Day 1- Greenville, Sc to Virginia Beach, VA

Friday June 30, 2017

Our first stop this year was Virginia Beach to spend time with our good friends, who just got moved by the Navy to Virginia Beach.  A strange story on how I met Otis and Emily.  A friend who grew up on my street in the 80's, that I remember--(they left in 1985) lived in NC, got married to a navy Officer and then were living in Va Beach, right next door to Otis and Emily.  Then they all got stationed in Pcola. Through my friend I grew up with, we had a reunion of sorts, and she introduced us to Otis and Emily.  A couple uses of Avery for babysitting, coupled with gatherings at the Bridge Bar for trivia, and a friendship was born. Just makes me see the world as being a little bit smaller. 

We pulled in to their neighborhood around 4:30 PM, after an unforeseen amount of traffic in neighboring Norfolk, and caught back up. The drive there was less than thrilling other than Jen wanting to take a break after we got off the interstate in a small town right off VA 58. Apparently 'flea market' means junk shop to people in this town.  It was a quick stop, and GT made the right decision to stay in the car on this stop. 

It was quite the easy day trip, and once arriving, I took my short nap (I always do after a long drive, and after eating, and after lifting my pinky finger, and after etc..you get it) and met everyone down at the community pool. I remember GT complaining a little bit about his ear a couple of days before, but we thought they were pimples inside as the kid is going through his pubescent stages (which we always like to poke fun at). 

Luckily I am good friends with a beer vendor who lives down the street in my neighborhood and who also brings me leftovers from beer festivals :)  Two cases of craft beer made the trip with us this year.  Sierra Nevada Sours, Trimtab IPA's you name it, we had a variety of six packs to take this year.  It. Was. Awesome.  

With that I'll say this.  Imbibing with Otis just happened. It always happens.  We learned the card game Golf, which is very easy to learn and kept Avery entertained and off her cell phone for 30 minutes in a row.  There were ice cream trips for the ladies, and another beer for us as we hung out on the back deck.  

When it was time to get changed and ready for bed, I was coming down the carpeted steps which seemed narrow to me (they weren't narrow) and Jen was leading me downstairs.  I took one step on to the carpeted steps and my heel slipped off the front of the step, then the second step, then the THIRD step.  Everything seemed to go in slow motion and I thought 'why the hell can't i just pick up my damn foot and stop sliding down these damn steps?' As I was thinking this, I grabbed the handrail and apparently used my left toe to stop the advance of my body hurling toward my unsuspecting wife.  My skin from my upper arm on the inside of my bicep also caught the rail, causing a lovely pinch blister.  I wasn't overly hurt, just sore for an hour or so, but the thought of taking out wifey on the steps made my later approaches much more cautious.