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Published: October 19th 2022
A trip to the USA, departing Friday 24 March, to visit Adrian, Vanessa, Sophie and Isaac after 15 months of separation. Adrian and family moved to the USA for Adrian's employment as a Liaison Officer with a United States Defence department in January 2022. This trip will be the first time we will have been able to visit them.
After staying with them for about 3 weeks, we will take the train to New York City and stay three nights before boarding Norwegian Gem for a 15 day cruise from NYC to Rome. Then a 5 night stay in Venice, 4 days in Dubai and then home on 13 May 2023. All up - 7 weeks on the road.
Friday 24 Mar 23 The journey has started !! At last.
Megs very kindly took us to the airport, arriving there about 8:15am. Very helpful ground staff helped the old gent with check in and we were through within 15 minutes. A coffee with Megs and we said our goodbyes.
I think a strip search at the security point would have been easier than the emptying everything from pockets, belts off, glasses off etc.
Pushed back
right on time at 10:30am and were wheels up at 10:50am. Flying United UA097 on a Boeing Dreamliner 787-9 Brisbane to San Francisco. Estimated flying time about 13 and half hours but the Captain (lady pilot) told us we should be arriving about 20 minutes early. That will help us in SFO as we only had 2 hours 40 minutes to get through Customs, collect baggage and transfer to the domestic flight in the next Terminal.
Seating OK – we have Economy Plus seats with extra legroom against a bulkhead and I am able to stretch my legs right out !! The Economy section of the plane is choc-a-block – very few spare seats.
Lunch was pretty ordinary – chicken and veges in a white wine sauce – highlight of the plate – a Tim Tam !!
3 hours down – 9 to go……..
No sleep but six one hour episodes of "
1883" in row helped to pass the time !!
Arrived San Francisco International about 30 minutes early and got through Immigration within 30 minutes. Picked up luggage and did the domestic luggage transfer which was located immediately outside the International Terminal. Plenty of
time to get to the Domestic Terminal right alongside.
Long queue at security into the Domestic gates and incredible amount of disrobing required – shoes, belts, everything out of pockets…….
Domestic flight was on a Boeing 737-800 – every seat occupied and legroom equated to a Jetstar flight. I had no leg room at all. Four and a half hours flying time – no impressed. A few bumps but otherwise uneventful.
Adrian ready and waiting for us !! Home to Gambrills in Adrian’s RAM truck – an hour up the road.
Great reception and meeting after 15 months separation from Vanessa, Sophie and Isaac – so good to see them all again. Poor Isaac has been turfed from his bedroom for our stay – but he now has his own man cave up on the 4
th level !!
Family steak and salad dinner and lots of chatting – did not get to bed until after 11pm local time. Must have got a second wind.
Saturday 25 Mar 23 Up around 7am - both of us slept relatively well for about 7 hours but still feeling a bit tired. Bed and pillows are good.
Overcast and raining on and off all day are the forecast. 5 degrees.
Following breakfast a trip to Costco and local shops to stock up for next week. Unfamiliar brands and so much choice !!!
Traffic fairly busy for a Saturday - driving next week is going to be a challenge but had my first experience driving back from the local shops in Adrian's Ford Explorer and did not do too bad for first5 time out. No problem swapping to the right hand side of the street.
Lunch at Mission BBQ - a military veteran themed restaurant chain.
Quiet afternoon during which Roz and I both faded and had a couple of hours sleep.
Thai chicken curry or dinner and bed around 10:00pm.
Sunday 26 Mar 23 Jet lag still at play - both of us awake from 2:30am to 4:00 am !! Finally back to sleep and up at 7am to get ready for a family outing into Washington DC to see the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Drove to New Carrollton Metro Station and took the Metro into Washington - about half an hour by rail. $2 for a Smartcard and
$2 flat rate fare each way on a Sunday.
We walked the full length of The Mall from the Washington Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial and back again and dropped in to see the Vietnam Wall. There was also a kite flying event near the Washington Memorial. The number of families out for the day was incredible but I guess the good weather after a rainy week got everyone out.
While we were there, heard some helicopters flying over - a later version of the Bell Hueys that we had in Vietnam - but still the same "wokka" sound that was so familiar 53 years ago. The sound still affects and resonates with me, even after all of that time......
