Down the West Coast and Across Arthur's Pass

After leaving Abel Tasman we headed west towards a town called Westport. The plan was the spend Monday night in Westport and then spend Tuesday traveling down the west coast and back to Christchurch via Arthur's Pass. The drive from Abel to Westport was phenomenal! The road took us along a river, through rolling hills and sheep farms, and then into the Southern Alps. After a couple of hours of driving, with a couple photo stops we came upon the town of Westport, a town which my guide book described as "lacking in charm". We found that all of the motels had no vacancies and were worried we'd have to spend another night sleeping on the ground. But, we located a backpackers place called the Trip Inn which provided us with a double room complete with real mattresses. With lodging secured we headed out for some dinner and found a place called Porta Bello which served me a nice steak and Jake some beef lasagne, both complete with delicious salad. Feeling content after a nice meal, we headed out into the night to find the entire town closed at 9:30 PM. Oh well! We walked back to our place, split 3 beers and went to sleep, enjoying the comforts of one of the smallest mattresses I've ever slept on.


We were out of the Trip Inn around 10 AM and heading south along the west coast. The west coast of New Zealand is bordered by the Tasman Sea and looks a lot like the Pacific Coast of the US. The road bordering the west coast here even greatly resembles Route 1, so the scenery was wonderful. We made a couple photo stops and then arrived at our first attraction of the day: the Pancake Rocks. These rocks are a wonderful sight and we spent about 30 minutes walking around them, snapping lots of photos.



We continued on to a town called Greymouth, which is probably the biggest town on the west coast and took lunch there. After lunch, we continued south and then cut east heading towards Arthur's Pass and Christchurch. We were again treated to wonderful scenery and great views of pastures and mountains. As we came into Arthur's Pass, we decided to get out and go for a short hike into the woods. With our legs stretched we then got a snack at a small cafe in town (and by town I mean like 3 stores) and then moved on to the home stretch. Our last stop of the journey was at one of Jake's favorite places: Castle Hill. Castle Hill is very close to where Narnia was filmed (we drove past the road that was made to serve the Narnia set) and basically consists of hundreds of rocks on a hill. Some nice photo shots, and also a great place to just wander around and marvel. After our stop at Castle Hill we headed into Christchurch, arriving around 7PM or so. We unpacked, had a nice fish dinner and watched the movie Miracle to unwind from our journey.

The Abel Tasman Experience

I have not done very much hiking, and have not actually hiked for more than one day (i.e. have not hiked, camped, hiked, then camped again without going to a car) so I was very excited to get the double experience of hiking in New Zealand and going for a real hike. After our stop in Motueka, we continued on to Abel Tasman National Park, which is located on the north coast of the south island. We arrived a little after noon and decided to catch lunch and a beer at the last part of civilization we would see for a couple days, a place called Mac's (also the name of the beer they served). Jake and I sat down to a wonderful view of the ocean and enjoyed the tranquil scene. My excitement was growing.

Around 1:30 or 2 we began our journey into the woods with food, sleeping bags, 4 liters of water, a tent and some clothes; pretty standard camping stuff. We hiked for about 2 hours, hugging the coast and enjoying the cover of ferns and trees to shield us from the sun (probably about 80-85 during the day) and then decided we'd stop and go for a swim at one of the many beaches we were passing. So, down we went to Appletree Beach and enjoyed our first of many dips in the mighty Pacific Ocean. After cooling off (the water was refreshing, i.e. cool) we had a snack of sweaty cheese and sweaty pepperoni (always a good sign when your first snack already has elements of sweat) and threw the frisbee around for a little while.



We got back on the trail and plugged along for another couple of hours until we reached our resting spot for the night, Watering Cove. After a pretty steep descent from the main trail, we came upon a campsite unlike any I have ever seen. We were feet away from a nice sandy beach, which had rocks on both sides and a stunning view of Tasman Island with mountains behind. And we were sharing this treat with only 4 other people, which meant we basically had our run of things. So, we took a quick swim and then set about cooking some dinner (soup) and chilled a bottle of wine and a beer in a nearby stream for later. After enjoying some food, we played a game of cribbage and then kicked back with some wine to trade stories and watch the sunset. We were treated to a great light show from the stars and I glimpsed my first view of the infamous Southern Cross constellation, which was great. We tried as hard as we could to figure out how the moon progresses from no moon to full moon and what the difference between a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse was, but didn't really come up with much. We headed to bed a couple hours after the sun went down.



