Ocean City, Maryland - part 1

We got to Ocean City (OC) Maryland on Sunday about noon and after checking into our hotel, we hit the boardwalk and beach running, so to speak. The first thing that Sierra wanted to do was go to one of two little amusement parks off of the boardwalk. It was fun and the Ferris wheel was very tall and so it made for a great way to view alot of the OC coastline. For those of you who don't know, I used to live about an hour north of OC in Dover Delaware for about 3 years and so I would spend many many hours walking the Atlantic coast line. It was refreshing and enjoyable to be back there.




Our hotel, the Atlantic Hotel, was perfectly located right off of the boardwalk and beach. It made it so easy for us to just run up to the room when we needed to and the views from its balconies was breathtaking.



We spent the day at the beach, the amusement park, the arcade, walking the boardwalk and shopping, having boardwalk fries, and even checking out the Ripley's Believe It or Not exhibit on the boardwalk. The day was definitely an enjoyable and memorable day spent with Sierra.

Its Summer Solstice, even In Washington D.C

Happy 1st day of Summer. I left Philipsburg Pennsylvania today about 1:30pm and headed south for an uneventful 3 hour and 45 minute drive to Reagan International Airport in Washington DC. I am now sitting in the airport waiting for Sierra's Alaska Airline flight to arrive from Seattle. I am getting excited to see her. Diana called me after Sierra's plane took off in Seattle and told me that they both handled her leaving very well and now Diana is on her way back to Boise, via Portland Oregon. Kyle had Saturday football practice and will be spending the rest of the day with his best friend, Jackson, and his family until Diana makes it back to Nampa Idaho to pick him up.

After Sierra arrives, we are heading east to Annapolis Maryland and will spend the night in a hotel and then tomorrow we head about 2 hours south to Ocean City Maryland for a couple of days enjoying and relaxing on the Atlantic Coast. I reserved a hotel room right on the boardwalk for us for a couple of nights and it will be good to spend some quality daughter/daddy time. She is my beach bum partner and so I am sure that we will have an awesome time.

Career Revelation

One of the goals of this journey is to try and figure out what I am supposed to be doing next with my life and see what I want to really do when I "grow up".

One thing I do know for sure is that it won't be Yard Sale Management. On Thursday and Friday my mom and sister, Tammy, had a yard sale at mom's place. The weather was good and mostly sunny for it and they got rid of alot of things that they no longer needed. Some folks that I haven't seen in a long long time came and "shopped" and it was nice to see them after all these years. I really enjoyed keeping my 9 year old nephew, 8 year old niece, and 4 year old nephew occupied, fed, and entertained while the ladies managed the sale.

For the record, and in writing, my sister has vowed that this will be her last yard sale. (Note: my brother in law can use this blog entry as proof that he has a witness that its her last one.) Love ya sis!

We have left Music City - U.S.A.

On Monday, we left Nashville and headed back to central Pennsylvania. Since it was a long 13 hour drive on the way down, I decided that we were going to go and only drive about half way and stop and spend the night somewhere. We stopped in Columbus Ohio and got some rest and then on Tuesday made the shorter drive the rest of the way back to Philipsburg PA. We took mom's car instead of my van since her vehicle gets better gas mileage and her car did awesome and we had no problems.

Going to Nashville with mom will be a memory that I will cherish and I think mom will do the same thing.

The Newest Grand Ole Opry Duet Stars

On Sunday after a nice BIG breakfast at a Bob Evans restaurant, we drove to downtown Nashville and toured the Grand Ole Opry Hall of Fame and Museum. Inside we got to see Elvis Presley's Gold Plated Cadillac and alot of other country stars, both past and present, memorabilia. Afterwards, we went up the street a couple of blocks and toured the original home of the Grand Ole Opry, which is the Ryman Auditorium. This is where mom and I made our "staged" debut on the actual stage that all the stars, such as Loretta Lynn and many many others got their start. It was an amazing day as well and a trip that I will always remember.

Welcome to the Grand Ole Opry

Saturday night mom and I had a nice evening at the Grand Ole Opry House and enjoyed a nice show watching such stars as Little Jimmy Dickens, Jean Shepperd, Marty Stuart and even Michael Jackson's brother who crossed over into country music, Jermaine Jackson. We also were present when the Southern Blues Band called the Carolina Chocolate Drops made their Nashville debut and they even got a standing ovation. It was a neat experience and they were very good.

Here is mom and I outside the Opry House before the show.

Stopping by "AJ's" house

On Saturday mom and I took a 3 hour tour of the stars homes in the Nashville area. It was amazing to see the homes of some famous people including Dolly Parton, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, George Jones, Minnie Pearl and Carrie Underwood. There was about 40 homes in all that we saw but my favorite was probably the sprawling estate of Alan Jackson.



What do you think? Pretty nice huh?