Vacation! part 2 - DC

Two of the guys Dad fought in the war with.

Dad in front of the Vietnam War Memorial

Women singing in Korean in front of the Korean War Memorial


Cody, Mike, Dad, Matt, and I after the race. Dad even wore the a shirt to match Matt and I.

Dad, Matt, me, and Mom after running by the Pentagon.

Friday morning, October 3rd, Mom, Dad, Matt, and I left for DC. After checking into the hotel, Matt and I had to pick up our bibs for the race. We walked around the Expo a little and then decided it was time to see the sights. We walked around the Mall – almost all of it!! We took a few pics in front of the Capitol and walked by the Washington Monument and reflecting pond. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the White House, it was a little too far away and we didn’t make reservations to go inside. The Vietnam Memorial was very special for us. Dad was a Chinook pilot during that war. He was able to find the names of two guys he worked with. V One died in helicopter while talking on the radio with Dad. Dad said the guy was talking and the radio suddenly went silent. Dad flew over and saw smoke and the wreckage. It was a pretty emotional for me; I can only imagine what my dad was feeling deep inside. But, I guess he’s had many years to work through those emotions. I’m just thankful God blessed my dad and he made it home. I’m glad we went to the Vietnam Memorial, it is beautiful tribute to those who didn’t make it home. The Korean Memorial was unexpectedly emotional, too, even though I don’t think I know anyone who was in that war. As we walked up to the memorial, a group of Korean women were singing a sad Korean song in front of the site and they were surrounded by wreaths of flowers. Their song was haunting and even though most of us watching didn’t understand their words, you could feel their sorrow. The last stop for the day was Lincoln Memorial, which is quite impressive; picture really doesn’t do it justice. Saturday was spent going through various Smithsonians’. Mom, Dad, and I went into the Science and Space Smithsonian for the first half of the day and then to the Natural History Smithsonian the second half. It was overwhelming. Really one needs to spend all day in just one and really take everything in. My favorite parts were space exhibits and the rock, gem, and precious stone exhibit. Matt spent most of that day with his old co-worker, Mike and his son, Cody. After a long day of information overload, we went to a California Pizza Kitchen and loaded up on carbs - yummy!! Matt and I shared a pizza and pasta dishes…talk about carb overload!!! That night we drank a lot of water and went to bed early. Sunday morning, October 5th, we were up bright and early for the race. The Army 10-Miler starts at the Pentagon which was just 2 blocks away from our hotel. So we got there about an hour early and somehow we ended up at the very back! But, me and my bro ran ~11 minute miles so we ended up passing a lot of people. We didn’t break any records, but we finished!! :) I was sooo happy, I was pretty nervous about this run and I was relieved when it was over. I felt really good until the end. I had only trained running 8 miles, so around the 9th mile all my joints started to tighten and tense up. Other than the last mile, it was actually a very enjoyable run. My bro entertained me the whole time. I don’t think he was hurting at all, then again, he’s used to running 9 minute miles. I’m very proud of us for finishing together!! After the run we cleaned up and drove back to Williamsburg, VA. I took it real easy the rest of the day and watched movies.

Vacation! part 1 - VA

My bro at work. He looks good in his uniform! :)

A replica of the fort at Jamestowne in the 1600's.

I got in really late on Tuesday, September 30th. Wednesday morning, my parents and I went historic Jamestowne. We went to a well done museum and it was very informative. I stopped by Matt's work and we went for a practice run. We had dinner over at Matt and Montie’s. As usual, Brady was very entertaining. Matt and I stayed up watching one of his crazy sci-fi movies, it was very silly. Thursday we went to Yorktown and had lunch along the James River. Then we went to the Yorktown Visitor’s Center and learned a little more about colonial history. An important point I had forgotten about, if it wasn’t for the French, we would not have been able to fight off the British and become our own Country. That night, Brady, Matt, and Montie came over and had dinner at Mom’s and Dad’s.

Tampa....again

Starting September 22nd, I spent another couple of days in Tampa going to a conference. It was fun to hang out with co-workers, but the conference/expo was disappointing.

Tahoe

Boats on the lake

The beach on Lake Tahoe

The girls after one of our yummy meals

I picked Amy up on Thursday, September 18th, night from SJC and we drove up to Sarah’s house in Petaluma. We spent the night there and then drove up to Tahoe on Friday morning. We picked our Sacramento, Jane, friend up along the way. We ate delicious dinners both Friday and Saturday nights. We all went for a long walk on Saturday, it was beautiful. Sarah won money at Black Jack at the casinos!

The Final Grape

At dinner at parents’ house, my 5 year old nephew, Brady, was entertaining us. My dad, who loves to tease, was pretending to steal Brady’s grapes. Brady was getting annoyed. He gave everyone else at the dinner table a grape except for me and my dad. Then, he pulls a grape from the vine and holds it up and says, “This is the final grape. Whoever doesn’t get it will go to the dark of shame!” He dramatically hands me the grape (to teach his Papa not to take his grapes). We cracked up laughing! Where do kids get this stuff from?! :)

Virginia

Oh no! Brrady and I are experiencing the guillotine, like in Colonial times...

