If you have noted the prolonged absence of The Grandstander in recent weeks, it is due to the fact that we made our annual trek with Mrs. Grandstander's side of the family to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, specifically, Corolla in Currituck County. This was out thirty-fifth year for this trip, and there was a grand total of eleven Sproules, Moellenbrocks, Stoners, and Richards in attendance this year.
There is not really much that I can say about this vacation, as we all did pretty much what we have always done on this trip - lazed on the beach and at the pool, ate well, relaxed, and enjoyed each other's company. I strongly suspect that it is this "sameness" that makes this trip so special for everyone of us.
I won't go into a lot of detail, but, for the sake of my own personal historical record, I will share a few photos with you.
On Monday night of the week, Marilyn and I prepared the dinner. As many of you may know, we always try to have a special "theme" for our dinner, and this year it was "Chinese New Year", specifically, the Year of the Pig.
Appropriate decorations....
And if the food wasn't authentically Chinese, at least it was authentically labeled....
Our weather was perfect. We did not miss a single minute of beach time because of rain or bad weather. Although one evening, some awesome storm clouds rolled in....
Followed by heavy rains....
And when the rains stopped, it produced a pretty rainbow....
And an even more beautiful sunset....
Nature can be spectacular.
On our own "date night", Marilyn and I went to this place...
...and while we didn't stay for the actual sunset, we did enjoy this cool view during our meal.
During the trip, I bought only one thing for myself, and it came from the campus bookstore at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA:
This will be my way of standing with Mike Tomlin during the upcoming Steelers season.
One interesting observation for you. The house where we stay is, of course, equipped with lovely flat screen HD television sets. However, from the the time we arrived on Saturday until Thursday night, none of the TV sets were ever turned on. It was only on Thursday evening when someone realized that there were NFL exhibition games airing on the NFL Network that the set was turned on. In all, the television was on for probably about three hours in the course of the entire week. For the better part of six days, television did not exist in our world, and, I have to say, it was peaceful and delightful. I didn't miss it for one second.
It was good week. Nothing beats time spent on a beautiful and relaxing beach.
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