Val

I think I mentioned that my dad lost one of his closest friends on Thursday. Val was like a brother to my dad and an Uncle to my brothers and I.  So, rather than type anything, I'm just going to leave a link to his daughter in-law's blog that she published on Friday.

Here you go:
http://onafricanthyme.blogspot.com/2012/11/val-j-mortenson.html

Delmarva Trip Map

Here's a map of the trip we just took.  

  I'll finish up day 3 tomorrow (or sometime this week).

Delmarva Trip Day 2

We (Joy-me and Kelli-Joy's Best Friend) woke up early-ish on Sunday to the sound of the ocean outside the hotel room.  That's right, the bonus of staying in Virginia Beach is there's a Federal Employee/Military (even for off-duty travel) discount and it's off-season. Totally affordable to stay on the boardwalk!

We headed for the Del Marva peninsula and drove over the 23.7 mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel.  While not as striking as the more well-known Bay Bridge, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel was cool to cross (and I bet they see whales off of it in the winter).  You see, we were headed to Chincoteague, Virginia and spend a hour or two doing their local museum scavenger hunt throughout the exhibits. Yes, there's a bucket with a B in that museum and a porpoise spine cane.  After scavenger hunt fun, we went out to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and drove out to the beach.  After building a sandcastle while flying a kite (kelli) and reading a book while convincing my lungs they like traveling (me), we had lunch.

This was a traffic circle two weeks ago. Kelli shouldn't be taller than that sign.

Kelli wanted a photo with her kite. At Chincoteague.

2 weeks ago this was a parking lot.  Sandy left a whole lot of sand in her wake. 

Cormorant at Chincoteague.

Then we spent the rest of the daylight identifying birds (Ruddy duck!) and I played peek-a-boo with a great blue heron. That evening we had seafood (again) and I decided since I was in the oyster capital of the world, I would try them again.  They didn't completely suck although the rest of the meal was sub-par.  Back at the hotel, we started watching The Notebook (neither of us had seen it before) but soon switched to a Lifetime Christmas movie.  Making fun of movies?  a past-time we both enjoy.

Del Marva Trip Day 1

Saturday morning, Kelli and I headed to Virginia Beach.  We had the idea of doing the DelMarva Loop...heading to Virginia Beach and (finally!!) taking the southern bridge to the Del Marva peninsula.  What we didn't know is that we would end up at three national wildlife refuges (Go FWS).  So after stopping for diet coke next to the scariest truckstop ever and finding the one toll road in Richmond (here's hoping we don't get a ticket for accidentally not paying.), we made our way to the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

The Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge is completely undeveloped beach that starts south of Virginia Beach to the North Carolina Border.  I really want to walk to North Carolina someday, but i'm not sure if I ever will.  However, what we did see was at least 3 or 4 dolphin pods and maybe 30 or so dolphins. We saw dolphins jumping, twirling, and I even saw a tail (Kelli missed it) not far from shore.  However Dolphins are pretty much impossible to photograph with even my "nice" camera, but I did get a fin of one dolphin in a shot (I tried twice because dolphins are super tricky to photograph).  After dinner I tried Sheepshead for the first time.  Although a sheepshead has a face even his/her mother doesn't love, it's a succulent, tender fish that tastes a little like scallops.  

Sheepshead closeup found on the Internet. 

A montage of  my photos.  If you look closely in that middle picture, you can see a dolphin dorsal fin.

Vermont Roundys

Last month I picked up my parents in Philadelphia and we spent a week driving around New England.  Our first stop was to visit Rockingham, Vermont where her great-great-great grandfather, Shadrach Roundy was born and lived until he was fifteen.  None of us had ever been to Vermont and we were impressed with the state.  Here's a couple of pictures my dad took in Rockingham.

We spent quite a bit of time in the cemetery looking for Roundy headstones.  Uriah Roundy, Shadrach's father, was buried in this cemetery, but we couldn't find the gravestone.  We think his family didn't have enough money for a slate gravestone so his grave is no longer marked.  There's a gap next to the headstone below where Uriah may be buried.

Captain John Roundy-He's a Revolutionary War Veteran. I believe this is Uriah's brother, but FamilySearch hasn't been cleaned up to tell for certain.  

The Meetinghouse in Rockingham, Vermont.  Shadrach and his family attended this building.  It's on the Historical Register.

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ReEvaluate

This morning I received news that a family friend had passed away.  He was like a brother to my dad, and one of his son's is my "other" sibling. Needless to say, today has been a day of introspection and memories.    

Fatigue

So, the Presidential Election is finally over. Finally!