We're back at the same hotel as before since we enjoyed the first stay. Here's a glimpse of a similar room from that visit. We also got a Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross to drive which we don't like nearly as much as the Subaru so I didn't bother to take a picture. We had dinner with Jenni, Steve and Tuppence at the nearby Chipotle but unfortunately I forget to take any pictures. And that was day one of our trip!
A cool art piece at Sea-Tac, which otherwise was insane! We didn't take into account FIFA was in town, and despite how open this picture looks, every terminal was cram packed with people.
I've gotten too used to flying first class. I don't know if I can go back now. I mean look at this breakfast, and all the leg room? Fuhgeddaboutit.
We're on our way to Seattle to see my sister and bring some good cheer to help her fight Jabba the evil cancer hutt. We got to Nashville airport a bit early so stopped to have a light breakfast (because we'll also get one on the plane) which was surprisingly good.
This little fella decided to come hang out and soak up some sun today, he lounged for quite a while. Bear seems to have no interest in squirrels so far.
Esoteric Ebb is a game primarily made by just one person, who later brought in some help with art and music. It's an RPG in the vein of Disco Elysium and is excellent. A real testament that with some imagination and hard work, small, even single person studios, can still put out content of better quality than most of the chaff big studios are pumping out these days.
Dad is pup sitting our neighbor Matt's dog Tilly while they go on a quick trip. Dad had his volunteer shift at the hospital so we helped out by watching Tilly for him, for Matt, for a short while. She and Bear got on just fine.
Finished Dying Light The Beast, aka Dying Light 3. Like the first two it's just good enough to be entertaining but will never crack the top ten list for great games.
Had to head downtown to the Sheriff's HQ for a meeting with their IT folks. I hadn't been to their new building even though they've been in it for a few years now. Really nice, and the view from the parking lot is pretty too.
Loved the Book of Mormon, super funny. Not for the faint of heart, but if you aren't easily offended it's a blast. I would see it again.
We've always enjoyed live theater, so we're off to see the Book of Mormon at TPAC. I like the building and the location, so I'm a little bummed they have announced they are going to be moving to a new development across the river over the next few years. But such is life.
For some reason Bear has taken to sleeping on his snuffle mats. I guess whatever makes him happy!
Last month was a whirlwind that's going to be hard to top. But there's still plenty to look forward to. Busy year.
We couldn't do the official Memorial Day so we decided to honor it a little late with an Upper Greer BBQ, and what a spread Dad put out for us!
We've never taken our dogs to daycare before, and we don't know about what Bear was like in the three years before we got him. But we think it's important he keeps flexible and socialized. Especially since he's an only dog and will be for the foreseeable future. So this was a new experience for us all, taking him to the Hound Heelton. He proved as adaptable as ever, and came home exhausted having played his little heart out and gotten on fine with the other pups there. So this'll become a regular thing!
I was feeding the birds this evening and came back to the storage box to find it occupied. He's an ever curious, fearless little guy. We put the various types of feed in metal bins because critters were sneaking into the box at night and having themselves a midnight snack.
I completely redid the flower garden this year, and the new plants seem to be thriving. I only did three rows instead of four since the butterfly bush tends to spread out. I particularly like the purple ones.
We're back home after a whirlwind two weeks between the trip to Ohio and the trip to Georgia. It was a lot of driving, but well worth it. Lonnie sent us this picture, which is the official snap the school took after Payton walked off the stage at his graduation. We're excited to see what comes next for him at Mercer!
Megan took this picture so unfortunately she's not in it. But otherwise from left to right. Amanda, Payton, Lonnie, Lonnie Sr, Amanda's husband Tye, Mari and me!
Then the person who gave the commencement speech, who's name has unfortunately escaped me. And with that Payton officially graduated from High School and set his sights on Mercer University.
Speeches were made, mostly decent, and then the walk began. And as you can imagine with so many students, it took a minute to get there, but finally it was our turn to cheer for Payton as he gathered his diploma and shook the hand of the principal.
Then the traditional music started (which is called "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1" by Sir Edward Elgar for those curious) and man did they have to play through it a few times as the 800ish graduating students filed into the arena and filled up all the chairs.
As we waited for things to fill up they were showing pictures of the graduating class on the big screens. I snagged Payton's as it flashed by.
I guess I hadn't thought about it and was internally referencing my small graduation from Bellarmine many moons ago, so I wasn't expecting how massive this event was going to be. Set in a full size arena with three lines of people trying to get in wrapped around the place. Wow.
We had some time to kill this morning, and no museum to do it in, so we went across from our hotel to the massive Mall of Georgia. At least as big if not bigger than Opry Mills, it had a little bit of everything. Impressive. If we lived in the area I could see this being a frequent visit.
After one day of rest, it was back on the road. First Dayton, Ohio and now Buford, Georgia to spend time with Payton and see him graduate from high school. We got in late but met up with the fam and had an amazing meal at a place called Seasons 52. We wish there was one in Nashville.
This is the back of the coin, showing the different aspects of the program.
Starting at the bottom and going clockwise around the edge, that square building was the Air Force Satellite Control Building, which everyone in the program called "the Blue Cube." The next represents the launch facilities (like where Dad worked.) Next is a Corona satellite. Then a SIGNIT satellite. Then the Hexagon satellite. And finally the recovery program where they caught the falling film.
In the middle top is a Gambit satellite. And the middle bottom represents the satellite tracking stations they had across the globe.
Home and relaxing for a day before the next adventure. We each got one of these coins at Dad's event. I thought they were pretty cool.
On the way home from Dayton, the festivities complete. Neither Dad nor I had ever been to a Buc-ee's before so we decided to stop. It was...fine. Maybe because it was super crowded, or we were tired and in a bit of a hurry to get back on the road, or maybe I'd built it up too much in my head, but I didn't really see what the fuss was about.
It was a great dinner, Dad and Tom got to talk a lot, there were several speeches by interesting people. All in all a really nice event.
This is a picture of Dad and Tom taken when they were both working on Hexagon back in the day. Not the best since it's a side view of both, but you can kind of pick out that they've changed a bit in the last 50 years or so.
As I mentioned previously Tom invited us to sit at his table during the dinner so he and Dad could spend time catching up.
Dad made a special quilt with pictures of the various projects and launches he was a part of and showed it off.
They had quite the layout prepared with a place to check in, a large open area with all the tables and a stage with a big screen behind it. The greeting crew were quite the characters.
Of course you knew I couldn't go to a museum with a SR-71 or two in it and not take pictures. Still my favorite plane of all time.
May 17th, 1943 was the Memphis Belle's last combat mission. The 17th being tomorrow they were gearing up for a special presentation on it, and had some people there to answer questions about the plane and it's history.
Much of the museum was the same but these boards for the blind were new. Not only did it have a braille section explaining what the plane was, there was a little 3d model of the plane so a blind visitor could get a sense of what they were reading bout. Pretty cool.
