Redeployed

Overlooking a valley in Afghanistan

The explanation for my lack of internet presence over the last several months is quite simple- I was deployed to Afghanistan.  Professionally and personally, it was an experience that could be described with dozens of adjectives, but I'll sum it up as unique, challenging and rewarding.  I've long considered myself a collector of experiences.  As such, this experience has deepened my understanding of the world and my place in it.  I often marvel at the extraordinary events I have the good fortune of being involved in; this one was no different.

First ferry ride for the new ride

Now that I'm back, my existence has been a whirlwind of unpacking and reintegrating into the responsibilities of running a household.  It sounds like a simple thing, but when you are solely responsible for your domestic life, there's no one to "run the home front" when you're gone for extended periods of time.  Sure, my neighbor picked up my mail and would go into my house a few times a week to make sure everything was OK, but think about all the little everyday household duties that pop up on a regular basis (even when you're not there to generate them!).  With most bills on auto pay, finances are pretty much on autopilot, but random things like vehicle registrations and verification paperwork for various issues pop up and must be taken care of.  It's a good thing I'm an organized person!  With the majority of those issues taken care of, I made a quick trip to Louisiana to visit my family.  It was a short break, but I absolutely enjoyed being home and hanging out with my parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles.  Every time I go home I'm reminded of how fortunate I am to be from a place that still values family get-togethers.

Sunrise from front door

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

I returned to NC from my trip home recharged and ready to pick up my new purchase... a 2012 Harley-Davidson Street Glide!  At 850 lbs, it's much bigger and heavier than my 2006 Sportster, but the bulk of my new bike makes it a much more comfortable ride with luxuries I didn't realize I would appreciate so much (like cruise control, a stereo and a fuel gage!).  I figured the best way to break in my new ride and get familiar with it was to take a road trip, so I pointed east and started riding.  I hit the Atlantic Coast then turned north to fulfill a longtime desire to ride two wheels up the Outer Banks.

Riding in the Extortion 17 Memorial Ride in Virginia Beach.  Photo by Rob Skinner

I stayed overnight in Atlantic Beach, Cape Hatteras and Nags Head and ate my weight in crab cakes at every location!  Unbelievably, I don't have any food pics to post from this trip :-(  I'll blame my slip in culinary narrative to being overly excited about my new ride!  In addition to all the natural beauty along the route, I also took in some made-made sites of interest like the Cape Hatteras Light House built in 1870.  At 198.5 feet, it holds the distinction of being the world's tallest brick lighthouse.  After having run a few miles on the beach that morning and now wearing riding boots instead of sneakers, I opted out of climbing the stairs to the top but I have a feeling I'll be back to revisit that option.  Up the shore at Kitty Hawk, I visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial and stood in the path of the first mechanical flight.  It was really cool to stand on the hill from which hundreds of glider flights were launched during the preparation process for the mechanical flight.  As I stood in the field visualizing what it must've been like during that time, a Navy helicopter swooped in for a low pass over the field.  It was refreshing to see a technologically advanced generation still acknowledging the contributions of our forefathers.   

Karen, Rob and Barb enjoying Guinness at an Irish Pub

With my tour of the coast and beach time complete, I crossed the border into Virginia and rode to Norfolk to hang out with my buddy Jim for a night.  Unfortunately, Karla is on a ship right now but Jim and I enjoyed catching up even for just a short time.  After a leisurely breakfast with Jim and some friends, I headed towards Virginia Beach where I met up with some other friends to do the Extortion 17 Memorial Ride.  It was a year ago, on 6 Aug 2012 that a CH-47 helicopter (call sign Extortion 17) was shot down by enemy fire in Afghanistan and we lost 31 heroes- 30 Navy, Air Force and Army active duty military and 1 military working dog.  Over 1000 bikers showed up to ride the 20-something mile route through Virginia Beach in honor of their sacrifice and to raise money for the families left behind.  To find out  more information about these heroes, go to the memorial ride website.  The very meaningful and enjoyable day ended with an evening of food, drinks and great conversation with my colleague and friend Rob and his wife Barbara.  As usual, there was no lack of topics to cover or foods to discuss!  With enough time and beer, I'm pretty sure the three of us could solve most of the world's problems :-)


So now that I'm back, I should be able to post regularly again.  Well, as long as there's something noteworthy going on for me to post about!  It's good to be back.