Our Sunday began by watching a very nice sunrise over the mountains across the ocean from us. We had a breakfast of granola bars and apples (Gala! purchased on the side of the road as we entered Abel Tasman!) and then headed out on the next part of our journey. We traversed some mud flats because that was the low tide short cut and decided to have a peanut butter and jelly snack on the next beach we came to. As we were eating, a woman in her late 20's and her mother came by and talked with us. She saw we had a frisbee and asked if we played and might like to throw around. So, after our eating, the 3 of us went out onto the sand bar and threw for about 30 minutes; a very nice break from the hiking. Sunday was giving us a bit of rain to deal with, nothing sustained, but just enough to have us a little worried for the evening. We continued on the trail until coming along a wonderful little spot called Medlands Beach where we decided to have a snack and take a swim. As we ate another round of sweaty pepperoni and still sweatier cheese, we played another game of cribbage and enjoyed the company of a couple crazy looking ducks.




After our stop, we plugged through the rest of the hike to our resting spot for the night, Tonga Quarry Beach. We again had a wonderful beach, with a wonderful view and a nice stream to chill our beers. We cooked a dinner of packaged tortellini, and then settled into another game of cribbage and a bottle of Pinot Noir that I'd purchased at one of the wineries. About 3 hands into our game the rain started again, so we went to secure our tent and gear. The moisture subsided so we went out to finish the game and start the wine. As we finished the game, the rains came again and we decided we'd just stay on the beach and wait for the water to pass. After some minutes of just sitting on the sand in the rain we decided we'd better at least seek shelter under the trees, so we moved to a nearby picnic table and resumed our conversation. The rain continued but we were decently covered and all of our gear was fine, so we just enjoyed the quiet (the other 5 people at the site had all gone into their tents). As we sat talking at the table, we were joined by what appeared to be a very furry cat with a long tale. We had no flashlight with us, so we kinda just watched this thing move around us, as Jake speculated that perhaps the animal was a baby puma or a baby jaguar. The rain died down and we decided to head back to the beach and away from whatever this cat thing was. So, we settled back into our spot by a rock and were quickly chased back to our tent by another onslaught of rain. We decided we better just go to sleep rather than risk another encounter with the cat thing.

The next morning was spent drying all of our wet gear in the hot sun and readying ourselves for the short hike to the beach we had scheduled a water taxi from at 2:30 PM. As we were cleaning up we could see that paw prints had been left in the night leading right up to the door of our tent. Everything dried out quite well and we were on our way for the last 30 minutes of hiking. The beach we came upon was again beautiful and we chilled the 2 beers we had not drank the night before in a sheltered stream for later. We decided we'd try to take an earlier water taxi back to our car so that we could have an easier drive to our next stop. After changing our reservation, we enjoyed some swimming, some more photos and those 2 beers. The water taxi whizzed us back to base camp in about 20 minutes or so (what had taken us nearly 10 hours to hike), and we enjoyed a beer and sandwich back at Mac's before heading out on our next adventure. I think we hiked a total of about 15 miles over the two days, with some pretty steep grades and we were both happy to be back sitting in civilization.

They Drive on the Other Side of the Road!

Finally back at a computer! I wrote this on my first day here in Christchurch. I'll be back with some more in a couple minutes...

As my flight was about to take off from Aukland, I thought to myself that since NZ drivers drive on the left side of the road, I should aim for what I think of as the driver side of Jake's car when he came to pick me up, so as not to look silly. Of course, even with the premeditation I had a mental lapse and headed for the normal passenger side before Jake stopped me with a quick joke. Dang! I had the whole event planned out too! The whole driving on the other side of the road thing is pretty difficult to get used to! And riding as a passenger on the left of the car is also quite odd.

Has anyone else ever felt like a book they were reading started relating to their life at the very moment they were reading the book? I feel as though this has happened to me on a couple of occasions and I can't tell if I shape my thinking in life at the moment I am reading a book to have a common theme with the book, or if I am just reaching to find a similarity between what I am reading and what is going on in my life at that moment. But, anyway, I am reading a John Grisham (pure entertaining garbage, I know) in which the lead character is being forced to adapt to a new culture and a new language and he is taking that approach that he take the bull by the horns. Now, obviously I am not trying to pick up a new language, but the culture here is certainly different, and as Jake is working today I am just basically killing some time by myself. Though I have often travelled between places by myself I have spent very little time in new places by myself and I am still getting used to how different you feel walking down a street you've never been on, by yourself, with no true intended purpose.

