Last Few Days in the States with Thomas

Saturday:

Poor Thomas had to hang by himself all day while I went and did the walking portion of Land Navigation. It was hot, we had to wear all our body armor and walk about 2.5 miles total,

but my team was the 2nd team to complete the two required courses. The first one involved using a compass to find our way to various points. The second one, we were just given a map of the terrain and had to find our way based on environmental landmarks on the map. It was prettychallenging because there were no trail and we had cut our own path

through the woods most of the time, but it felt very rewarding to finally make it to the end point. Then we had to sit and wait for all the other groups to come in. Notice the group relaxing around the green Camaro (one of the Army instructor’s vehicle). I was getting really antsy because I knew Thomas was waiting.

Finally everyone was done and I was able to quickly pack up some things, meet up with Thomas and get on our way to Phili! We stayed at the Residence Inn in City Central with a big comfy King size bed. Oh, it was so nice to stay in a nice hotel room with a clean bathroom! It was also really nice spending time with Thomas. We walked around through Rittenhouse Square and then had a pre-dinner appetizer at an outside table just off the square where we were able to talk and people watch. Later in the evening we ate a fabulous dinner at a Cuban restaurant right near our hotel. We actually didn’t stay out too late because we were both tired and just wanted to enjoy being together.

Sunday:

So nice to just sleep in for once! We had a very relaxing morning and then we headed out for the Old City to see some historical sites. First we came across Carpenter’s Hall where Congress met for their very first meetings. Outside of the hall in front the country’s second bank, actors dressed in colonial attire were teaching tourists how to march and carry guns as if they were in the military preparing to fight in the Revolution.

We stopped off at an Indian restaurant and ate at the buffet because we were starving. Then we made our way to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Tour tickets for Independence Hall were sold out, so we only got to see the building where the Declaration of Independence was signed from the outside. But the Liberty Bell was free and did not require a ticket, so we were able to see that exhibit. It is much small than I thought it would be, but I thought it was a nice thing to see before deploying to Afghanistan.

Sunday night we had Sushi because I know I won’t get good, fresh Sushi for a long time and then we found ourselves settling in at a local Irish bar. We stayed there talking and people watching until almost 2 am, then back to our comfortable hotel bed.

Monday:

We asked for a late check-out so that we could sleep in a little and have time to go eat breakfast. We found a hole-in-the-wall called Pinky’s where we had your typical greasy spoon breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast. Then we just walked around the neighborhoods admiring the row houses. However, it started to get really hot and so we decided to pack up and head back to Ft. Dix.

This time I made sure to book a room at the All American Inn at McGuire Airforce Base to ensure that we didn’t have to stay in a skanky hotel again. The room was great and only $39 a night! We went shopping at the Exchange store and the Uniform Shop as well. Thomas was like a little boy in a toy store and we ended up buying him a really big knife for a great price.

Monday evening we drove to Pine Beach, NJ where my good friend Danielle and her husband live. Danielle and I worked together in the ICU in San Diego back in 2002 and have stayed in touch ever since. They invited us over for dinner and presented us with a phenomenal gourmet meal of grilled fish, steamed clams, shrimp and tomato salad. I also got to savor my last alcoholic beverage, a really good red wine. I also enjoyed hanging with Danielle’s four cats.

Tuesday:

Tuesday morning was difficult because Thomas and I had to say goodbye. We stopped at the Exchange store and mailed a package of things back to Seattle and then had bagels for breakfast. We both started crying over the bagels and had to quickly finish eating because there were too many people around from my unit. Thomas took me back to where my barracks were located and we sat in the car for a while longer, hugging and crying. Then we hugged and cried once more as I started to walk back to the barracks. We were both very sad to have to say goodbye for so long. Thomas then left to go back to D.C. to see his family for one night.

I, on the other hand, had to go pack up all my things and thoroughly clean out my room and locker. We had to lug all our seabags and rucksacks out to a large semi truck they had waiting for us to fill up. We formed an assembly line of people and quickly developed a system of rolling the bags so no one person had to carry too much of the weight because it would roll on by so quickly. It was amazing how quickly we were able to load about 150 rucksacks (large framed backpacks) and probably around 400 seabags! I felt very relieved to have all the Army training behind me and felt a sense of accomplishment as well that I had made it through some of the most physically demanding activities I have ever participated in throughout my entire life. I was also looking forward to finally moving on to the next phase of my deployment and getting over to the middle east.