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Our first stop on our extended trip back home, was Reno, Nevada where we found the Animal Ark Wildlife Sanctuary. This is place that takes in animals that cannot be returned to their natural habitats to live out their lives with conditions as close to real as possible.

There were lots more animals including Jaquar, bears, birds, and coyotes. It was unbelievably hot so we opted to leave without actually seeing all the animals.

Our next stop was Salt Lake City, capital of Utah. Like so many large cities there was construction making getting around a challenge, but we were able to see the Capital building and the Morman Tabernacle. The temple and temple square were under construction.

After the traffic filled morning, we drove to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake.

On the island is the Fielding Garr Ranch which was actually a working ranch from 1848 until 1981. It was interesting to see the various upgrades of appliances and methodologies over the 100 plus years.

Back in 1880, 24 bison were introduced onto the island and today there is a herd of over 200. Of course, it is managed each year to control the size and health of the herd.

Graduation Day was another early morning when the access to the base started at 6:30 a.m. preceded by the full car and people inspection. Only today, there was twice as many people because many folks could only come for the one day and had to miss family day. In fact, we had three arrive last night to add to our number as well. Uncle Ward, cousin James, and brother Kyle all arrived late last night, so most of the family was making a big sacrifice getting up early enough to be on time. We all had matching t-shirts that said, Proud Marine, Mom, Dad, Grandpop, etc.”, hoping it would make it easier for him to find us.

The program started at 7:30 with a Color’s Ceremony at the Commanding General’s Building with lots of pomp and decorum befitting the event.

Then off to the Parade Deck again to find seats in the general area where Ryan’s platoon would be released. The Parade Deck is considered hallowed ground and there were Marines stationed all around it to prevent any civilian from walking on it for any reason. Mom and Aunt Muffin came prepared with printed banners and platoon flags and we all provided the noise to make sure he knew how proud we were of him.

On the thirteenth week of his training, there is something call the Crucible which tests the skills he was being taught up to this point. If you do not complete the Crucible you do not become a Marine and stay a Recruit. It is 56 hours of marching carrying a 45-pound pack with 4-6 hours total sleep and preforming various acts that resulted in a Marine at some point, somewhere receiving a medal of honor. When the scenario was completed, they had to drink a canteen of water to that Marine saying his/her name to honor them as well as stay hydrated. They were crawling through mud and under barbed wire, carrying wounded comrades and all on minimal sleep and food. One of the hikes was call the Reaper and I really don’t want to speculate why. It was all night long uphill, and they reached the top as the sun was coming up. This is the picture they took of Ryan almost at the top.

When they were doing their infantry training at Camp Pendleton, it was right after the hurricane came through California so most of the area was mud and puddles. As a result, many of the guys got something call Hand, Foot, and Mouth resulting in large blisters in those areas and being quarantined. Ryan began symptoms on the first day of Crucible, and by the time the Reaper came, he was in full blown mode and in a great deal of pain. This meant that at the end, instead of being part of the celebratory activities, he was sent to quarantine for three days but he is no less a Marine.

Finally, after waiting what seemed like a forever, we saw the new Marines lined up at the end of the Parade Deck and Marine Band began playing. In they marched in perfect order culminating their 15-week test of grit, ability, attitude and perseverance. When they started there was 603 of them. Today 535 graduated and earned the right to call themselves Marines. Oorah!

P.S. He indulged us and put on his dress blue uniform so we could take this picture even though it was not how he was dressed for graduation.

The family converged on San Diego on Wednesday starting at mid-day to begin the two-day process of collecting the teenage boy converted to a “Marine Man”. We drove in from somewhere in Arizona; Mom and Dad flew in from Houston; and Aunt Muffin drove in from Ventura California. We met for lunch and moved on to our hotel in downtown San Diego to get ready for our first event of a “meet and greet” on base with a dinner and opportunity to talk to the Drill Sargent who actually worked with Ryan over the past 15 weeks.

We arrived 5 minutes early and learned that when the military says 5 p.m. they mean it! We had to turn around and go one block away and then drive back. Of course, with San Diego traffic it didn’t take 5 minutes so when we got back, there were lots of cars ahead of us.