On Jake's recommendation I decided to go for a bike ride towards the center of town. Simple enough right? But consider this: you bike on the opposite side of the street (so as to travel with the cars) and when you approach an intersection you must first look to the right, instead of to the left, because that is the closest lane of travel. And when you are crossing an intersection, you have to watch for left-turns from your direction of travel and right turns from the opposite direction of travel, which, at least to me, is more difficult that one might think. Now combine, riding a bike under totally different traffic conditions on streets you've never been on, and the simple bike ride into town becomes a bit more of an adventure. I must mention that the temperature is a near perfect 75 degrees or so, which made any worries I had disappear pretty quickly (-;

So, I made my first trip towards town, didn't really get all the way into town, but then rode back to a small shopping center where I made my first purchases on New Zealand soil. Now, I am back at Jake's just relaxing after all of the travels and all of the hectic happenings of the past few days. Nice to sit down with a new beer (Monteith's Summer Ale) and just unwind.

Into the Wilderness

This is the first time I've been on the www since arriving in Christchurch a couple days ago, and as I am just passing through a small town called Motueka, I will be brief. Jake and I are on our way to Abel Tasman National Park on the northern coast of the South Island, where we'll spend two nights hiking and sleeping on the beach. Should be very beautiful, and I am pretty excited.

We spent yesterday driving north along the east coast through rain and grey skies, but made the most of the day by stopping to sample a couple wineries and having a great dinner of Green Shell Mussels in the Green Shell Mussel capitol of the world: Havelock. We had no lodging reservation and things got a bit dodgy, but we eventually found a small campground outside of Richmond and all was well.

My two days in Christchurch were fun and the weather has been great, aside from the rain yesterday. I'll post more when I have more time and will definitely get some cool pictures up here very soon.

Touchdown!

I am on the ground in Aukland, New Zealand awaiting my connecting flight over to Christchurch where Jake is scheduled to pick me up in about 3 hours. New Zealand is 18 hours ahead of the east coast, so add a day and subtract 6 hours to the present time in EST and you arrive at my time. If anyone needs/wants to know the future, I am here and I can help you out for a small fee.

My 13 hour flight across the Pacific Ocean was not all that bad. I was seated way back in row 61 and immediately missing the comforts of first class. The seat was a touch cramped, but since I'd been up since 8AM that morning, I knew I'd be able to get some sleeping in. Air New Zealand featured a nice selection of movies to choose from and I went with Flags of our Fathers which was entertaining, but probably would have been a bit more powerful had I not been viewing a 6 inch screen on the back of the seat in front of me. The dinner of chicken, potatoes and spinach was tolerable and I had a couple glasses of Pinot Noir to ease into sleep mode.

After the movie ended, I nodded in and out sleep for about 7 hours, which was pretty decent all things considered. Once I had determined I wasn't going to be sleeping much more, I launched into The Departed which is a phenomenal movie. I was served a bit of breakfast (which I may regret later) and then we began our descent into Aukland. I cleared customs no problem and after getting turned around a bit in this airport (there are essentially no directional signs anywhere; thank goodness this is an English speaking country!) I eventually made my way over to the Domestic Terminal and am now looking to board in about 40 minutes.

The sun just rose and I am now treated to a cool view of some mountains behind the runways.

Time to head Down Under

My time in San Francisco, while short, was great fun. Dave and his fiancee Tiila picked me up from the airport and took me back to their apartment on Nob Hill. I was feeling the first class drinks, but was nowhere near the level of intoxication Dave had achieved during his day of boozing. After dropping off my belongings we had a couple drinks and then headed to a bar down the street called the Hemlock Tavern. Alli and a couple of her friends came over to meet us and we had a couple drinks. Dave had to call it a night on the early side of life, so me, Alli and one of her friends moved on to another bar whose name escapes me right now. Pretty fun Saturday night.



I spent yesterday doing the tourist thing around San Fran with Alli. We rode the trolley, grabbed a beer at Eldos Brewery and walked around Golden Gate Park for a little while. The weather was great and we had a very enjoyable time. Around 6PM we met Dave at a dive-ish bar called Finnegan's Wake where we had another drink or two and enjoyed some good conversation. Alli bid us farewell and Dave and I headed back towards his apartment by way of a big slice of pizza. We shared a couple beers (Anchor Steam Bock Beer - very good) and caught up a little bit before heading out to gorge on some great sushi. After the sushi feast we headed to a karaoke bar called Encore and settled into the bar. I was pretty beat (I think the travelling had finally caught up with me) and was practically falling asleep at the bar. So, I went back to Dave's place and he stayed out a bit longer, mostly in hopes of doing a rendition of Achy Breaky Heart up on stage (which fortunately for the patrons of Encore never happened).

