Awake In Annapolis

Why??? I went to bed at a reasonable hour. Enjoyed a fun dinner at Davis' Pub with Mary Ripley. This is a super comfortable bed - even if I needed 10 fingers to get in it. Why am I awake??

So I left Norfolk yesterday much later than expected - do we sense a recurring theme here Maggie?

Anyway, it's not that big a deal. If I press on from here in a timely manner fine...if not, that's fine too. I've tried to be very conscious of the whole "overbooking" thing.

I was too wiped out from Tuesday and too late getting on the road to visit Richmond. But that was fine, it was "maybe" thing anyway. Norfolk was the primary objective and that was highly successful. Sure, Lucien will tell you about the ceremony and that was great....but I will tell you about cupcakes! LOL!

After the ceremony, when it was down to Lucien, his friends and myself, there was a tour of San Antonio. Nick & JR are his long-time friends who drove up from North Carolina to attend.

So for a non-Sailor, non-tech, non-weapons person, let me tell you why I am never bored on these ship tours. Because the Sailor who shows you around is deeply connected with his ship. You can not help but feel what he or she is trying to relate to you. They want you to see what they see. It's impossible to see the whole ship at a whack, so they are showing you what matters to them and it draws you in.

After that we headed off to Ghent, a neighborhood in Norfolk. Lucien wanted to take us to lunch in appreciation of our travels to be there. He selected Bardo Edibles & Elixirs after quizzing me on what I was up for. Readers here know, lately that answer is "anything & everything". He already knew that Nick & JR would be happy...and we all were. It was Asian inspired/tapas style...and I loved it.

What was better? The company! The three of them, Nick in particular were carrying on conversations that made me feel like I was with my son Tom...so I was right at home. I got to ask a lot of the stuff that you don't get to communicating on blogs, Facebook, etc.

How do you finish off such a day? Carolina Cupcakes! Everyone is saying how smart YN2(SW) Gauthier is.....and taking BostonMaggie to a cupcake place proves it! ADM Harvey, I am sure your oatmeal raisin cookie was nice....but my "Cookie Dough Cupcake" beat it by a mile!

The Norfolk trip was a GREAT idea and I am so glad I made it.