Long Trip, Short Walk

Once again October brought about a long separation from home for me. I missed the trees changing here in Maine as the boat left on the first for a three week trip. Our first stop was New London, CT, home of the Coast Guard Academy, on Tuesday the 2nd. We pulled into the city pier right next to the downtown train station.

After getting most of Wednesday off, our mission was to spend time with the cadets, showing them buoy tender life while gaining perspective on their training. This consisted of long days at work waiting around to give tours, or in my case, cooking a lot. We wrapped this up on Friday afternoon, and a good number of us headed to the campus to watch the Academy Bears football team take on the Fitchburg State Falcons. The game was an absolute treat as 8 of our crewmembers ran the chain gang, and the Bears set the school and conference records for total offensive yards (684). You can read more here http://www.uscgasports.com/content/view/689/76/

On Saturday the 6th we made the 12 hour transit to New York City and its surrounding waterways. We stopped in the East River to decommission a buoy in the shadows of the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings. After snagging the buoy we made our way to Bayonne, NJ – our homeport for the remaining time of this trip, moored up outboard of the Katherine Walker.

Although it’s right around the corner from the Statue of Liberty, the Coast Guard moorings in Bayonne are not all that fascinating. The water looks funny, it’s surrounded by cargo facilities, and there are landfills everywhere (including one cleverly disguised as a links style golf course). However …no, that’s pretty much it for Bayonne.

After an eventfully uneventful week (lots of stuff I’d rather forget, including a 5am tour of Chinatown and a hospital emergency room), we pulled into Manhattan on the 12th, a Friday. We stayed at a cruise ship pier near 12th Ave & W 52nd St. I stood duty that night, and it was a ghost ship. Nearly everyone was off the boat, and no one returned until well after my 8pm-12am watch ended.

On Saturday I wanted to get out and stretch my legs (but not so much spend my money). After cooking breakfast I set out with John and Justin. We wanted to see the World Trade Center and Ground Zero. What an incredible walk! I was floored at how much I enjoyed every aspect of it. We passed a huge post office, portions of Times Square, a street fair, Madison Square Garden, a zillion people and pets, 6 zillion pizza places, Greenwich Village, The Bull, and of course Ground Zero, which was heartbreaking.

Five miles we totaled as we arrived at the Staten Island ferry terminal and Battery Park. We rode the subway back. John and I got off at Canal Street for a proper tour of China Town – the not-5am version. Justin was tired and rode back alone, only to make a wrong turn and walk all the way to the East Side and back. After Canal Street John and I went to the boat for free food, and then I went off to Times Square.

Times Square was a let down of sorts. Too many people were gawking at everything like I was. The highlight was seeing the video of Geoffrey the Giraffe outside of Toys R Us. I had a discussion with some of the shortest of our crewmembers the previous week about how they thought he resembled me. They said it was the eyes; I was convinced it was my relative towering stature. They were right – he’s not that tall for a giraffe.

Our day wrapped up nicely. I had walked over eight miles and spent a whopping $24 thanks to the subway and three of Geoffrey cross-dressing as the Statue of Liberty for the girls. The next morning we needed to be out of the way, so we got underway at 0530. We went back to Bayonne for fire school after a stop to see the real Statue. I got lost in Staten Island with a group from the boat. We found a bar though. On Saturday the 20th we started the 36-hour trip home, arriving after 1am on Monday. And that was our trip, minus the anchoring, the fans, the imploding A/C, the floating vinegar, the holding position, the spilled fruit punch, the missing fuel sheet, the free t-shirts, the Mexican, Asian, couple of white guys, and the molester, and the HD PS3.

I took a couple of pics, but I left the camera at work. So here’s something I missed: costume tryouts -

Goodnight

Today I worked hard. I had duty last night, so the day started for me at 0330. Both of my watchstanders happened to be my roommates, so I woke up when St. Mo woke up Butch. Then I stayed awake for their near five minute conversation. My actual day started when Butch woke me at 7am. After getting suited up, I went to make a round, finalize the logs, and hand over the watch.

Promptly relieved at 8:45, I changed into my civvies and headed to the grocery store. I had prepared a list for our week’s worth of food yesterday, so this trip shouldn’t be any sweat. I took care of the dry items in no time. I even fit them into one cart. And I only had to go backwards once (Hannaford puts their stupid baked beans on the stupid wrong side of the stupid wrong aisle).