11,000 steps (8.5km) walking for the morning.
Late lunch at Newks, a local sandwich restaurant and then home.
Roz is teaching Isaac how to cook Ginger Biscuits - great success - and they taste great too !!
Test drive with Adrian to get used to driving in the USA again. Also familiarised with finding the routes to Sophie's and Isaac's school, Isaac's football practice ground, Sophie's practice Bocce ground. Slipped right back into it
and did not have any problems converting to driving on the right.
Salmon dinner at home and to bed at about 10:30pm
Monday 27 Mar 23 Started overcast but turning into a sunshine day - 6-15 degrees forecast.
Slept better but still woke at 4am and staring at ceilings, followed by a doze until 6am.
Came downstairs to find Adrian and Isaac doing a morning Pelaton ride on a bike in the basement. Adrian does 45 minutes and Isaac 30 minutes. Hard riding !!
Sophie and Isaac off to school on respective school buses - different ones for High School (7:58am) and Middle School (8:34am). They catch the bus at a school bus stop about 300 metres away.
Morning spent with a walk to the local shopping centre and then heading for lunch with Adrian and Vanessa to the Black Market Bakery Cafe at Edgewater, near Annapolis (
www.blackmarketbakers.com). Very good cafe with good light food (compared to the meat heavy Mission BBQ and Newks).
Absolutely incredible dearth of coffee shops or a coffee culture in this area of the USA. The only "coffee shop" in our area is a Starbucks - which
I refuse to visit. No such thing as a local coffee shop where you can sit and enjoy coffee, sticky buns and light food, as we do in Australia.
Adrian and Vanessa are taking a break on their own from tomorrow and are flying to New Orleans initially, then driving to Nashville, Tennessee and then to Huntsville Alabama to visit with friends of theirs who live in that neck of the woods. An early morning departure from home at 4:30am for their 6 am flight from Baltimore International Airport. I will drive them to the airport and then face the test of finding my way home (about 25km and half an hour away). Hopefully, the traffic will be light at that hour of the day !! They will be returning on Monday 3 April.
We will assist Sophie and Isaac in living at home and going to school in that period. I don't think "minding" is the right term these days - they are too old for that !
Went to Annapolis High School at 4pm to watch Sophie play Bocce with her Arundel High School team. She has taken Bocce up as her after school sport
for this term and has her first competition game today. Post game report - Arundel High School beat Annapolis High School 3 games to 1. Sophie is a good bocce ball bowler !!
Peruvian chicken dinner and then bed at around 10pm
Tuesday 28 Mar 23 Body clock alarm went off at 3:30am in anticipation of a 4:30am departure for Baltimore Airport to drop Adrian and Vanessa for their trip to New Orleans.
25 minute drive to the airport and arrived there on time at 5am, dropped A&V and successfully made my way home for the first drive on my own over here !! Having no problems driving on the right - biggest difference is the speed on the freeway like connecting roads and all of the merging traffic. Red light running seems to be a national sport so have to be careful on light changes.
It is virtually pitch black here with first light not appearing until 6:30am, then dawn starts to appear around 7am. Playing havoc with my walking routine (non existent just at the moment). Plus we have to get Sophie and Isaac organised for school and I can't be out on
the road tramping the scrub when they are up and getting ready. They are pretty good though and are very organised with their morning routines.
Not a good lot of walking routes here either. It is semi rural countryside and there are no long pedestrian pathways to take 6-8km walks. There is a large shopping centre behind us so I guess I could do a few laps of that.
Photos on the Blog. There seems to be a problem with TravelBlog and uploading photos. I have emailed them to see if it is just the old bloke not handling the technology but there are a few comments in the Forum indicating the platform occasionally has a hiccup and deletes all the photos. I notice all the photos have disappeared from all of my previous trip blogs too. So that would indicate that it is more of a systemic problem.
So, for the time being, I will just send the photos by email in bulk with captions and if you want to hear the story behind them, you will unfortunately have to read the blog !!!