When we got into the gate, they directed us off to an area where all the cars were being searched. Everyone had to get out of the car, and you had to leave all your belongings, including phones and wallets, purses, etc., with all the doors, trunks and hoods sitting open, while Marines and Marine dogs inspected each car. In the meantime, we were “wanded” like at the airport. Once we passed inspection, we were allowed to enter the base. This process happened each day of our adventure, except the coming early part. We are fast learners!

On base we were directed to an area filled with vendors selling Marine paraphernalia to friends and family celebrating their Marine’s accomplishment. Let’s just say Mothers can be convinced to buy almost anything with a Marine logo! We had an opportunity to talk to Ryan’s DI and we were pleased to hear some very positive things about him, but we still couldn’t see him or talk to him.

Next day was Family Day and this time we knew the drill and arrived right on time ready for inspection. We were ushered to the viewing stands where we waited patiently for the review of the company doing their running/ formation drills. With binoculars in hand, we searched his platoon and found him almost at the same time he found us. He wasn’t allowed to smile, look into the stands, or move in anyway but he managed to move his eyebrows enough so that we knew he saw us. We all thought he looked much thinner than when he left and with that serious face, until he did the eyebrow thing, we weren’t 100% sure it was him.

After exhibiting what they learned, the new Marines were sent back to their barracks to clean up while we were ushered into a theatre to be entertained with facts about being part of the Marine family now, meeting the mascot, and lectured on maintaining the standard of Marine life. It was funny to hear them say, “We have spent the last 15 weeks creating this strong, confident Marine. While he is home with you, do not undo what we have created.”

After an hour and a half of lessons, we went back to the Parade Deck for Liberty Formation and Dismissal. In they marched and we all screamed and cheered.

But it didn’t go that quickly. I get the sense nothing in the military goes quickly. More marching, more introductions and finally….. release. He came right over and lots of hugs and smiles and questions and kisses, but Ryan’s primary concern was to get off the Parade Deck. His orders were to get out of the area quickly and he wasn’t about to get into trouble.

They called it liberty, but he was not allowed to leave the base or even ride in a motor vehicle. They were serving a lunch buffet, so we all walked for what seemed like miles to get to the place where the lunch was available and stand in line for a very long time. All the while asking questions and getting great stories about how hard it was and the ridiculous things they did to the recruits to try to get them to quit so they culled out the weak early in the process. For instance, before lights out one night, they had them all take their footlocker locks off and drop them into a basket. The locks were then thrown out onto the floor and they were given 20 seconds to grab a lock and secure their locker. Now they had no idea what the combination was for lock on their footlocker, so they spent the rest of the night trying every lock to find theirs and hope the whoever’s lock was on their locker would find it and remove it before morning.

One thing for sure, after being told what to do and how long to take to do it, Ryan had a problem making a decision. We wanted to do what he wanted to do, but he couldn’t decide simple things like what do you want to eat? Our best course of action was do give him choices and watch the expression on his face for a clue. He was answering every question we had with great stories told with lots of enthusiasm that showed he kept a really good attitude all through his time following orders that made no sense sometimes and actually were counterintuitive.

At 5:00 pm we had to return him to Uncle Sam so they could finalize his training until the big ceremony tomorrow. We were a good Marine family and returned him in the same condition we found him, only I think his smile was a little bigger.

On Sunday, we were going to begin our month-long trip to California and back, but we moved to Plan B as a method of survival. On Thursday, our air conditioning went out and even though our repairman came the same day, the part he needed was in Tennessee, so it wasn’t getting fixed before we left. We turned the secondary air unit upstairs down which helped some, but NOT ENOUGH!

After two nights of rough sleep, we decided to leave a day early if we could find a hotel room close to our route since it’s a holiday weekend. We found one in Douglas, Ga which was about 40 minutes out of our way, but a room with air conditioning and a good night’s sleep were two priorities. Leaving a day early put real pressure on our brains and we did have to go back one time for things we forgot, but we finally made it out about 4:30 pm.

