Author: alohawild

Memorial Day is mostly the beginning of summer for me. It is also Decoration Day to me. I use to play in the school band when I was smaller and less gray, and we would have to get our instruments out after school was out and then get up early and march and play in the Laingsburg Memorial Day Parade. Quite a task for kids at the beginning of summer! We would collect at one end of town in the elementary and middle school parking lot (looking odd without all the school buses to me) and then march a few miles through our village. The high school band leads and when I was in the middles school band followed just out of hearing range.  We would end at the graveyard. Two brave band members, one high school and one middle school, would head-out into the grave and play taps. One would echo the other one.

I suspect it was emotional or even beautiful, but for us, in the band, we had to not talk or giggle. We knew the capabilities of our trumpet players and would smile as they would mostly hit the notes mostly playing it well. I suspect the veterans and others were happy that we were there. For us it was fun to march and play and an excellent chance to link-up with school friends that many I would not see again until school restarted in the fall.

I also remember spending Memorial Day touring graveyards with my grandparents trying to remember where headstones were and talking about people I did not know or could not remember. I would help grandma plant small (inexpensive–grandma was cheap) flowers. We would drive around all day to strange places with various levels of upkeep, but never shabby. I would listen and try to remember the people and places–none do I recall now.

Turning to today I find the holiday more political than I like, but this is normal for Memorial Day according to Wikipedia: “The history of Memorial Day in the United States is so controversial that it constitutes an area of research.” The President of the United States is in Japan for this holiday. I believe that having the president there on Memorial Day shows how much the world has healed its wounds.

The president is also visiting the Japanese ship the Kaga on Tuesday. This is about the same size as a World War 2 carrier.

Photo from Wikipedia

I do not know if the president is aware that the Kaga is a name well known to WW2 naval historians. IJN Kaga was involved in all the early large battles and was sunk by American planes on June 1942 in the Battle of Midway.

Photo from Wikipedia

The wreck has never been found, but part of the ship has been discovered from the initial attack. Apparently, part of the side of the vessel was blown off by American air attacks: Kaga Wreck. There was a search for the wreck of IJN Kaga, but it was not located. In that search, the American carrier that was sunk in the same battle wreck was found: USS Yorktown.

I do not agree with President Trump on much if anything. Visiting an old enemy now ally is not a wrong way to do Memorial Day.

Returning to the holiday and thinking about the IJN Kaga and all those other losses in the wars, I can almost hear the trumpets again, mostly correct. I can imagine that the sound echos in the deep not far from Midway Island.

So summer 2019 starts with taps. With old wounds maybe being finally closed. Welcome summer!

 

 

 

photo by me

photo by me

Our last day and a travel day. Much of the start is included in Day 4 which I wrote today as we were running late last night.

Our first flight was late. We got to Charlotte fifteen minutes late. Then they had nobody to get the plane ramp to the plane. Ugh! Then no wheelchair. Ughx2! Susie and I walked the plane ramp. Susie did quite well. No wheelchair. I looked at the gate people for American Airline and was more direct than usual with my disappointment that they had not ordered a wheelchair. I was told they had ordered one five minutes go–still late in my mind–and it showed up. The wheelchair folks understood that we needed to haul.

We had three minutes to make the Portland flight, and it was on the opposite side of the airport. We ran it with the wheelchair guy pushing (never got his name) Susie. He thought we had a chance to make it. The Portland flight was boarding slow, usual for full flights, and so we got on it. We boarded, and I had ten minutes to watch folks board–They got me a ginger ale.

So I have paid for the Internet and updated my blog and written this entry too. I had a crash when a previous version updated and lost hours of work. History retrieve process was successful, and everything is good again!

So it is after dinner on the plane. Susie did not eat the cold salmon they served her. Susie is a row away and across the aisle and is handling it all well.

My laptop is down to 14% power. The screen is set to near dark to save power. An old trick I learned. Work in the dark with the screen nearly off. Usually, there are plugs in First Class, but not this plane. It will get a shutdown around 10% so will be offline soon.

Heard from The Smiths that they got stuck for a long time, an hour I think, in The Pirates of the Caribbean ride. That ride has been unlucky for us.

We got home with no real adventures. Found two notes from TSA that they searched my luggage. Always annoys me that the TSA cannot figure out who luggage should be searched.

Susie is sleeping already. The computer is charging. I am running late night laundry for Monday. So we are back to normal.

 

We are in Florida celebrating our friends’ (The Smiths) daughter (Kat) finishing her journey at Ringling College in Sarasota, Florida and starting her next adventure. We then traveled to Orlando to see The Mouse…

Note: Lost a version and got this one back

So I am about 30 mins from leaving the hotel: Wilderness Lodge. Off to the airport next as our trip ends.

We are just camping out at the Roaring Fork which is not that busy. We get to sit outside, but we are close enough to the doors that a fresh breeze of mountain-like air hits us as they double doors open. Earlier Susie’s breakfast was attacked by a raven-like bird. She had mostly finished, and the birds were attempting to steal her biscuit! It looked more like the bird version of touch-and-go practice landings.