Quiet day at the ranch - we are not straying too
far from home this week as we want to be nearby in case Sophie or Isaac need us for anything. Also, trying not to drive too much. We walked over to the nearby shopping complex and poked around in the various shops. A fresh food business named Wegmans is a huge place that makes any of our Coles or Woollies look like a corner shop - if you can't get it there, it doesn't exist ...!!
Got news and photos from Lorraine, Helen's carer. She and Helen or on a 4 night Elvis cruise on the P&O ship Pacific Encounter up to Airlie Beach. They left today and are back on Saturday.
Smorgasbord for dinner tonight. Sophie wanted sushi, Isaac wanted ramen, we wanted a casserole !!! Decisions, decisions ?? Ended up with all three - albeit smaller portions of each. And it all worked out well.
Although we only walked to the shops, ended up with 9500 steps for the day ! Bed by 10:30pm
Wednesday 29 Mar 23 Cold start to the day at 3 degrees but warm inside the house. Sophie and Isaac all rugged up for the walk to the bus
stop. They both get a 2 hour early mark each day for the rest of this week in the lead up to school holidays next week.
Roz is OK but not feeling flash today so we will have a make and mend day at home - get the washing and ironing done, get dinner ready. The cold weather is hard to come to grips with and "enjoy". Spring is sprung and allergies / pollens abound as well. So noses are running (with allergy) and having to stay trussed up with jumpers and coats is hard to live with. At least the sun is shining 😊
Sophie home at 1:30pm, Isaac at 2:30pm.
Homemade rissoles and veges for dinner !! A hit with the team.
Temperatures rarely above 12 degrees all day.
Bed at 10pm
Thursday 30 Mar 23 Cold start to the day - one (1) degree outside. The house maintains about 20/21 degrees with the heating. Fortunately, Adrian only has to pay a standard contribution towards energy costs. No idea how much it is but he does not have to pay the high full cost of running heaters or air conditioning. As
they used to tell us when we were in PNG - "There is an element in your allowances to cover these costs".
Latest advice from A & V is that they are enjoying New Orleans.
Took a trip up to Arundel Mills - one of the local Outlets, like DFO - which, based on A&V impression (they lived in a hotel opposite the Mills for 7 weeks on arrival) we should not get our hopes up. .....we were not disappointed. Not a very productive visit but I did get some long track trousers and a top and Roz got a nice Merrell top as well - all at reasonable prices.
More local shopping to top up the pantry to feed the hungry hoards and then a trip to Sophie's High School to pick her up after a bocce practice.
Home and an early dinner for Isaac and I - he has football training, about 10 minutes away at GORC Park (Home of the Arundel Wildcats), from 7pm - 8 pm. I rugged up for the 2 degree temperature - and was still freezing !! A looooong hour !!
Home, TV - stuck on the
1923 series after having seen the rest of
1883 series - wondering if
1973 series will occur ? 1883 / 1923 / 19XX / 2023 (Yellowstone ?) - every 50 years ?.
Bed at 11pm.
Friday 31 Mar 23 Great uninterrupted 7 hour sleep until after 6am. Roz also slept better so hopefully the effects of the travel and jet lag are diminishing.
Cold morning again but not as cold as yesterday. The forecast for tonight and Saturday is not good though. They are advising rain and high winds into the evening and for Saturday. Also, there is unsettled weather down South and A&V are leaving New Orleans by car and heading for Huntsville, Alabama (about 6-7 hours driving) to stay with their friends Jesse and Julene. Bit of a worry - but will see how that pans out.
Sophie and Isaac on last day of school for this term - one week of Spring Break from tonight.
Isaac's school bus cancelled this morning so had to do a school run and pick up his friend McKoy on the way. Did not even need Waze - the navigation app - to get around !!
Make and mend day - sheet and towel change day so a pile of washing and drying to be done. No such thing as a clothes line over here. Most stuff is done in the dryer although A&V have a portable clothes line they can put on the porch (as we do at our unit), when the weather is reliable. Today is not looking good.
Hard to believe one week of seven weeks has already passed. How quickly the time passes !!
We always knew this would be a quiet "tourist week". The purpose of arriving this week was to let A&V get away for a break on their own - they have been here 15 months without family assistance. From our time when I was in the Army, we know how difficult it can be being separated from family and family support for long periods. The bonus for us is having the company of Sophie and Isaac for the week - for which we are very grateful - and enjoying every moment of it !!