Today Dave and I got up early (out of the house by 9AM) and enjoyed a fantastic San Francisco day. We were treated to some more fantastic weather and had the good fortune of driving Dave's Miata around with the top down. We headed towards the ocean and were treated to some great views of the Pacific and the Golden Gate Bridge.


Then we had some much needed breakfast at Louis' Diner in the Sutro District. Great view overlooking the ocean and some pretty standard diner breakfast food. We headed to Golden Gate Park in hopes of playing some disc golf but were thwarted in our efforts when all the disc golf baskets had been taken down. So, we had to settle for just throwing around a bit, which was enjoyable. After a little lunch, we started our trek to the airport. We made our way down the coast a bit along Route 1 (such a fun road!) and then wound our way back through the rolling hills, arriving at the airport just after 4PM for my 7PM flight. Everything went great with check-in and now I am sitting at my gate getting ready for the 13 hour flight. Good times!

So long for now America!

Seat 12B? No thanks, I'll take seat 4D

(I wrote this on my flight from Philly to San Fran, which was Saturday Feb 17 from about 5:45 PM EST to 9:00 PM PST)

After getting thoroughly hogpounded by US Air for the better part of 28 hours, I finally notched my first victory of the trip, making the score:

Jason 1
US Air 7

I have a lot of making up to do to right the score, but I am quite comfortable right now, high above what I will guess is somewhere south of Chicago. I took a page out of my co-worker Scott's playbook and decided that I would aim to be the last person on the plane and just claim a first class seat for myself. The prospect of sitting in a middle seat for the 6 hour flight from Philly to Frisco was not very appealing, especially since it took an extremely generous soul to prevent me from having to fork over $100 plus for a hotel room and having to kill almost 18 hours by myself. So, after checking in and being unsuccessful in talking my way into an upgrade (an admittedly half hearted effort) I bided my time until everyone in the waiting area had boarded and then presented my boarding pass. After I was past the ticket checkers a couple more people got in line, but I sized them up and determined that they were not threats for first class. Now, I just needed to see an open seat in that first section and hope that no high rollers were running late for the flight. As I rounded the corner into the airplane aisle, I spied two open first class seats among the 24 possible spots. An aisle in the middle and a window in the back. I decided the aisle was less intrusive and made my move, making some small talk with the elder gentleman sitting in the row as if I belonged there. Next came a somewhat excruciating 20 minutes or so as a couple stragglers trickled onto the plane and I envisioned getting kicked to the back. Thankfully no one came to claim the seat and as we pushed off I breathed a sigh of comfort that at least something about this trip came up Jason.

I am into my third plastic cup of white wine as a I write this, and we have about 4 hours until our scheduled landing in San Francisco

I have never flown first class before, and I must say that I am quite comfortable. To the best of my knowledge the drinks are free (thats what I had heard previously and no one has asked me for any money) and I was also served a hot dinner of breaded chicken and pasta. The food was not great by any means, but certainly quelled my fears about what was going to soak up all the presumably free alcohol I was drinking. Not a bad gig at all up here with the big wigs of airplane travel. Maybe I should do this more often!

So, my plan is to kick in a movie on the laptop (maybe The Illusionist or maybe I'll start the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and kick back with some white wine. Then, when I get within about 2 hours of SF, I'll make the switch to the rum and cokes to gear up for what should be a very fun Saturday night. Dave (or his girlfriend/fiancee) is scheduled to pick me up from SFO and then we will hopefully meet up with Alli and have ourselves a fun evening in the City by the Bay.

UPDATE 9:47 EST (though my guess is that we are somewhere over Wyoming)

Sorry to interrupt The Illusionist, but did everyone know that when you order a rum and coke in first class you get 2 nips of rum?!? So, just to recap, in schwag class you order a rum and coke and get one nip of rum and a a can of Coke while being charged 5 beans, while up here is first class you order a rum and coke and you get 2 nips of rum with that same can of Coke for a whooping assumed fee of absolutely nasing! (I told the drinks lady (aka the flight attendant) that she was doing a great job after my second trip to the first class bathroom and a couple minutes later she brought me a fifth plastic cup of white wine without my asking (thank you Craig Sanders for welcoming me into the world of talking to servers (yes I know you showed me first mom, I was just embarrassed back then)))

UPDATE 10:57 PM EST (we gotta be over California by now. Right?)

