My first boat

So this is my first boat, the USS Maryland 738 (b). I am officially checked out and on my way to my new boat in Groton. But before I left I got ahold of one of the boat posters showing the sub, battleship, and sloop Maryland. Then I had everyone in my division, and the whole chain of command up to the CO sign it. My little souvenir of my time here.

Mini Budd

Ok, so normally the "little turdmuffin" doesn't get his own post, but this had to be an exception. When went to Fort Clinch this last time, we got too many good ones to just let them go.

Big step...

Seriously, how many stairs are there here?

Oh yeah, my dad was here too, so it was really a family outing.

I like this one

Look! A canon!

Someone was a little tired....

What's in there?

Now a few photos from my dad.
Go figure, just like his parents, always ignoring signs...

Stop playing in the dirt and come on!

Hey guys, wait up! It's not funny anymore!
Now a couple by the wife...

This one's her favorite

Before and After

Ok, so near the Stumphouse Tunnel is Issaqueena Falls, a kind of personal landmark. Shortly after my wife and I met five years ago in Charleston, I got "Swamp Fever" and had to go somewhere that wasn't flat. Picking her up, we took a short trip driving in the general direction of mountains and wound up here. Couldn't really complain. So the site has kept a special meaning for us, and since we were in the area, we dropped by for a visit. Here is the creek leading to the top of the falls.
Here is the waterfall in 2003
And in 2008... not so much. Remember that drought going on? There's a little water going over, but not much. The waterfall is known from the poem "Cateechee of Keowee", a love story by J.W. Daniels in 1898. In the story there is a Creek maiden named Issaqueena who was captured by the Cherokee and renamed Cateechee. She fell in love with a white trader named Allan Francis, and hearing of a plan to attack the white sttlers, she rode to his fort at Ninety-Six to warn him. She stayed with the white men for fear of retribution and eventually married Allan. They later moved to Stumphouse Mountain (where the falls are) with their new baby to build a home. The Cherokee chief learned of this, and set out to capture her. Seeing the warriors coming, Issaqueena, she ran towards the falls, and knowing the Cherokee believed waterfalls had evil spirits, she pretended to jump off the cliff. Once the warriors left, she climbed out from the ledge where she had in fact hidden and rejoined her familly.
In 2003, a picture that I still have on display
And 2008. Not sure why she faced the wrong way.
Aw, we were so cute! (I know, I know, what happened? Geez....)
And 2008
Well, even with no water, it still has quite a view of the "Kudzu National Forest".

Hello mother, hello father....

Ok, so getting back into things, this last weekend we celebrated our anniversary by dropping the kid off with her parents and going camping! So that's where I've been the last few days and before showing the cool stuff we saw, I felt like relating some of our funny stories to you. Ok, maybe they're only funny to us, but I'm sharing the camping experience with you anyway, so enjoy!
So the first night was the great "weenie roll". We brought hot dogs (actually some fancy Johnsonville Braught thing that she found) but didn't bring a hot dog poker. So after attempting to roast one on a stick from a tree, we decided to use the grill on the firepit. Problem: how to remove them? So we used said tree stick to roll them along the grill for an even burn, and then to the edge where they could be picked up using hot dog buns, resulting in only minor burns.

I learned another important lesson that night. Not a good idea to come screaming on a bicycle down a hill onto a dirt path with lots of roots and large rocks. While no injuries resulted, apparently I put on quite a show.

Yes we're naked. What are you going to do? We're married!
Ah, sleeping under the trees in the open...
in the dark....
And then the next morning after I was rudely awakened by rain drops, rushed out to put on the rain fly, and it promptly stopped. Grrr. I hate nature.

The next evening was marshmallows. Don't look so happy.
Playing "Chubby Playboy Bunny"

Then we decided to try to "roll" a marshmallow.
Yeah......

A Budd camping tradition: Cheap wine, paper cups...
and UNO!!!
I keep trying to tell people I have divine powers, but they never believe me!
The light is mooooooooving!!!
Isn't it cute?

Roots

Ok, so now for a personal moment. Here is the cemetery in Phoenix where my Grandfather is buried. He died in 1996, and he is where The Kid got his middle name.
Leo D. Budd, 1928-1996
"Hello Great Grandpa!"
Four generations of Budd, the closest we'll ever get.