Both home from school early - holidays are here !!
Just love being a Grandparent - the Lolly Plot !!! Interesting little vignette just played out. Isaac and his mate McKoy want to go to Safeway in the shops behind us to buy some "candy". First I need confirmation from Mum and Dad that the activity is allowed (walking to the shops and buying candy). Texts traded and Isaac shows me the approval - his money, no more than $5 - and Sophie or McKoy's elder sister have to go with them.
Sophie does not want to go and McKoy's sister will not go.......stalemate. Furious knocking on Sophie's door - "NO, NO, NO" from Sophie. All goes quiet......the plot thickens. Negotiations obviously occurring behind locked doors.
Both emerge getting dressed to go. I ask what the bribe was.......... Half the candies LOL LOL LOL !!
Just enjoying watching the brotherly and sisterly love ..................
Friday night dinner - curried sausages for the old folks - Chick-fil-A for the young folks. Usual fast food fried chicken that seems to pervade the US diet - which we could not come at. But they enjoyed it.
Adrian and Vanessa have arrived safely in Huntsville, Alabama for a few days with their friends Jesse and Julene.
High
winds up to 100km per hour and some rain forecast for tomorrow. May have to hunker down. If all is well, might get to the movies to see Shazam with S & I
Heading for the barn at 9:30pm.
Saturday 1 Apr 23 A very grey and foreboding start to the day with wind gusts (mild at the moment) and rain showers. We get dark clouds at home when storms are coming but the sky here looks like lead - very deep and overarching !
My routine feels back to normal with my usual 5am rhythm for waking up. Getting a good 7 hours of sleep generally.
Everyone else in holiday mode - Roz up at 8.30am, Sophie at 9:00am and Isaac King of the Castle at 10:30am !!!!!!!!! So late breakfasts all round.
Plans for the day were on hold until the weather event became more clear. The morning was wet and windy but, as it turned out, the afternoon was sunny and warm - go figure !!
Two hours of my life which I will never get back ensued watching
Shazam, the movie, at the local theatre with Sophie and Isaac.
I had the pleasure of watching my grandchildren enjoy themselves - so I guess that makes up for the movie subject matter. Expensive to go to the movies here though - AUD$18 for a Senior, AUD$24 for the young adults. Thankfully, they did not want popcorn to go with that ! Grandma sensibly stayed at home and made chilli jam and raspberry jam.
Following the movies, a trip to Nautilus Diner, just down the road from the theatres. To say the menu was all things to all people would be an understatement and to say the portions were small would be lying. Everything is huge. Literally half the food was left on the plates and we saw a lot of take away boxes following people out the door - we were not similarly tempted.
Adrian and Vanessa have driven to Nashville, Tennessee with their friends Jesse and Julene. A good skype connection established for S&I to chat with Mum and Dad.
The forecast of high destructive winds was delayed but later in the evening around 9pm and lasting until the early hours resulted in howling wind gusts and rattling of windows and doors. Thankfully, nothing seems to
have been damaged in our immediate area. Curiously, the temperatures stayed up in the mid teens all day and into the evening.
Bed at 10:00pm
Sunday 2 Apr 23 The morning breaks serenely, 6 degrees outside, with a brilliant sunrise and clear skies devoid of wind. High of 13 forecast for the day but down to 3 degrees overnight.
Up at 6:30am - over 8 hours of sleep !! Amazing.
Having said there was no damage, have found a siding panel on the porch on Level 4 that appears to have come free. Secured the panel but may need someone who knows what they are doing with this material to fix it properly. I could put a 6 inch nail through it but don't think it would be appreciated. The nailing is hidden under a curved section.
Got some nice photos of Aunty Helen's cruise on Pacific Encounter last week with her carer Lorraine. Helen certainly looks like she enjoyed the Elvis themed cruise and the food....and the food....and the food....apparently. Desserts - lunch and dinner. Coffee and sticky buns all day - heaven on a stick !!
Lorraine does an amazing job
looking after Helen (she was the Kelvin Grove House Manager until she retired a couple of years ago and now does carer work with NDIS and Helen is one of her clients. In fact there were two other Multicap / ex Multicap carers on the same cruise - Rose and Michelle - and another disabled lady who Helen knows well. So she has had a good outing. We have to say that NDIS has been great for Helen. She could not afford the lifestyle and outings she has without the support from NDIS - and we are grateful on her behalf for that help and support.
