So, I am back in Rochester after spending some time with my husband, who has been in Georgia for several weeks. Here are some of my experiences from the week:
1. From Saturday until Thursday, Brian & I were staying in some base housing. For the first time I got to experience a taste of what it's like to live on a naval base... Some of it was great, and some of it was frustrating.
- I felt super cool & official whenever I drove onto the base. I handed them my id card, and they said "have a nice day Mrs Dahl," and let me in!!
- There are several different gates to get onto base, and they all have different hours. It is complicated trying to get back onto base, and having to figure out which road I needed to take.
- Kings Bay is in the middle of nowhere, so if I wanted to get off-base for awhile, it was quite a drive to get to civilian-civilization.
- The base itself is pretty; lots of places to walk around.
I started watching the show Army Wives on Netflix. It follows 4 wives (and one husband) who are married to military men (and woman) and are living on an army post. It was neat to start watching that, and then to see the reality of some of that as I was on base... One of the themes in the show is how people on a base come together & care for one another:
On my first day on base, I went to pick up some groceries. I got lost, and found out the commissary was closed, and finally found a mini-mart on base. I had been traveling all day, was in unfamiliar territory, and my husband was on duty until the following morning. All those things combined, made me a little emotional... They Navy wife who rang me out commented that I looked new, and asked me how I was doing. And I maybe emotionally threw up all over her, and she was kind and compassionate.
Living off-base in Virginia has plenty of advantages. But, I think in some ways, I miss out on some of the connection that people have when they are on base together.
2. It was AWESOME spending time with my husband. I really miss him, and I LOVED every second we had together. We spent our evenings eating out (we had a kitchenette with fridge & microwave, but no way to cook a proper dinner), and hanging out.
On Saturday we drove to Jacksonville to have some adventures in Florida!! We spent a lot of time at the zoo, and then went to the beach for awhile; 2 things I really love to do!!!
3. The weather at the beginning of the week was not great; it was actually warmer in Rochester than it was in Jacksonville the first couple days! But by the end of the week, things got much better. Wednesday I went outside to read, and walked around the base. Thursday & Friday we had to move to a hotel off base (the room we were in on base had previously been reserved for the weekend), and I sat by the pool and dunked my feet! And then Saturday was beautiful, sunny and 85 degrees, and we got to wade in the ocean!!
I decided I would probably enjoy living in Southern Georgia or Northern Florida :-)
... And then Sunday I flew back into Buffalo. And it snowed on my drive back to Hilton.
Want to see pics from my time down there? Check out my facebook album.
Hopefully I'll be back in Virginia with my husband soon; the date is still a little unknown!
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