend.  I’ll get to tour his ship and see the sights.  I’m not sure I’m coming home.  Brother Dan, think you can pack up my things???  :) 

The agenda for my trip out East is coming together.  Things have changed from the initial plans, it’s getting more exciting all the time.  I’m still not at all happy about why I have to go out there.  I won’t get into a political tirade this time.  I’ll just say I wish it didn’t have to happen.  I’ll also say this one other thing on the subject-I’ve now discovered a new friend who is also going to Iraq.  This is not unexpected, and won’t be for as long, but unlike my Navy friend.  My new friend will be in the heart of combat…

Now, on to my trip.  I’ll be flying into Virginia Beach on a Thursday.  Unfortunately, we’ve found out his ship, The Roosevelt is now preparing for inspection so until Saturday, his time would be limited.  I’d been wanting to drive down to Fayetteville, NC to see some old friends who play music anyway, so the decision has been made that I would drive down without him and stay a couple nights.  This way I’ll get to see two of their shows.  I talked to one of the guys last night and they were genuinely ecstatic I was coming down.  He’s ready to bend over backwards for me.  When he asked me where I was staying and I told him I was staying at a motel, he insisted on finding one for me then told me he’d make me breakfast, cook me dinner whatever I needed.  The generosity these folks are placing toward me is really amazing.

This vacation is going to be really different for me.  I’m not taking anyone from home with me.  I’m going to be on MY own time.  I’ll get to do what I want to do, stop where I want to stop, eat where I want to eat,  not to mention how welcome my friends are making me feel.  I know that sounds selfish, but I’m so ready for this time to myself.  Who knows, I may get used to this way of vacationing.  I just hope the next one isn’t because someone else I care about is headed off to war…   

Last weekend after we had our Greek dinner, a few of us went out dancing.  I love dancing so much, and I love music just as much.  I only hope my friends will stop me before I become that old 70 year old woman still on the dance floor doing the Electric Slide.  I wonder if there’s a place for 70 year old women to dance… hummm???  Maybe a future business idea.

Anyway, we tried a place that’s been open a long time, but new to us.  It was fabulous!  It had a huge dance floor, video monitors all over the place playing videos of the songs being played, a small balcony that outlined the parameter of the dance floor so you could have an eagles eye of the entire place, and yes even a couple of cages to dance in should you so desire.  I knew the place would be great when as soon as I walked in the door, they were playing Barry Manilow.  Not only were they playing Barry Manilow, but the people were loving it! The mix of music ranged all the way from hip hop to 80’s rock to classic rock.  It was right up our alley. 

The best part of the night would be when my posse and I were up on the balcony against the railing singing our hearts out to “I Will Survive”, come on-what woman can’t resist that song?  It’s timeless!  One of the not so good parts of the night would have to be when we were out there dancing to the great song “Low”, each time we went low, low, low, low, low… it was harder, harder, harder, harder, harder for me to get back up!  Ugh!  Sometimes my age really does show.  I blame it on my boots though.  Yeah, that’s it.  The boots! 

Really, how can you not dance to this?