The Illusionist: I'll give it a B. Good watch for sure, but nothing super special.

So, gather round: Story time! (some of you may know this story, but I am getting things on the www for you as much as I am for me and I'd like to get this story out there even if I know I can tell a story in person better than I can write a story)

May 2003. My brother Jeff and I are on a Continental flight bound for Rome, Italy. Jeff has planned ahead enough to have a water bottle full of Bacardi Razz and as we are on an international flight run by an American carrier the deal is you need to buy your own beverages. So, a bit before dinner service time, we decide to take advantage of the loaded water bottle. I opt for Sprite (knowing that Sprite creates a nice mix with Bacardi Razz) while Jeff opts for Ginger Ale (without consulting with me).

So a short while after we mix our Adams' cocktails we are served our delectable airplane dinners, and soon thereafter we hit some turbulence. Now we've all been through turbulence on an airplane, and some of us have been through turbulence with an alcoholic beverage in our midst, but here is where this story takes shape. As the turbulence begins, I reach for and pick up my drink, thinking that I can manipulate the tossing and turning of the airplane better than the static drink tray in front of me, thus reducing the possibility of spilling. What does Jeff do? He also picks up his drink, but instead of trying to move with the turbulence, he simply extends his arm in my direction so that his drink is safely hovering above my tray and lap. Needless to say, I manage to contain all of my drink within my cup, and needless to say Jeff douses my pants and dinner with his disgusting Ginger Ale and Bacardi and Razz blend as the turbulence worsens. Of course once his spilling begins, both of us are in hysterics and that only increases the spilling on one of two pair of pants I brought on a 17 day trip.

The elder gentlemen to my right mimicked my choice of rum and coke. Lets hope he has better control than Jeff....

Oy.

Night 1 will be spent in Philadelphia, or wherever Nick Purifico lives. My Boston to Philly flight, orginally scheduled to leave at 2:30 PM finally boarded around 6:20 PM. We probably took off around 7PM after an extended boarding process and everyone was already crabby. I did a little reading and then fell asleep (or came close to falling asleep) as we took off. After a couple minutes of eyes closed, I decided to try out the DVD capabilities of the new laptop by watching Clerks 2. 36 minutes into the movie (somewhat lackluster so far in my opinion) we were beginning our descent. We touched down around 8:20 PM and in announcing the connecting gates, the flight lady said that San Francisco would be leaving from B3, the very same gate that was on my ticket. I immediately felt a surge of hope that maybe the flight was still there and readied myself to get off the plane. Unfortunately, we sat in that plane on the runway for over an hour, including an excruciating 15 minutes where we were less than 50 feet from the gate but no one was available to "park us", In other words, after sitting on the runway for 45 minutes, US Air, in all their infinite wisdom, decided against having a doofus with an orange wand available to greet our flight. The captain went so far as to suggest that everyone open their US Air magazine to get the e-mail address of customer relations in order to complain.

Eventually we got off the plane, and lo and behold, there was no San Francisco departure remaining for that night. Whether the SF plane was available when we first landed or whether the plane was long gone before we even began our descent, I may never know, but this experience has soured an already sour opinion of US Air in particular and the airline industry in general.

I have no idea what tonight will hold. The time is now 10:20PM and I am waiting for a ride from a person that enrolled at Delaware 2 years after I graduated. I haven't eaten dinner...

UPDATE 2:30AM:

I just got back from the Bryn Mawr Pub with Nick and am settling in for bed. Nick really hooked me up tonight: ride from the airport, he hadn't eaten dinner so we went to some diner that could have been in the middle of Arkansas, I get a bed to sleep in, and we went down the street to a little dive type pub and I got to have some Yuenglings. Things on this trip are looking up!!

I am bummed to be missing the Toranado barleywine fest with Dave tomorrow, but I figure things are happening for a reason and this was a fun night (once on the groun in Philly). To tell you the truth I am not even sure where I am, but I know I am near Villanova, Bryn Mawr and Haverford, so check a map.

Tomorrow I have (at least I hope I have!) a flight at 5:30 PM from Philly to San Fran. If all goes as planned I'll get to hang out with Dave and Alli and all this excessive time traveling from Boston to San Francisco will be forgotten.