TravelBlog Photos. Whatever was going wrong at the start, the problem with the photo upload on TravelBlog seems to have sorted itself out. Please let me know if that changes.
Main activity for the day was Sophie taking Roz for a walk to her favourite shops nearby - clothing, shoes, Body Works etc. Beautiful day with clear blue skies and a maximum of 12 degrees. I tagged along for the walk and managed 8000 steps while they were pottering in the shops. Found a bread shop with coffee attached !
Homemade
pizza for dinner.
Boarding Passes and Luggage Tags now made available for our cruise which starts on 15 April from NYC.
Bed by 10pm.
Monday 3 Apr 23 Body clock says wake at 5am (as it does at home) - so must be back in the zone.
Drop in temperatures again - Zero degrees this morning with a "Frost Advisory" in place from midnight to 9am. The forecast is for 21 degrees today (only 12 yesterday) and up as high as 27 degrees on Wednesday. Also see on the news that the mid West is expecting blizzard conditions this week as well, plus more tornadoes further South. They really do have very extreme weather.
Cleaning house for the morning in anticipation of A&V return !!
Bowling at Green Lanes Bowl at Odenton for the afternoon. Interesting concept of playing - you pay by the hour for a lane. We bought 1 hour plus shoe hire - about AUD$60. S&I said they enjoyed themselves - bit frustrated due to lack of practice though.
A&V arrive back into Dulles Airport (IAD) at 4:10pm. No way I am driving Dulles and facing peak hour traffic
!!! They are going to take the Metro train to Odenton and I will pick them up there at about 6pm - about 10 minutes drive away.
The cost of living is just as bad here as it is at home. Most grocery items very expensive and are relatively more expensive here this time round compared to our last visit 3 years ago. Last time, we felt items were generally cheaper but this time we feel the opposite. I do have to say though, the quality of a lot things is very good. Picked up some shorts from Old Navy for about $20 and they are excellent.
Grandma is busy cooking corned beef dinner in the Instant Pot pressure cooker.
Uh oh - change of plan. Now driving to New Carrollton Metro Station about 25 minutes towards Washington DC. No doubt more traffic to deal with .......but I am feeling confident on the roads now so fingers crossed !!
Drive completed with no problems !!
Corned beef dinner a success.
Bed at 10:30pm.
Tuesday 4 Apr 23 5:30am wake up. Looks like another clear sky day. 10 degrees up to 26 today
- a bit different to the 0 degrees yesterday morning !!
Repair job need on a pair of my spare spectacles. One arm has come off and a lug needs regluing. Will need to visit an optometry shop with their steady hands to re-screw the arm. Re-screwing successful !!! Re-gluing not successful....... Fortunately, I have 4 sets (new and old) with me, so I will get by.
The search is on for bed linen today. A trip to Walmart ensued and two sets of sheets and pillow slips were found. Prices much better than in Australia - the sets purchased for AUD$120 each compared to AUD$200 + for the size and quality, I am told. Will have to leave the linen with Adrian and Vanessa for them to bring home in their removal at the end of the year - or if another Aussie is leaving and heading to Brisbane, get them to include in their removal.
The weather has stayed true to the forecast and we have had a 27 degree day - shorts and T Shirt weather and an absolutely beautiful clear day. The warmth extended into the evening and no jackets or jumpers needed
even up to bed time.
Tacos for dinner - made on turkey mince. Must admit, have not had turkey mince before but seems to be a bit of a staple over here and it was good !
Wednesday 5 Apr 23 5:30am body clock on time. It has been a warm night - only needed the sheet over me last night. 12 degrees this morning and heading for a forecast high of 28 degrees and some rain tonight !! Apparently, on the same day last year, they had a low of 6 degrees and a high of 11 degrees.
The forecast is even higher at 29 degrees tomorrow with a thunderstorm and dropping to a low of 5 and a high of 17 degrees on Friday, and zero and 12 on Saturday !! There are still blizzards and tornadoes happening in the Mid-West and the South. Incredible range of weather conditions.