Douglas is south central Georgia where the latest hurricane passed through, and we saw some of its destruction firsthand. We also saw lots of linemen and trucks working to restore power to people who were probably very grateful for the electricity to be back on soon.

After a good night’s sleep, we headed to our first stop in Chattanooga, Tennessee rolling in about 3:30 pm. We thought we would go to the Aquarium or Ruby Falls as soon as we got here, but both places required online tickets purchased ahead of time and they were already sold out for the day. Plan B again, we went downtown to see the Chattanooga Choo Choo from the infamous song. This vintage station house was once a hub of railroad traffic between the South and the West.

In later years, the railroad cars were converted to hotel rooms and people were able to stay in them. We were disappointed to see the level of disrepair these cars had been allowed to fall into, but supposedly, they are working to restore them to new splendor with a completion date of November 2023. Based on what we saw, don’t make any plans or reservations until well into 2024.

With only one more day in Chattanooga, we had to fit all our plans into one day, so we started early with 9:30 tickets to the Tennessee Aquarium. It consists of two buildings: River Journey and Ocean Journey. We took the River Journey first, not wanting the River Journey to be anticlimactic. We were blown away by the exhibits in the River Journey. I had no idea there were that many different kinds of creatures in rivers. I was expecting water snakes and trout! Check these pictures out.

After the River Journey, we walked over to Ocean Journey ready to be overwhelmed! NOT!! It was good, but fewer exhibits.

After leaving the Aquarium, we had time to drive up to Lookout Mountain up the narrow winding row only to find parking costing $9 for one hour and nothing to eat but fast food. Plan B again.

Back down the mountain to the Purple Daisy and much better options for lunch.

Ruby Falls was next on the agenda, and we arrived in plenty of time for our 2:30 tour. The Falls opened originally in June 1930 after construction started in 1928. The owner and founder crawled 17 hours, much of it in a space only 18 inches high, over one mile to discover the open cavern with the falls coming from the water on top of the mountain. He named the falls after his wife, Ruby and it has been in operation ever since.

The plan for tonight is do nothing!!! and there is no Plan B…..

May 7th is Jim’s birthday, so it seemed like a good time to take a trip just for us.

Entrance to Ocean Pointe Vacation Club at Singer Island.

This is a place we go to if we just want to relax without having to drive a long way. The 4-hour drive is easy and because the area is now familiar to us, it almost feels like a home away from home. Lots of walking area, water aerobics every day, and lots of restaurant choices.

Also lots of beautiful sights to see.

Thank you, God, for the many blessings you have given to us!

Two weeks after sending Ryan back home to finish out his school year and actually graduate, we started another family trip with our youngest Grandson, James. By the way, we did threaten Ryan that since he already got his graduation gift, if he didn’t graduate, he had to pay us back for the trip. There really never was a question of him not graduating but it sounded good.

James lives in California and wants to study mechanical engineering. Several of the universities he wants to apply to are on the East Coast, so for Spring Break, he and his parents’ scheduled visits to the 3 schools he is interested in. We were pleased to be included in this trip and be a part of this important part of his future.

First stop was Georgia Tech. There was a lot of nostalgia involved in this trip because that’s his dad’s alma mater and I have to say, a very impressive school. Unfortunately, they do not have a legacy admission policy and being out of state residents make his odds of being accepted extremely low.

Nothing about this university was small or quaint, but James is likely to be a big city adult someday.

Next, we headed to Virginia Tech but on the way, we stopped at the Billy Graham Library for a short time because we were so close, it didn’t make sense not to stop. We could only spend an hour or so there but saw enough to decide to come back soon to finish the visit. Although it gave lots of information about the Graham family and Billy in particular, it focused a great deal on Christ and the importance of having him in your life.

Before we knew it, we were on the Virginia Tech campus with lots of military looking young people. Again, not a quaint small school.

Then off we went to the final stop, Penn State. This school made the others look like summer camp. But it was cold and raining and we opted to stay at the hotel and chill. No pictures.

Since we were in Pennsylvania anyway, we keep going until we got to Telford where we were able to visit with Jim’s baby sister Carol for a few days before dropping the family off at the airport and heading home.