Not the Start I was hoping for...

So my day was supposed to go like this:
Wake up
Eat breakfast with Anthony and Tricia in Boston around 9:30
Back to the B.A.D. to pack
Leave for airport around noon
2:30 PM flight to Philly on US Air
land in Philly 4:00 PM
Flight to San Fran at 5:30 PM
Get picked up by Dave in San Fran at 9PM PST.

Well, I got to the airport on time and then all hell broke loose! My flight was already delayed 2 hours when I got here, basically meaning that I wasn't making my connecting flight but still giving me a fighting chance if I ran. I chose not to check my luggage envisioning a sprint through the Philly airport to barely make my connecting flight. Of course the 3:30 PM flight to Philly was on time and left at 3:30 PM, leaving me sitting here still waiting.

I checked in with the less than helpful US Air people and was told there was no way I was getting on a new flight to Philly and that the SF flight would not be waiting. I was also told that if I didn't leave tonight to Philly I wasn't "going to make it to San Francisco before Tuesday". Well, thats just great!

So, now it is 5PM and we just got word that our plane took off from Philly and we will be boarding around 6:15 PM, only 45 minutes after my connecting flight from Philly is scheduled to leave. One person clapped, and at least that clapping made me smile.

If anyone has any friends in the Philly area that might want to pick me up from the airport, put me up for the night and then drive me back to the airport tomorrow, let me know. That would be pretty sweet.

Goodnight to My Hero

So, this is my first effort at maintaining a blog and you'll all have to bear with me as it gets up and running. I promise that the general tone of this blog will be happy and fun and I will do my best to transfer my experiences on this trip and beyond into entertaining words, but I do have to start with a somber subject. If you are not big on somber reading than check back in for my next post, which will hopefully happen sometime in San Francisco and not be posted from Philadelphia tonight (my flight to Philly from Logan is presently delayed 2 hours, which has me landing after my flight to SF takes off. Damn connecting flights and damn US Air and United. This should be exciting.)

On Monday afternoon between 11:30 AM and 1:00 PM, my grandfather passed away. He had been through a lot in his life: 3 heart attacks and spending the past year living with a respirator to aid his breathing (though he still did all his own shopping and took care of himself up until his last day). My thoughts can't help but be with him right now as I prepare to cross the Equator for the first time, an Equator which he crossed on numerous occasions while serving on Coast Guard and Navy ships in World War II and beyond. I think my grandfather deserves to be known a bit more by my friends and family because he may have shaped me into the person I am more than any one individual. I hadn't seen him since Easter weekend 2005, and that will stay with me as one of my great regrets. Do not take anything in this life for granted. Check in with the people in your life that you haven't seen in a while.

In 5th grade my class was assigned to write about our hero. At that point in my life, I hadn't really considered if I had a hero and sat down to think about the question at hand. But, I quickly determined, that if I did have a hero, the hero had to be someone in my life and not some celebrity or athlete. I knew that my hero had to have had an effect on my life. I knew that my hero was my grandfather. Reflecting on him this week, I came to realize just how much he meant to my childhood and to my present personality. He reduced every moment into a one-on-one conversation, no matter how many people were in the room, and even at a young age I could tell that he worked hard to make everyone in his presence comfortable. While these are not life-changing or awe inspiring characteristics normally associated with hero, they have had a great effect in how I try to treat people, and for that I am proud. My grandfather was smiling and outgoing while I was still a shy a little boy, and as I think about my growth as an individual I begin to notice that subconsciously I have attempted to emulate a number of the personality traits that made him so great and so easy to look up to. I applied for admission at the Coast Guard Academy, because he had retired from the Coast Guard (can anyone imagine me as a Coast Guard officer?! Yikes! Thank goodness I got thin-lettered from there!)

Last night I drove down to the Cape to have dinner with my parents and my brother Jeff before I took off for my trip. Because of my flights I wasn't going to be able to make the services for my grandfather and I wanted to at least spend a couple hours face to face with my family to help my grieving and maybe to help theirs. As we were getting ready to eat, my dad said that during the service everyone was going to have the opportunity to share a single word which they felt best described my grandfather. My mind quickly processed the situation, and before my mom could even finish saying that I should think of a word and that they could share the word at the services the next day, my mind was made up.

"I already know my word"
"Really? What is it"

With a slight dryness in my throat: "Hero"

Goodnight Grampy.