Our US friends Dave and Lorraine Smyth are picking us up later today for a two night, three day visit with them. Dave was a US Army exchange officer at the School of Signals in Melbourne with us in 1986/87 and we have stayed
friends with them over the intervening years, visiting them here in the USA on at least three other occasions. This time we will be taken to Winterthur in Delaware for an overnight visit of the gardens and museum and then back to Woodbridge and overnighting with Dave and Lorraine at their home and visiting the new US Army Museum where Dave is an official guide.
Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Pronounced “winter-tour," Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home of Henry Francis du Pont (1880–1969), Winterthur's founder and a prominent antiques collector and horticulturist. The National Museum of the United States Army is the official museum of the United States Army and is located at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. It opened in November 2020. The objectives of the museum are to honour America's soldiers, preserve Army history and to educate the public about the Army's role in American history. Drive to Mendenhall Hotel in Pennsylvania took about 2 hours and checked in. good big room - but a noisy fridge when it was cooling
!! Dinner at a local restaurant -
The Gables at Chadds Ford - home and bed at 10pm.
Thursday 6 Mar 23 Woke at 5:30am and while overcast, looks like a reasonable day. Developed into a warm day with a 28 degree high - very pleasant.
Breakfast included in the fare - adequate without being generous.
The drive to Winterthur only took about 10 minutes - located back across the State border in Delaware.
Winterthur. All you can say about Winterthur house and the grounds is "magnificent". The attention to detail, the cleanliness and presentation of this piece of American history is very well done - the whole place smacks of quality.
Winterthur was established by the du Pont family over a number of generations. Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours arrived from France in 1800. A gunpowder business was developed and this provided the initial funding for the family home.
1n 1816, a grandaughter, Irenee, married Jacques Antoine Biderman and they purchased land from his father to build a home, which they called Winterthur in honour of Antoine's ancestral home in Switzerland. Three generations down, Henry Francis du Pont (known as HF
- his father was General Henry Algernon du Pont - HA) had the vision and lifelong vocation of building an unrivalled collection of artefacts and art, developing the 2,600 acre property and building, eventually, a 175 room mansion. There are apparently about 90,000 objects and pieces of art in the collection.
In 1951, HF du Pont and his wife moved to a smaller home on the estate and opened Winterthur House and its grounds to the public. HF passed away in 1969 at the age of 89.
The full story and galleries of Winterthur can be seen at
www.winterthur.org I have attached the photos we have taken but I have not captioned them - just enjoy the spectacle.
We spent about 5 hours touring the house and gardens. On arrival at the Visitor's Centre, there is a shuttle bus that takes you around the grounds and stops at various point of interest as well as a narrated garden tram which follows the same route. The latter is more interesting as you get the stories behind the various locations.
At the conclusion of the visit to Winterthur, we had a light lunch in the Visitor Centre
and headed back South to Woodbridge to the home of Dave and Lorraine. The drive took about 4 hours.
A chilli chicken dinner at home and bed by 10pm.
Friday 7 Apr 23 Up at 5am (body clock alarm back to normal) and spent a couple of hours having cups of tea and reading quietly downstairs waiting for the household to wake at 7am.
Waffles are Dave's signature breakfast dish and we enjoyed them with raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.
Dave and I then visited the new National Museum of the United States Army at nearby Fort Belvoir where Dave volunteers as a guide -
www.thenmusa.org Yet again very impressed with the quality and presentation of the facility. It is very bright and shining but is not overwhelming with 5 galleries covering the Army involvement from the Revolutionary Wars through to present day. It presents in a different way to our own Australian War Museum in Canberra and is something that could be covered in a one day visit.
Spent about 4 hours visiting the Museum while Lorraine and Roz visited some local shops at Occaquan. Unfortunately, the cold weather and wind were not
favourable and cut their visit short. Also, a lot of shops were closed as it is Easter Friday.
Easter does not appear to be as "big" and all encompassing event here as it is in Australia. Certainly, there is not a universal long weekend with public holidays on Easter Friday or the Monday. Each of the counties seem to have different arrangements in place with some schools still open on Good Friday. Sophie and Isaac are on holidays this week but are having Monday off as a pupil free day.