Dominican Republic vacation wrap-up

Christi and Monica poolside

Monica and Christi were great travel partners for this luxury vacation!  Although the three of us spent most of our time together, it wasn't out of obligation.  I learned a long time ago that not only do you and your travel companions need to agree on the goal of the journey, you also have to genuinely enjoy each others' company.  With the objective of a relaxing, lounge around on the beach and at the pool kind of vacation already established before departure, it was pretty easy to all just hang out without feeling the need to entertain each other.  For the most part, we all got hungry around the same time (I'll explain my decreased appetite shortly) and seemed to synchronize our need to come in out of the sun.  I lucked out and picked up a really good book at the airport that carried me through the week of lounging in the sun while Christi came armed with several books and magazines. The relaxing powers of the sun on our skin actually made the presence of reading material trivial.  Unfortunately, if you chose the wrong section of the beach or the pool designated as the "party" pool for that day, your quiet lounging time of reading evaporated with the over-amplified voice of a party emcee.

Monica and Christi getting pedicures

Of course, one of the major draws of this vacation for my travel companions was the spa.  Included with our vacation package was $1500 of credits to be applied on various amenities throughout the resort.  This is the part where I get to my lack of enthusiasm about the all-inclusive vacation.  That $1500 is arbitrarily distributed amongst various activities. Only $300 could be applied toward the spa, the remaining $1200 could only go towards golf, four preselected "excursions" (which of course did not include scuba diving), or upgrades of wine.  Let me remind you at this point, that alcohol is included in the "all inclusive" package.  What that really means is that mediocre supermarket wine and liquors are included (ironically, everywhere but the night club!).  In order to have a nice bottle of wine with dinner (or drinks at the night club), you have to use the $1500 worth of credits.  As an example, a bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz (a supermarket Australian brand wine) would set you back $100 of credits.  For those of you who don't pay much attention to wine brands, you can get a bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz at your local grocery store in the U.S. for $15.  A nice enough wine, but certainly not a $100 bottle of wine.  Monica and Christi easily exceeded their $300 room limit for the spa (I donated my portion of the $300 to them).  We each got a free manicure, pedicure and back massage though since we were using the room of a "member", so yes, I had painted (neutral) toenails and fingernails for a couple of days!

Post dive celebratory Brahma beer :-)

Although not included, I opted for an activity of my own...a day of scuba diving!  Dressel Divers took a van load of folks from the Punta Cana resorts two hours southwest to the National Park.  From there we took a boat to Cacon dive site and enjoyed sightseeing the coral reef off the coast of Saona island at approx. 40 feet.  From there, we waited out our surface interval by hanging out and eating BBQ on the island.  As part of a protected National Park, the island is pristine and has no construction (other than a few thatched covered open structures).  After lunch settled, we did our second dive at El Penon, this time viewing the coral reefs from a depth of approx. 60 feet.  For both dives, the water temp was 78 degrees F with visibility ranging from 50 to 65 feet.  We saw moray eel, crabs, sting rays, various species of fish (lionfish, cherubfish) and different colors of brain and fan coral.  I'd love to post some photos for you, but the dive shop wouldn't let me purchase a disposable underwater camera before boarding the boat since there were videos of the dive made available for $80.  Note to self, don't forget to purchase your own underwater camera before you leave the States!  Oh, and that $9 bottle of sunscreen you didn't pack so you wouldn't have to check a bag at the airport now costs you $32 at the resort "store"!  Suddenly, that airline baggage fee is looking like a deal! 

