Gee, but It's Great To Be Back Home....

So, have you all noticed the absence of The Grandstander in recent days? Oh, you haven't.  

Well, anyway, we were away last week on our annual sojourn to the beautiful beaches of Currituck County on North Carolina's Outer Banks.  It was yet another great week down there, but a bit different for all of us due to the fact that circumstances prevented Jill, Ryan, Gavin, and Cale from joining us this year.  That was a definite bummer for us all, but for the eight of us who were there, we made the most of it and had a great week.

High winds, cooler weather, and red flagged beaches got the week off to less than rousing start, but on Tuesday morning, the red flags came down and the hot weather rolled in.  We didn't miss a day on the beach, and it was great to cool off in the pool at the house after the hot trudge home from the beach in late afternoon.

It was great to spend a week with Zach and Nate, in spite of the realization that not only are they no longer babies, nor even little kids any more, but young adults.  The skim board that Zach struggled with last year he now rides like a pro.  And one of Marilyn's and my big memories from this trip will be the rousing games of  Sequence that we played with the boys one night.

I did a lot of reading down there this year:

• Stolen Prey by John Sandford
• The Sixth Phase by Robert J. Randisi
• The First Rule by Robert Crais
• After Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger
• Lifeboat No. 8, An Untold Tale of Love, Loss and Surviving the Titanic by Elizabeth Kaye

I will write about the first three more fully in separate posts, but I will point out that the last two on the lists are Kindle Singles.  If you own a Kindle and haven't checked out the Singles, you really need to do so.  They are short (anywhere from 40 to 100 printed pages), cheap ($.99 to $2.99), and feature some very well known writers.  Perfect for reading on the beach or poolside, or just before going to bed.

We also took our iPad with us and were fortunate in that the house did have a wireless set-up.  Thus, were were able to keep up with the news here at home which included the terrific week experienced by the Pirates after they were swept by the Orioles right before we left.  As you can see from the photo accompanying this post, we did our best to spread Pirates fever along the OBX.

As has been the pattern in recent years, we left the beach house at 2:15 AM on Saturday and pulled into our driveway at home at 11:45, a mere nine and one-half hours later.  Of course, we were totally exhausted last night, but that early morning effort is well worth it.  You avoid all the heavy home bound traffic until you hit the PA Turnpike in Breezewood, and, by the way, that stretch on the PA Pike is still the worst part of the trip, coming and going.

I once had a boss at Highmark who said with great wisdom, I thought, that "some vacations are better than others, but there is no such thing as a bad one".  I concur whole heartedly, but I also concur with the words of the great Paul Simon that headline this particular post.