On The Road Again, To Topsail, NC, For A Week

Dinner At A Turkish Restaurant With Our Son Tom and Family

Mary and Tom Arrive In Raleigh

I am sitting in the lobby of a Hampton Inn, in Cary, NC, a suburb of Raleigh.  It's 6:30 and I'm sipping coffee, writing my blog, watching shark attacks on CNN, listening to a shark expert explain that if attacked, hit the shark in its snout!  That sometimes works! Perfect.  The other big story, fear of a lone wolf terrorist attack.  Which is the greater danger?  Sharks or terrorists.  Leave it to CNN to make your morning.  I doubt if any of us will swim much if at all, alas.  We are here at the Inn with my son, Tom and his family from Kansas City, and our daughter Beth and her family from Dallas, are staying nearby.  We will drive the three hours to our house on the beach at Topsail this morning, meeting up with Jill and family, who no doubt are already on the road from Virginia, hoping to beat the 4th of July traffic.

A Raleigh. NC, Welcome

Torrential Rains

Yesterday was close to a drive from hell and it also convinced me that since I am retired, I do not need to take vacations or trips during National Holidays when the traffic is terrible.  I think I would rather stay home than face traffic like we found yesterday driving to Raleigh from Virginia.  Our first two hours on Interstate 95, through Virginia, was back to back traffic, three lanes thick, 10-15 miles and hour and  stops.  By the time we got to Richmond, however, it had loosened up so we could drive normal speeds but just in case, we took Interstate 85 from Richmond to Raleigh.  Just as we got within a half hour of Raleigh, however, torrential rains filled the roads, slowing traffic to a crawl, ponding and puddling the roads.  It continued until we arrived at our Hampton Inn, then stopped.  A three hour drive took five hours.

We relaxed in the Inn until 6:00 when we drove to the Raleigh airport and picked up my son Tom's family.  We then drove to a Turkish restaurant that Evie had found on Yelp, highly recommended and ten minutes from our Hampton.

A Happy Marlena

Nick, A Crazy High School Senior

 It was called the Bosphorus and was as authentic, food wise, as you could get.  We had great appetizers, yogurt kebabs, and rice pudding for dessert.  It was a good choice, everyone was happy with their meals and were full.  We then drove back to the Inn around 8:30 and since we were all tired from driving, we said goodnight and went to our separate rooms.

This morning, probably around 9:30, Beth and family will meet us here at the Inn, and we will then drive in tandem to Topsail although we cannot get into our house until 4:00.  Looking forward to a great week with our family -- sharks be damned!