Sunday, October 21, 2007

J-ville

Bright and early Thursday morning (around 3:30 am) Kas, Charlie, Nora and I hopped into the car and headed for North Carolina!!! Overall, the trip went very well, we did hit a traffic jam in Conn. and crawled our way thru it for two hours!!!but Charlie and Nora were good little travelers... it's hard for anyone to stay in a car for 16 hours!!! When we arrived in "J-ville" (as Kassy calls it) her friend Mandi and hubby, Patrick, had the apartment all opened up with the lights on and were awaiting our arrival.


The moment I stepped out of the car, I knew for certain that I was no longer in New England. The air hit like a blast furnace (even at 8:30 pm) hot, muggy weather.... not my kind for sure!!! And what was really odd, is for a second or two, I was sort of "lost in time"... it was the same weather we had left back in April, and when we walked into the apartment, all of Kassy's little Easter decorations were still out... I knew that six months had gone by, and yet, it hadn't!!! It was weird!!! Patrick and Mandi helped us unpack the car (thank goodness.... Kassy's computer and TV can be heavy!!!) and we were pretty much settled in within the hour. Needless to say, we were tired, but we ran out for a few "need to have's now" and then crashed for the night. (One thing about J-ville, it's a 24 hour town, and almost everything and anything is open in the city!!!)


Friday, we did some running around with Mandi. Did the grocery shopping, grabbed some lunch out, things like that. We went to take the pups for a walk (Charlie and Mandi's corgi Evie) but a rain shower sent us back in for a little bit. We did squeeze a quick walk in and then Kas and I went out to supper. The weather was unbearable (in my opinion..) very hot and extremely muggy, I was not a happy camper, and we had to give in and put the ac on in the apartment, just to get some relief from it. Even Kas, being the hot weather gal that she is, said it was almost too much for her.

Saturday, Kas and I went out for breakfast, and then I wanted to poke around J-ville. There is a great little quilt shop that I always visit, so we went there ... (got some cute patterns and a couple of "kits") then we ran over to the base and I actually did some Christmas shopping . In the afternoon, we met up with Mandi, Patrick and Evie, and another friend of Kassy's ... Rae and her aussie, Rocko. Rae wasn't too excited about bringing Rocko, as he pulls her around on the leash, so guess what..... a bit of dog training for me!!!! What a grand dog he is and a quick study.... we went to PetSmart, picked him up a prong collar, and that was that. Rae was so proud of him and is thrilled that she will be able to walk him (which is what he needs).

Kassy took us to a beautiful park not too far from her house. There are trails and boardwalks along a river, and the day was grand... a little better now that some of the humidity had lifted. The first thing I noticed at the park entrance was this sign......being the "northerner" that I am... I was worried about running into one of these alligators!!! But Kass assured me that she has never seen one there, and we would be walking along the boardwalks and not the shore!!!! The board walks are really neat, and the trails go from them along into the woods and out again. Along the way there are benches to sit on and enjoy the view.

I snapped this cute picture of the three gals and pups together!!! We did a long walk, and at the end, both "man and beast" felt good and tired!!! Saturday night we just hung out and didn't do much of anything too exciting.

And then Sunday, it was time to think about heading north again. I flew home, which went fine, but flying just isn't for me!!!! (I don't know how folks do that as part of their jobs!!!) And home sure looked good when Ed and I pulled into the driveway last night.

So, in just a couple of weeks, we make the trip again. This time Ed and I will go together, spend sometime in Colonial Williamsburg and see Nate at homecoming!!!! can't wait.....................