So Many Exciting and Beautiful Places!

Mike Keymer here…

Thanks to everyone for the great day yesterday.  Everyone had a great time.  Tom and Judy, you really took great care of us, and everyone was very well fed — and never thirsty either!! 🙂

Here are a few photos from the day:

Sunday, August 11

Today was a lovely day spent with more relatives and some new friends. Paul, Joanie and Kathleen enjoyed the pool in Tom and Judy’s community. The pool was very nice, except for the fact that there were no maitais. To offset that, however, we could check out noodles and bobble in the water. Ahh…life is good.

Judy invited their good friend, Joe, and his daughter Molly to join us for dinner. Mike, Kim and Loren were here as well. As you can see from Mike’s post, we played a game of Cards Against Humanity – a depraved form of Apples to Apples. We had to plug Loren’s ears. What a great game – for age 17 and above. Lots of laughter.

We had good conversation and an outstanding meal. Thank you, Judy, for your hospitality.

We’ve had several discussions about the meanings of words, the Latin translations, pronunciations, etc. Joe is a former priest and Paul attended seminary, so they had a great time with this.

Over the past few days, we’ve covered so many topics: education, teaching, religion, cooking, books, politics, introverts and extraverts, and so much more. I love it!

Tomorrow, we are back on the road again, heading to New Jersey to meet another relative whom we’ve never met in person. I’m looking forward to it.

This looks innocent enough.

It’s not. Definitely not.

We Today, we visited Fort McHenry where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the Star Spangled Banner 199 years ago. There was a very moving video about the battle, including the performance of the song. During the song, the screen was raised to reveal the flag flying over the fort. It actually brought tears to my eyes – and I wasn’t alone in my reaction.

There is a project underway to sew a replacement flag of the same dimensions – 33′ x 42′. We were able to view one unfurled and it is quite impressive.

We headed downtown, and after an hour’s drive, covering about five blocks, we had lunch at Bubba Gump, where Paul excelled at Forrest Gump trivia. His prize?  The tab.

The Harbor was very busy with costumed young people, who were attending Otakon, the annual convention of the otaku generation. This is a celebration of Asian pop culture, including music, anime, manga, etc. No…I don’t know what that means! But they were fun to look at.

Friday, August 10

We traveled about 350 miles today, and saw lots of beautiful countryside in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. We tried to visit a National Road/Zane Grey museum in Ohio, but it wasn’t open.

We considered a visit to Frostburg, MD, where we saw a sign that said “Noah’s Ark Being Rebuilt Here.” Unfortunately, we’d already driven past and the next exit was just too far away. Paul looked it up (we love our smart phones) and learned that it’s been under construction for over 30 years (not as long as La Sagrada Familia, but catching up). Back in 1974, Pastor Richard Greene was told by Jesus to build an Ark next to the interstate. Construction began in 1976 with over 3,000 tons of concrete. I think I’d pack a lifejacket because I doubt it’s going to float. It’s being built to biblical proportions. At this time, it’s just a frame, but apparently it has drawn attention from all over the world, and Pastor Greene continues to raise money for its completion. I hope it doesn’t rain too soon.

This led to a discussion about what the work “ark” means. Paul had learned that it means a boat without a rudder, a symbol of faith that God would take you in the right direction. It also means a vessel of sanctuary that serves as protection against extinction.

Rest assured, we aren’t always so philosophical, but we are always curious.

And, easily amused.

We arrived at Tom and Judy’s home around 5:00, and enjoyed a delicious dinner and some more stimulating conversation.