Following a light lunch at home, Dave and Lorraine very kindly drove us back to Adrian's place at Gambrills, north of Washington. The drive took about two hours. We offered to take the train but were not allowed to do that !!
It was great catching up with Dave and Lorraine and once again we seemed to just pick up from where we left off after the last visit back in 2018. They are good friends and we value their companionship. Dave's heritage is Hawaiian and we resolved to meet in Hawaii at some date in the future.
Back to Adrian and Vanessa's place and they
put on a great dinner at home. Adrian made a fish pie which was absolutely delicious (and that is from someone who is not over keen on seafood). His attempt at a Mille-feuille with roast strawberries and mascarpone for dessert did not work out so well !! The baking paper caught fire and the smoke set off the smoke alarms. Sophie and Isaac were sent on a rescue mission to the local shops and a baked cheesecake and icecream filled the void (their choice) !!
Also at the dinner was a guest - an Australian Army Brigadier who had recently arrived in the USA for a similar posting to Adrian, although in a different area. His wife had to return to Australia to visit their lads who were in boarding school in Toowoomba and in Canberra. Adrian and he knew each other very well (he was also a Signals officer before he was promoted to Colonel and Brigadier) and we had a very interesting evening in conversation.
Well sated and bed by 10pm.
Saturday 8 Apr 23 Up at 5:30am - cooler down to 5 degrees with a high of 11 forecast for the day. Weak
sunlight now appearing over the horizon.
Today, we have an early celebration of Sophie's 17th birthday which is due on 2 May. We will be gone by then so we are taking the family out to dinner tonight to mark the event.
Outing to see the Dutch Farmers Market at Annapolis. The markets only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday and are run by the Amish community. All sort of fresh and prepared produce as well as baked goods and breads. All of the ladies in their white bonnets and the gents with their shaped beards. These markets are obviously very popular if the number of people attending is any indication. Did not think the prices were particularly cheap though.
Met Adrian and Vanessa's next door neighbor Dennis who came over for a drink. He was a Coast Guard officer during his working life stationed up and down the US Eastern Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately lost his wife last year due to illness.
On to the celebration of Sophie's 17th birthday !! We went to a local restaurant - Fuji Hibachi and Sushi Bar -
jcfuji.com. I guess any Saturday night is popular
anywhere but this place was heaving with people and a waiting line out the door. Typical hibachi style cooking stations where the chef performs his skills tossing and turning and firing celery pieces at people in the hope of catching them in one go in the mouth. Sophie and Isaac were successful - the rest of us dismal failures.
The mountain of fried rice, noodles, vegetables and your choice of seafood, chicken or beef delivered to your plate was amazing. It does lead to significant waste of the rice and noodles in particular but no one can walk away from the table feeling hungry - and the food was good !
Sophie did say she enjoyed the meal and she was given a small dessert of icecream with a candle in it and a chef using a gong to beat time to the Happy Birthday song at the table. Sophie was embarrassed but it was a good family night out for us all.
A visit to Cold Stone Icecream on the way home topped off the night's entertainment - just what we needed !!!
Bed at 10:30pm after some movie watching on TV.
Sunday 9 Apr 23
Up at 5am - 0 degrees this morning with a high of 16 forecast. The 16 degrees was in fact reached at 4:30 pm - and it has been a beautiful blue sky day !!
Baking day for Roz making a Victoria Sponge birthday cake for Sophie and strawberry jam from the leftover fruit. Adrian is putting a lamb roast dinner in the Weber tonight and the cake is the second early birthday celebration.
Leaving Roz at home to do the baking (by choice as she was not feeling flash), the rest of the family piled into the RAM and headed north to Fort McHenry, located strategically at the entrance to Baltimore harbour.
The normal entry fee to the Fort is USD$15 (would have cost us USD$60 - Isaac was free). Adrian flashed his Australian Army ID card and the very kind Park Ranger let us in for free !!