Coastline of Saona Island

Lack of underwater photos notwithstanding, the day was a blast!  As a single diver in a sport where having a buddy is required, I've been paired up with quite the array of dive partners over the years.  I lucked out on this trip and paired up with a guy named Mike who also happened to be east coast Army (figure the odds!).  His wife opted for a full day at the spa, so he was more than happy to pair up with me for the underwater sightseeing.  He was a great dive buddy (i.e. safe, attentive and fun) and added to my enjoyment of the whole day.  I would post a pic of us together, but I forgot to ask him if he'd be OK with me posting a pic so I don't want to invade his privacy online.  

Dive cooler of Brahma beer, rum and coke!

After the last dive, lots of boats full of divers and snorkelers converged on a shallow sandbar area just off the coastline of the island to hang out and tell stories about all we'd seen.  Of course, the cooler full of beer, rum and coke added to the embellishment of those stories!  There's no doubt, the day of diving was one of the highlights of my vacation.

Let me back up and fill you in on something I mentioned in the first vacation post- my lack of appetite.  For those of you who know me, I am in a constant state of hunger.  Certainly not in a literal starving-to-death kind of way, but in a "yep, I could go for a snack right now" kind of way.  Before departing on this vacation, I had readied myself for the inevitable weight gain that was sure to come with having unlimited access to gourmet food for a week.  Well, just like with the mediocre alcohol, the lackluster array of ordinary tasting food did not entice my appetite.  This lack of exceptional food was probably my biggest disappointment of the trip.  The one shining standout however, was my birthday dinner at the Brazilian Steakhouse.

Birthday dinner at Brazilian Steakhouse

City sites

On the night before departing the resort, the one remaining restaurant for us to try was the Brazilian Steakhouse.  So, we got all dressed up and walked on over.  To our pleasant surprise, the food was quite good as was the service.  We mentioned to our server Luddy that we were celebrating my birthday and she took it upon herself to make it a memorable event.  Christi and Monica had somehow acquired a tiara for me to where for the occasion and Luddy produced a very chocolaty cake!  Before we knew it, a whole crew of performers came out and serenaded me with an unidentifiable, though quite melodious version of "Happy Birthday"! Since there was no candle on the cake, Luddy produced a lighter for me to blow out!!  At the end of the celebration, we were finally introduced to the elusive Dominican drink we'd heard about all week- Mama Juana!  It's made with rum that's been infused with sticks, leaves and roots of various trees and plants native to the Dominican Republic.  This rum is mixed with red wine, honey and various other ingredients based on the personal preference of the person mixing the drink.  The version we had was very smooth, which we were told was attributed to the dash of ammareto added to it.  


Lest I sound oblivious to the challenges being faced by the population on the island of Hispaniola, let me acknowledge what was on the back of my mind throughout this vacation.  The personal income of the two counties that cohabitate this island, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, have annual per capita incomes of $1300 and $8200 respectively.  It was only 2 years ago (to the date that I arrived in Dom Rep) that Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed 220,000 people and injured another 300,000.  As of a few months ago, 6000 people have died of a cholera outbreak there and another 200,000+ have been infected.  This has, and is happening, roughly 300 miles from where we vacationed.  So however disappointed I may have been in the "all-inclusive" experience, I absolutely recognize that the world is not a fair place and that I have benefited immensely from that lack of fairness.  It is not "fair" that I was born in a country whose per capita income is roughly $40,000 instead of $1300.  It is not "fair" that I have access to clean drinking water 24/7.  It is not "fair" that I have ready access to drugs that keep me from contracting malaria when I vacation in countries whose preventive medicine standards pale in comparison to those of the country to which I was fortunate enough to be born.  So to avoid sounding like a spoiled princess disappointed in the amenities of my vacation, let me just state for the record that I fully recognize how fortunate I am to have the ability and means to take this type of vacation.  I immensely enjoyed the time I spent with Monica and Christi and felt the trip was well worth taking.  I'll probably just skip the "all-inclusive" part next time :-) 

Hope you enjoyed my wrap-up.  Not sure what's awaiting me over the next week or so, but I'll certainly try to find something interesting to share. 

