Fun in the Sun

A variety of OIB shots.

Anthony.
Brianne.

Oceanside.

McKenzie.

Stop Off in Gettysburg

My long awaited 2 week vacation is quickly coming to an end. Three more day, the weekend, & then it's Monday. This has been a busy time & I am probably more tired than if I had been working. Attempted some heavy household chores & definitely have more sore muscles than my job causes & my allergies are a wreck thanks to the dust. Enough complaining. On our drive home from camping we made a quick stop in Gettysburg to take some shots. The plan is to return there to spend a day taking pictures of history. I will be the first to admit I am not a history buff, but it seems to me I can actually feel the grief, the stillness in the battlefield area, how horrible it must have been to fight your own countrymen, even as some accounts record, your brother. One of the monuments we seen was dedicated to a group from Maine - how long must it have taken just to get there! My best image of the day was of a cannon, I am now sorry I did not take a few minutes to read it's journey on the historical marker that was erected beside it to have it's story to share. Another favorite shot shows a reconstruction of the hospital, actually a barn. One can only imagine what horrors must have occurred as medical professional of that day practiced their trade.

Codorus State Park

Andy & I just spent a couple peaceful days at Codorus State Park located in Hanover PA. And yes, we did see the UTZ chip factory & the very large home of Hanover Foods. Our plans included fishing, reading, photography,& eating. Not too lucky on the fishing part, did really well on the eating & pretty good photography wise. Got a few paragraphs read on the lounge chair too. We rented a camping cottage, very nice except for the hard bed. The nearby lake was a beautiful blue color & enjoyed watching the sailboats. Did go out with Andy fishing one time, an unlucky trip for him, but I got some cool images to share. Squrrels were our nearest neighbors & provided much opportunity for photography, as did a chipmunk that was in & out. Sadly, as we approached the lake one evening an accident had happened just ahead, one of the vehicles was on fire, & emergency personnel soon arrived on scene. A helicopter was called to transport one of the drivers & landed on the highway. Fortunately, a news check the following day stated all involved were OK. We did make an emergency trip to Panara to take advantage of Wii since we were in internet withdrawal & for a yummy chia tea. One of the shots I am sharing today is of a great blue heron who had no intention of posing for me, as you will see he refused to stick around!

Wilmington NC

Some really big guns


The really big cable used to tie the ship.

The ships & planes taken out by the Battleship North Carolina

Wilmington is a beautiful city located along a busy river in NC. Just outside, actually, across the river, the Battleship North Carolina in located. This ship is retired, but is open to the public for touring. The first thought I had was WOW, look at the size of this thing! My images are only sections of it. I was pretty impressed by the float plane on the one end. A coworker explained to me how the plane was lifted from the ship, placed in the water for take off, then upon return was lifted back onto the deck. Another area that caught my eye was the flags that show how many ships & planes shot down by the battleship. How sad to be proud of taking human lives, but how necessary to our continued freedom. I actually made 2 trips to this site. The first earlier in the week with my daughter & grandson, then again on the drive home with my husband in the rain. Andy was very impressed with all the firepower contained on board - again so necessary. He explained, I understood some, but some I did not. Anyhow interesting stuff any way you look at it.

More from Ocean Isle Beach

The first photo shows my nephew, Anthony, enjoying a game of hide & seek with his cousins. Who would think to look way up in the balcony! Number 2 is a shot of flowers potted along the river walk in Wilmington, NC. Wilmington is about an hours drive from OIB & proudly houses the Battleship North Carolina, which is open for visitors - that is a story for another post. The last are the houses to our front left side on a moonlit night. We were lucky enough to enjoy a full moon during our stay.

Storm

The second day at Ocean Isle Beach brought about a thunderstorm. I sat on the deck & enjoyed watching the sky change as the storm moved in. The roof had a ledge just big enough to tuck myself & my camera under. My home located in the PA mountains do not allow such distant views.

A month later.................

It's been awhile since I posted & what a busy time! Spent a week at a beautiful beach in southern North Carolina. What a treat! Vacation was with my rather large family - I think I mentioned before there are 10 of us. My brothers were not able to join us because of work obligations, but my sister-in-laws & children were present. Mom went along too. This 80 year old was looking for people to go to the beach at 6 AM on most mornings! I had lots of time for reading & photography since I had no household chores to perform. We rented a rather large beach house & the rest of the family graciously cooked & did dishes. Unfortunately real life returns with it's ratrace of job, bills, & household chores. Please enjoy some photos while I remember.