Fort McHenry played a significant part in the defence of Baltimore in 1814 against an attacking British Fleet and infantry. It is located at the entrance to Baltimore Harbour and if the British had defeated the Revolutionary Garrison at the Fort, it could
have entered and taken Baltimore. The British Fleet was turned away and the ground troops were not successful in their operations to take the city of Baltimore.
www.nps.gov/fomc/learn/historyculture/history-of-fort-mchenry. It is also famous as the location where Francis Scott Key witnessed the battle between the British and the American Revolutionaries and formed the ideas for composing the (now) National Anthem "
Star Spangled Banner".
Once again, the quality of presentation of the site and the accompanying theatrette introduction is done so well. On arrival, you are guided to the Theatrette in the Visitor Centre where the introductory film is shown, culminating in the playing the Star Spangled Banner. As the anthem is being played, the screen retracts into the roof, exposing the Fort and the American Flag (see
Fort McHenry 1 - View from Theatrette in the photos). So much a demonstration of the patriotism that is displayed so often here in the USA - and I do mean that in a very positive way.
Dinner time and Adrian has put a roast lamb on the Weber. It turned out to be a great roast that even tasted like lamb !! All the roasted trimmings and we have
had a great Sunday night roast lamb dinner. The only thing missing was Tom Cruise.
Grandma's Victoria Sponge made an appearance with some candles - which Sophie made short work of. Still half a cake and half the lamb left - guess what's for dinner tomorrow night ??.
We hope Sophie has enjoyed her early birthday celebrations.
Bed by 10:30pm
Monday 10 Apr 23 Up at 5am - 0 degrees again !! Heading for a high of 18 today.
Adrian has to head into work this afternoon for a briefing. He is flying to the UK on Saturday for a week to attend a conference or the like over there.
We are almost at the end of this phase of the holiday - heading to NYC on Wednesday. The time has passed too quickly for us but no doubt A&V will be happy to get back to their normal routines. Nothing like having "extras" around the house - even if it is family !!!
Highlight for the day is talking a long walk through 3 shopping centres to reach
Le's Nails - where Roz had her nails done before we head for
the ship. The cost was the same in USD as it is in AUD (i.e. USD$60 vs AUD$60). So it is already 50% more expensive (AUD$90) plus the 20% tip which is applied to every service provided over here !! Meanwhile, JT engaged in WFW activity (Waiting For Women) wandering aimlessly for an hour !!
One striking thing here is how polite drivers are to pedestrians crossing the road. Invariably, cars will stop and the drivers wave pedestrians safely across the road, whether there is a crossing or not. No tooting or bad language - just plain polite. Cannot necessarily say the same for a number of drivers on the Interstate roads where crossing several lanes, at high speed, without so much of an indication appears de rigeur. As previously observed, one does not take off straight away when lights turn green. Pause, look and wait for the red light runner - another national sport then go, if it is clear.
Left over roast lamb and vegetables again for dinner - how good does that get !!?? Might even be some Victoria Sponge left too.
Tomorrow is washing, drying, ironing and packing day in preparation for our
departure by train to NYC on Wednesday.
Bed by 10pm
Tuesday 11 Apr 23 Positively tropical this morning - 4 degrees with a 25 degree high forecast for the day.
Sophie and Isaac back to school and back into routine.
A & V suggested a breakfast / brunch at Annapolis - about 30 minute drive to the East from Gambrills. We stayed in Annapolis 5 years ago with Dave and Lorraine - so it was nice to revisit the location.
Breakfast was had at a cafe called Iron Rooster which is right on the harbour area of Annapolis - very pleasant. Breakfast portions were more than adequate, satisfying us for both breakfast and lunch. The ladies had eggs benedict and the lads Angry Pig Omelette ( Canadian bacon/sausage/bacon / provolone/jalapeno/chipotle hollandaise / home fries)
- www.iron-rooster.com. Beautiful day with blue skies and temperatures up around 24 degrees.
A walk up Main Street to work off the breakfast and home to pack.
Had to pick up Isaac from school as his bus was not running today.
Quiet night at the ranch and early to bed to prepare for the trip to
NYC tomorrow. Leaving BWI Thurgood Station at 10:35am. We have put in a bid to upgrade from Coach to Business Class on the Amtrak train - waiting to see if our bid is successful.
Probably this is the last entry for this phase of the holiday - new one starts from NYC -
NYC & Norwegian Gem Transatlantic Cruise 12-30 May 2023
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Enjoy your time with family and safe travels x