Family....Old and New

When we arrived at Leisure Point RV Resort in Millsboro, DE, on Sat. (6/21), we had to wait for the 2pm check-in time. It wasn't that “our” spot was occupied, they just have a very strict rule that no RVs are allowed in until the check-in time. Evidently members had complained about RVs coming in early. So for 1 hr. 15 min. our motorhome sat outside their guard gate until we could go in. Seems to us that a 39 ft. motorhome (no matter how nice) and car sitting at the entry for over an hour would be worse than letting it in, but hey, what do we know!

Anyway, once we got settled, I drove to my sister's house 20 min. away in Rehoboth Beach. After all the hellos, being amazed at the length of Julie's hair (longest she's ever had it!, etc., etc., we headed off to one of the local Mexican restaurants where we shared a huge plate of nachos and a carafe of homemade Sangria! Yummm!!! After some shopping, we stopped at Friendly’s Restaurant (where she currently works) and shared a scrumptious dish of 4 different flavors of ice cream accompanied with brownies, whipped cream, and cherries…double yummm!!

Since Julie had never seen the RV or "the kids", she picked me up Sun. morning in her convertible. The plan was to head for the beach driving down U.S. 1 with the top down. On the way back towards Rehoboth Beach, Julie called her good friend, George, since he had told her he was looking forward to meeting me. George has lived here all his 62 years as did his pappy and his grandpappy, so he’s full of historical information on the area. He insisted on buying us lunch and then took us on a drive. The first place we visited was Cape Henlopen State Park (www.destateparks.com/chsp/chsp.htm) just a few miles down the road in Lewes, DE. There are several beaches but unknown (and sometimes unseen) to most visitors is a lot of WWII history. With the onset of World War II, the U.S. Army established a military base at Cape Henlopen in 1941. Bunkers and gun emplacements were camouflaged among the dunes, and concrete observation towers were built along the coast to spot enemy ships. There were 11 of these towers built between 1939 and 1942, and Julie and I climbed to the top of one of the observation towers. The views were incredible, and if you look straight down, you could see symbols and sayings created in dirt below.

George drove us from one end of the Cape to the other, sharing historical knowledge and pointing out several “points of interest”. We passed the lightship Overfalls (www.overfalls.org/), also located in Lewes and built in 1938. It’s been on the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal since 1973 and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Further down the road we passed the salt marshes and several platforms designed specifically for the Osprey (Fish Hawk) to nest. Some were flying, and we even saw one sitting in the nest! We spent a good 4 hours with George, and a good time it was. He’s an interesting and fun man chock full of information.

Once we got back to Julie’s car, we decided it was too late to set out on our adventure in the convertible so opted instead to stop for a glass of wine, and then drove down the street to the local discount movie theater and watched Leatherheads starring George Clooney and Renee Zellweger. Cute movie but glad we didn’t pay full price to see it.

The next day I drove to her house, and even though isolated thunderstorms were predicted, again our plan was to try the drive down the highway in the convertible. But after running a couple errands, her husband called and needed the car, so we returned it to her house and took off in the Saturn. Hey, at least it’s got a sunroof! Before we left town, we stopped for a quick bite at Crabby Dick’s (www.crabby-dicks.com/home.htm), the home of double entendres plastered all over the wall and the menu! They’ve got the best Cream of Crab soup, and we shared a Crab Pretzel appetizer, a huge baked pretzel with a cheesy crab topping. It was really tasty but just a little too much “bread”.

We continued our drive stopping in Bethany, another small resort town, full of little shops and restaurants (otherwise known as a tourist trap J). At the entrance to the main street is a large totem pole, which has been a landmark there since 1976. Known as Whispering Giants, these totem poles were created by Peter Wolf Toth, a humanitarian who wanted to give thanks to the U.S. He has donated a sculpture to each U.S. state and Canadian province plus a few outside of North America. We walked down to the beach, which was crowded, and sat for awhile enjoying the scenery….and the lifeguards. Tee hee!

Back in the car, we continued driving and shortly were in Ocean City, MD…I hadn’t realized just how short a distance it was! Before I arrived, we had talked about going to a place called Fager’s Island (http://www.fagers.com/), a restaurant/bar in Ocean City that has a very special event called Sunsets by Tchaikovsky. Every night the William Tell Overture plays over the loudspeakers timed perfectly to the setting sun. It is supposed to be spectacular, but since the sun wasn’t setting until late, we decided we’d have to skip it for this trip. We had planned to have a drink there, but Julie wasn’t feeling too good (think the heat was getting to her), so we left and stopped at a pizza place on the way back. Back at her house, I said my good-byes to her kitties, her husband, and to her. Though short, we had a really good visit.

Tues. morning Russ and I took off for his sister’s in Atco, NJ, for a 2 week visit. The day before Terri’s daughter-in-law delivered her 2nd son, Josh, and on Thurs. morning I went to the hospital with Terri and “big brother” Will to meet my new grand nephew…what a doll! Grandpa Bill showed up, too, and I got a sweet picture of the grandparents with their new grandbaby.



Another new addition to the family is niece Kristi’s new puppy, Xena. Though only an 8 month old Rottweiler, she weighs more than Mikey and is a typically goofy puppy. When we arrived, Barney and Rambo (Terri and Bill’s Scottish Terriers) seemed to remember Mikey and Abby…at least there wasn’t the scuffle like when we arrived last year, as you may recall. Kristi was a little apprehensive about how Xena would get along with our dogs, but everything was fine. Abby has nearly the same energy level as Xena so they were a great match.

Russ’ mom turned 90 this year and is doing well other than the Alzheimer’s has progressed even more. Most of the time she’s not sure who anyone is but has moments of lucidity, and still maintains her sense of humor at times. She seems to sleep a lot more and rarely changes out of her pajamas, but when you get to be that age, you can pretty much do what you want!

Sat. we took Bill and Terri to dinner at Outback, and on Sun. all the family came over for a barbecue to celebrate Taylor’s birthday. (Taylor is Matthew’s girlfriend.) Billy and Maggie brought Will and the baby, Kristi brought Xena, and some good friends of Bill and Terri’s from down the street joined the fun. While waiting to eat, Terri snapped a pic of Russ and Will relaxing on the couch watching their favorite movie, Cars. Even though it was Taylor’s birthday, Will helped blow out the candles. After dinner nearly everyone got in the pool, and we worked on teaching Xena how to swim and how to carefully get in/out of the pool using the steps. Bill and I decided we needed to work with her when there weren’t so many people around!











Mon. Bill and Terri took us to dinner at a place called Crab Trap (www.thecrabtrap.com/) near the Jersey shore, across the bay from Ocean City, NJ. What a great meal, and after stuffing ourselves, they drove across the bridge to give us a quick tour of Ocean City. Of course, this time of year it was packed with tourists so we headed back home. They said they enjoy coming down during the winter months when no one is around and stay at a friend’s place.