William and Mary had a 200 person band!!

The Christmas section of Yankee Candle, where it snows!

We arrived in Richmond, VA, September 10th, and I decided to ride with Mike into Newport News. Well, unfortunately, I miss read the directions and we took the long way. Instead of an hour, it took us 3 hours!!! Luckily for me, Mike was in no hurry and didn’t get mad at me at all! What a good friend! Finally, we found the way to our hotel and it was lunch time so we ate and then I took a nap because we didn’t have to meet up with group until 7pm. I got to hang out with my parents for a couple of hours that afternoon and that was a nice “bonus” visit. The next two days were spent at Ft. Eustis and the experiments went perfectly. My brother even stopped by for a visit and met some of my co-workers. They were surprised to meet another Verett! :) Friday night, instead of flying home I went over to my parents’ house in Williamsburg and my mom made some home cooked food (yea!). Saturday we walked around old colonial Williamsburg. It was very hot and humid so it made it quite uncomfortable. We ended up leaving and I went for a short 2 mile run that afternoon. Saturday night we went to a William and Mary vs. VMI football game and it was a blow out. We left after the 3rd quarter because William and Mary’s team was up more than 30 points. While walking home (and making a stop at the WaWa for some ice cream) my sister-in-law got stopped twice by people who thought she looked like Sarah Palin!! We thought it was funny, but true! Montie had her hair up and glasses on and she does resemble Governor Palin. They are both pretty women. The next day, we went to Church and then to the biggest Yankee Candle store I have ever seen!!! It even snowed (real snow) in the Christmas section!!! After lunch at Olive Garden my weekend get-away was over and I had to go to Tampa for a meeting on Monday.

New York/New Jersey

I "heart" NYC!

Me and Kyla :)

Dinner in Little Italy with friends!

Times Square

Grand Central Terminal is beautiful!

My traveling buddy, Mike, along withnAlex, Dave, and Herb looking at the view of NYC.

I arrived in Newark Airport on Saturday, September 6th, in the evening and it was raining like crazy. Tropical storm, Gustave was moving through the area and there were reported 2-4 hour delays at all the airports. Somehow my flight was only 20 minutes late! This was a nice surprise; I thought we would not be able to land so quickly or at all. A nice, but very nervous taxi driver took me to my hotel in Jersey City and I was happy to get there safe and sound. Sunday was sunny and warm and I didn’t have to meet up with co-workers until 2pm. A co-worker whom I seem to travel with a lot named Mike, and I took the PATH train over to Manhattan and did fun tourist things. We saw Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and Grand Central Terminal. We walked everywhere and had a great time. The only store I allowed myself to go into was Sephora. Monterey doesn’t have any of those stores, so I walked in and was encircled by beauty products. Even though I don’t wear a lot of makeup I was in awe of my surroundings. I bought a few things and decided to leave while my total was still under $100. Mike and I hopped back on the PATH train to Jersey to meet up with some co-workers. As it turns out Alex (the head of these experiments) only needed a few of us to help him setup antennas on the ship, so he let the rest of us go. Mike was tired and I needed to get a run in, so we went back to the hotel after a stop at Starbucks. That night, a group of us hopped on the train just after one stop we got off in a cute little town called Hoboken. We ended up at a restaurant a long the water and that was recommended to us. On Monday, we found our way over to the shipyard docks and spent the day boarding a huge container ship that was the length of at least 2 football fields. That experiment could have gone better and it was exhausting. Walking on hard steel all day is really painful for feet! That night we went back over to Hoboken and went to another restaurant, where we sat upstairs and dined on more delicious food. Tuesday, it rained in the morning for two hours and it put a damper on the experiment. We eventually got some tests done and then called it quits early. This was nice because I got to go back to the hotel and relax before heading back into the city. That night I was escorted into New York by Mike and two other Coast Guard guys that were participating in the experiments. We met up with my friends from the OC, Kyla and Jeff. They were vacationing in Little Italy randomly at the same time I was there. We went to the little apartment where Kyla and Jeff were staying and got to check out an authentic New York-style apartment….very small!!! But, they were able to rent it way cheaper then they could a hotel for 7 days. Afterwards, we walked around Little Italy until we found several restaurants that looked good. We were trying to decide between 2 across the street from each other, when both hosts walked out and tried to convince us that we really wanted to go to their particular restaurant. They were battling for our business. When we were still unsure, they started offering us “extras.” One offered us a free bottle of wine and the other finally offered us a table outside, which is what we really wanted. We had a wonderful Italian dinner on a sidewalk in New York with great conversation. I was really happy to spend time with my friends in New York!!! The next morning we had an early morning flight to Richmond, VA to continue the experiments.