Sockmonkey visits Gannimal house day 7

Day 7? Day 7 right? Is the travellog dragging on or is it just me. Friday morning we were awoken with the alarm system of Gannimal house loudly announcing "Front Door Open!" It was sailor Dan getting home from his overnight duty shift at the Truman. There weren't really any set plans for the day so Sockmonkey and I finished up reading the book about Pocahontas that we had found earlier that week at the 2nd hand store. She was a real American and it gave me a whole other way to look at the Chesapeake Bay area we were traveling around. I might try to follow up on more of her history when we get home. Dan woke up later in the morning after a little nap to refresh from his long day the night before and discussed taking us to the NEX and touring around the Naval Base. Got to the NEX and bought lunch at A & W, chili dogs, then went shopping. Sockmonkey had never seen so many military personnel in one place and it was all we could do to keep him from trying to get his picture taken with everyone of them, pretty sure his heart was bursting with proudness to be among genuine heroes. After shopping drove through the base, it was my first time to see where the ship had come home from Dan's deployment since the others had been there in December as his welcome home committee. Out of the base on a Friday afternoon right into commute traffic. The sluggish highway screwed up our moving into position to take the off-ramp we were needing and as I lamented under my breath, Dan remarked that if we just stayed in the traffic heading east we would come out at Virginia Beach. Sockmonkey and I would finally make it to the Atlantic shore and the bonus was sticking our toes in the dampened sand right at sunset. Just to let you know, being a west coaster it is kind of an odd sensation to be looking at the beautiful water of the ocean with the sun going down at your back. We would be heading to Golden Corral for all you can eat dinner which I was really looking forward to. Sockmonkey on the other hand wanted to make sandcastles, even the prospect of a chocolate fountain could hardly pull him away. Give him a beach and a sunset, just a silly old romantic. To be continued...