A Very Busy May 2005

It actually started on April 28th but it was intended to be one very busy month. I had wanted to go on a trip. At first it was England but that turned out to be impossible. FLights were to expensive and our friends who live there were all on their own vacations.

Then came my idea to go on a hiking trip to Machu Pichu in Peru. Wanted that a whole lot but the organized tours were very full. Hawaii, Colorado, California and even Oregon. They all proved impossible then out of the blue Lorraine reminds me good friends moved to North Carolina. So that was that. A visit to Terrell, Travis and Mary Ott and what an adventure.

The Ott's are a very unusual sort of family. They lived in Colorado for years but met in Texas. Terrell typifies the modern worker. He's a computer programmer for a company in Colorado. His wife climbed from security through to a very executive position with K-Mart. She's back and forth between Colorado and their new home in Elon, North Carolina. Elon is a quirky sort of college town a few miles east of Greensboro. Elon reminds me of an American version of Lorraine's home town of Port Credit. Loads of affluence mixed in between some real poverty. Families that have lived there for generations and weather that really is not extreme at all.

Alamance, North Carolina:

-Imagine 3000 British soldiers facing 1500 Americans in one field
- Alamance was a pivotal battle during the war of independence

-This family had a home near the battleground and were considered wealthy
-Imagine 14 people living in this small house!

Mt. Airy North Carolina

Any guesses why this town was so important to America?

-Mt. Airy is better known as Mayberry. The home of Opie, Andy and Barney
-It's hardly changed since the old TV show

-The Welcome Center is also the Andy Griffith Museum

-The Main street

-Snappy Lunch bar

-Floyd's Barbershop for over 50 years

Mt. Airy and Mt.Pilot were actually quarry towns and to this day granite
mining is the major source of income for much of the population

Hilton Head, South Carolina

-North Carolina was great but I always had heard of
Hilton Head, a 6 hour drive from Greensboro

-Imagine a population of 30,000 that has 27 professional golf courses

Hilton Head has pristine Atlantic beaches but unlike Florida the beaches are really protected from development. No matter how many millions you can afford you have a wide separator from the actual beach.

I found this last minute hotel named the Hilton head Plaza, only
6 hours from Orlando and $50 per night. How could I lose?

-My view from the 5th floor

Mothers Day, May 8th,2005 at
the Gaylord Palms Hotel

-It was Glenda and Steve Wilkins idea to have us all go to the Gaylord Palms Resort
-It was pricey but worth it. The food was an eclectic mix flavors

May 12th, 2005 - Lorraine turns 50

Elliot's Final Day at Disney World
May 21st, 2005

5 years of odd jobs that included Disney's Main Street USA Ice Cream Parlor at the Magic Kingdom, Sports Dominator and then back to Disney. Elliot's final Disney day came to an end while working in the Disney research department.

The reason? College was over and my youngest son made a career move upward.