I turned in the second and third cart in record time, spending less time on those two than at least one young couple spent haggling over their first. The fourth cart was nothing but frozen items: ice cream, garlic bread, and very few frozen vegetables (the new captain is adamant about fresh and fancy). Checkout was a gloriously quick 35 minutes. It was so fast that I barely got to marvel at how efficient my cart packing was. My 4 carts turned into 6 carts of bagged groceries. The damage was a mere $1190. It should last our 24 about 4 days.

Having left the boat at 9am, I wanted to arrive back with the groceries at 12. As I started up the van I glanced at the clock. 11:15. Amazing! Two hours and 15 minutes for four carts of groceries! I had the entire load (thanks to today’s duty section) on the boat and put away by 11:45.

Home by 12, I started in on mowing the lawn. I only massacred 3 bees and 2 frogs (I thought those things could jump farther!). A quick shower and I went back to the grocery store to tackle a new recipe for Mary: Mango Martini a la Applebee’s. The liqueurs were stowed and I was on the couch minutes before Tiger’s 3pm tee-time. I watched most of the final round of his 13th major championship before heading out to my family’s cookout in the front yard. Thank God for DVR, because I was able to pause live TV and come in to watch Tiger’s shots (which is all I EVER watch golf for).

The cookout was grand. Afterwards I did the easy part of teaching Abby how to ride a bike. That is, I pretended to hold on to her while she did exactly what Mary and Mim had already told her how to do. She can now go from a stop all the way down the driveway and then use her brakes to stop herself before ending up on Route 17.

Once the bugs realized how good of a marinade we had on, we moved inside. Now the kids are in bed and I can start my day off. Or I can go to bed. It’s late.

Casa

I love having family in town. I love hosting people at my house. I remember in college my mother bought a hot plate so I could mix up hot chocolate in the dorms during the anticipated cold Indiana winter. I was so excited to be able to invite my good friends over to enjoy a cup with me. It was thrilling, anticipating their arrival.

Visits were always electrifying as a child too. My Grandma and Grandpa Watson used to travel into town in their oversized RV. In my earliest memories they would stay at the KOA campground. Swimming pool, recreation center, and playground – what an adventure! At the house we would enjoy rolled tacos from Lolita’s whenever my Grandpa “cooked”. Eventually we would all sit around and enjoy my Grandfather’s best anecdotes and road stories. Sometimes we would be privy to his sea stories from life on the submarine. He was always the best at telling jokes. His sense of humor was so refined. At times he would pause at the end of a joke, his hands frozen where he had delivered the punch line, waiting for the subtlety to sink in.

We lived on the corner of Montclair and Melrose in Chula Vista. Our main thoroughfare to either freeway and to downtown CV was L Street, straight down Melrose. One day Grandpa was giving me a ride to the movies. Perhaps it was the re-release of the original Star Wars, before that crappy prequel. We were driving on Melrose, coming up the hill from Inkopah. Grandpa asked for directions. I told him to go straight to L and take a left. It took me a full minute to realize why he was pretending to be so biblically offended.

The Coast Guard has shown me more of how much I love hosting people at my house. In Sitka it was poker games. Any time I have ever sat down to play a game of poker I have sat down with my stomach full of butterflies. The only evasion of this problem has come from preparation as a host. My favorite lonely pastime is brewing coffee and sorting poker chips. I truly enjoy having visitors comfortable in my home. Here in Rockport that translates into Super Bowl parties, cookouts, and Wii Bowling Tournaments. Well, not so much that last one… yet!

So as Mike leaves to head back to work, I realize how incredibly short this packed summer will be – how I need to treasure every moment of my time with family and my new friends. I am so excited to see how much fun the remainder will be, as I am having the time of my life.

The New England Experience

We had guests at the house recently. My brother Erick was in town. The kids loved him and called him Uncle Ick (well, the shorter ones did anyway). His visit was overlapped by my parents, Bill and Jane. We tried to give them as much New England as we could.

Here's Bill with a 3.5 lb Lobster and a Sam Adams.

We ran out to Kevin and Jodie’s to see Owl’s Head Light. Since we know the “keepers” we got to show them inside.

Then we showed them around the Mighty Warship Abbie Burgess.

Later we ran to Acadia on Mount Desert Island:

Wii pretty much did everything that New England has to offer… except Candlepin Bowling. Wii hate Candlepin Bowling. Instead Wii found a different form of bowling. One the kids could enjoy.