We decided to skip the parks today. Susie had done a whole day and was a bit worn. I had new blisters and other opportunities for loss of comfort.  So we just were just hanging out.

Got the car just as the rain let-up. A big rainstorm hit, and we used Nav to find our way. It did at first have trouble with the roads in Disney. Some roads just did not exist. Odd.

Got to the airport and pulled into the wrong rental car place after having to just drive to the terminal until the last minute seeing the sign “Rental Car Return.” A bit nerve racking! Had to drive to another return. Finally, then the broken taillight. Off to talk to customer service who took information on the car accident. Having the Allstate claim number was like magic. Done. Bill will come later and then I have to submit that to other insurance. I will add Allstate rental insurance now. Too much of a bother while traveling to do it this way–Expedia coverage!

As before, we managed with the help of Jonathan, our wheel chairperson, we again managed to get through security without falls, exposures, or any lost items. We are safe and at the gate 45 minutes before boarding! I did get an extra and more complete pat-down from security–including my Mouse wristband, that I forgot to take off.

The rest of the travel will have to wait when I have access again…

Back to yesterday, we got to see Micky. Michelle Smith met us at breakfast, and we then headed to the Magic Kingdom. We exchanged Susie walker for a wheelchair and headed for the Haunted House. They have them in the park, and we can use the walker until we hit the park. Our FastPath’s were for harder to get rides, so we decided on the Haunted House. We started with a 15 min wait, but it grew to 45 minutes. We still did it, and it was as always. Well, I did spot a few digital items here and there that I remember from a long time ago with more mirror tricks.  Also during the wait, there are things to do including triggering a cat scream. So I liked it.

Next, we headed to another 45-minute wait, Pirates! It broke down. Then it was good. Then it broke, and they turned on the lights and asked everyone to leave. It was strange how hard it is for folks in this crowd to just turn around. The staff had to come out and direct people out of the emergency exits.

We switch parks by bus. You would think they would use something well more Mouse than walking forever to catch a bus. The Animal Kingdom is a really nice park. Recommended.

The Kali Expedition was next. A FastPath. We got special service as they pulled a raft out for us and we got Susie in. We could have gone twice, but Susie was wet enough! Because we were a special group, a cast member looked us over and said to the small girls that they were not “wet-enough.” They use a water cannon to push the raft back into the special dock. This changed the condition of the gals from miraculously dry to not.

Dinner was in Pandora.  The park, Animal Kingdom, seems to be huge spokes. The walk seems forever. Michelle took over pushing Susie’s wheelchair. I was getting back problems and feet issues. The food was great! I had the garlic shrimp over noodles (no rice for me, Diabetes!) with cream sauce. I even tried an adult beverage. Yes, there is beer in the Animal Kingdom. We saw them being carried into The Kali Expedition!

Even without the beer and being able to drink in the line waiting for the ride, this is an enjoyable and pleasant park. Michelle pointed out the flowers, orchids—my favorite, growing in the trees. At night, In the Pandora part of the park, the artificial flowers glow, and the pavements are painted with black-light glowing paint. Black lighting is hidden in with the dim regular light. It is a fantastic feature.

We had FastPath for a river cruise. David and Kat were back in Sarasota, and the project to load up the newly repaired MDX (new alternator, new battery, and cleaned-up battery cables) was working great. Kat’s stuff—all of it—fit in the MDX–Kat is a fan of Doctor Who and may have learned something there. There is even an extra room–Definitely, the MDX is now bigger on the inside.

The Smiths are keeping the spare car a few days, as David had to rent it for a week to get a larger car.  David and Kat were not back in time to make the next FastPath. The boat ride was a view of the new state of what Disney can do—I am afraid it is more of “It’s a Small World” but with better music and better effects. A few effects I did not know how it was done, so it is excellent work. I would not wait to see it, but it is Ok.

We went shopping, and Susie found a new hat. We shopped for quite some time. We found some ice cream with Susie and I cooling off with a frozen chocolate banana. No surprise that Michelle went for the Micky shaped ice cream. We felt much better after some cool stuff.

We connected with David and Kat finally at Starbucks and then headed to the last FastPath which we made just before the park closed, Everest with Yeti. At a point, there is a pause in the ride to see that a Yeti has broken the track. I was able to ask David to get out; he was behind Susie and me, to fix it.  This was our best ride and also the last. Susie got her coaster in. So we are delighted to make that one, a new fine one.

Dinner, if you notice, is not mentioned yet. The park closed so we took the bus back to the Magic Kingdom. It took two hours to return to the Magic Kingdom. I sent a tweet complaining, I did get an apology. So we got to the Magic Kingdom as it closed. We picked up the walker and David, and I managed to have to pass through security twice!

We ended up with just over-priced appetizers, while good, for dinner. Disney Wilderness Lodge has no late food for hungry late park goers. I see a letter in my future for Disney about buses and food.

It was still a good day and that last ride—Everest with Yeti, the only one for David and Kat for that day, was good. Especially were the extra fireworks. As we reach the summit, the clouds flashed lightning for us. Susie battered a bit from the ride, was still happy to get one special ride in.