Girls' Week Birthday Bash

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

I won't even apologize for taking more than a week to post again since I have the perfect excuse...I was out of the country!  For the first time in more years than I care to admit, I didn't touch a computer, cell phone or TV for seven glorious days.  For my birthday weekend, Monica and Christi accompanied me to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for a girls' getaway.  Historically, I've been a backpacker type of traveler; I truly enjoy meeting other like-minded adventurous wanderers, learning the history of stops along my journey and especially dabbling in local cuisine and culinary customs.  As I get older however, I felt like it might be time to taste the life of a tourist in comparison to that of a traveler.  The difference between the two experiences is defined by logistics and, to some extent, mindset.  Though the differences are subtle, they can result in two completely different perspectives of the same event.  Other than traveling for business when I was with the USOC, the planning phase of my overseas travel typically consisted of booking a plane ticket with a rough idea of things I wanted to see and do during my time abroad.  No advance transportation, lodging or tours arranged; I'd really just wing it.  But this time, with the encouragement of my more "girlie" travel companions, I took the plunge and agreed to an all-inclusive resort experience where everything from transport from the airport to meals and drinks are arranged and paid for in advance.

Sunrise over beach and pool at Hard Rock Resort

There were certainly pros and cons to the "luxury" experience.  Since I'm still aglow with my bikini line suntan, I'll start off with the things I enjoyed.  As you can see from the beach pic, the scenery was spectacular.  This pic of the silhouetted palm trees between the beach and pool was taken at sunrise and captures the picturesque setting of the resort as a whole.  With 12 pools, there was always someplace to hang out if the wind was a little too breezy for the beach.  There were pools with swim up bars, pools with water parks for kids, pools dedicated to quiet for book lovers, pools with European sunbathing areas and even pools dedicated to spring break type antic, truly something for everyone.

View from room balcony

Our room was pretty decadent and included a two person whirlpool (which I referred to as my own private room pool!), fully stocked bar with fridge and an amazing view of the beach and pools right from the balcony.  With almost a dozen restaurants and delis, we only took advantage of the 24-hour room service a couple of times. Christi, however, did call room service to order scented pillows from the pillow menu :-)

Most days' temps were in the upper 70s/low 80s- perfect beach weather.  As non-gamblers, we just couldn't understand how anyone would trade in the beach/pool scene to sit in electronically lit rooms listening to bells and whistles and hoping that today was your day to be lucky (and not a fool).  To each his own I guess, so we decided to forgo our stint in the casino to make room for those lucky/foolish folks who felt the call to gambling. 

Sunrise squall

Most mornings, I'd awake before dawn and take in the sunrise.  One particular morning I walked down to the beach before dawn and witnessed an amazing storm roll through.  It only lasted for an hour or so, but the intensity of the squall was enough to keep everyone indoors for the duration.  I sat on a beach chair mesmerized by the gathering clouds and the advancing wall of rain.  By the time I could tear myself away from the unfolding scene, I had to run for cover to protect my camera from the downpour.  I've known all my life that of earth's elements, it's water that connects my soul to the world around me.  Chalk it up to being born and raised on a bayou, but there's no mountain or wooded area in the world, at least that I've encountered thus far, that is as life-affirming and awe-inspiring as that of moving water in nature.   It was a humbling sight to behold.

Christi, Monica and Karen at the beach

Now that I've introduced you to the scenery and benefits of the resort scene, the next post will be more about how we spent our days during the week.  I'll give you a hint:  I split off from Monica and Christi for a day for a chance to explore our differing tastes of vacation activities.  I'll also give you my wrap-up of the all-inclusive resort experience so stay tuned in you're interested!