welcome to my mind ...

Friday night, after the monument tour, we went back to the apartment and hung out for a bit before crashing out, since we had an early start planned for the next day.

Alarms were set fairly early so that we could plan to be on the road by 9 toward VA Beach. It was a roughly 3 hour drive normally, but the later we left, the higher the odds of traffic. We ended up not leaving the apartment until a little before 9, and didn't get to leave toward VA Beach until closer to 10. We each had to stop at our respective residences to grab a weekend bag, and to drop off his vehicle.

Surprisingly, we only hit traffic once during the entire drive. The weather was complete shit on most of the drive down, however. He dozed off for a while; the route was pretty direct, and there was decent signage so that along with the GPS, I didn't need to wake him. About 2 hours in to the drive, I started to feel rather fatigued; I yawned a lot, but I was able to stay awake. I think once the rain cleared up, and I wasn't having to squint just to see the vehicle in front of me through the sheets of rain coming down, I was much more alert.

Once we got to the condo, we had to wait a little while for my cousin and his wife {who'd driven down Friday night} to get back from shopping. We got upstairs and just kind of chilled out before having to head to my aunt's place in Chesapeake for another family get together. Two of the three cousins who lived in that area came for dinner; they brought all the kids and it was a really nice evening. . . except the weather had turned to shit again.

That area was getting hit by the outer bands of Hurricane Matthew and they got between 9-10 inches of rain just that night. Roads were flooded pretty bad, so we ended up cutting the hangout after dinner short so that everyone could get back home before the roads completely closed. The food was delicious! Italian food is always a good option. I kind of wish there'd been enough for left overs.

Once back in VA Beach, we stopped at 7 Eleven to get some snacks for the condo, and the wind... oh man, the wind was crazy! The rain was legit going sideways. It was a challenge to walk in a straight line. My cousin and I ran in to the store, and even with parking right out in front of the doors, we were soaked by the time we got inside. When we got back out to the car, his wife brought up how the car just kept rocking with the gusts of wind.

We still had power by the time we got back to the condo, but the power went out at some point during the night because there was none in the morning. It wasn't pouring, but the wind was still intense, and the roads were even more flooded. We were supposed to leave back to DC on Sunday, but due to road closures from flooding, it was just safer to stay another night. So he was lucky enough to be able to move his plans that he'd had for Monday to a different day, and the group of us carefully made our way in to town to get some food.

We made our way to a Chili's ... that lost power about 20 minutes after we got there. Since they'd been able to make our appetizers, we decided to munch on those while waiting, and hoping, for the power to come back on. It didn't. We left to head farther in to town and ended up at the mall. Only about half the stores were open, but the food curt was open so they all got lunch and I just kind of picked a little, as I'd lost my appetite at that point.

Since most of the stores were closed, we pretty much made our way back to the condo after that. The power was back on, and although the wind was still strong, it was much nicer than the night before. We all decided to take naps at that point, except my cousin's wife, who went shopping. That evening we ordered some pizza for dinner, mostly due to the lack of wanting to get dressed to go anywhere else.

After dinner, the friend and I went for a walk on the beach. The wind was still strong enough that it picked up loose sand that had dried, and pelted us as we walked along the beach, so we made our way back up to the boardwalk {which was paved} and kept walking there. Despite having pretty much spent the last few days mostly together, it was nice getting out just the two of us. It felt comfortable. We walked and talked and just enjoyed each other's company. After walking maybe a quarter mile, we made our way up to the street to walk back toward the condo, so that we didn't risk getting pelted by sand in the face.

Once back at the condo, we all played a game called Speak Out. Oh man... hilarious!! It was sooo funny. I mean, seeing the videos online are pretty damn entertaining, but holy crap is it so much more fun actually playing it! There was even discussion of me getting the game, and playing with them via Skype. I'll have to make sure that I snag a couple mouth spreaders the next time I visit so that all I'll have to do is get the game {my cousin bought separate mouth spreaders and they had smaller sizes; since my mouth is smaller, the ones that come with the game are way too big and hurt.}

Monday was the day to head back to DC. We left earlier, since he had things he needed to get done at home, which was fine with me. I pretty much just kept hanging out with him at his place until around 11, when the family unit of my cousins made it back home. I met his mom and sister, and the crew of felines that his mom rescued. I even made a couple new friends. He cooked dinner for all of us; it was delicious. He made the dish from scratch... so. good. After dinner, he and his mom brought out their bagpipe practice chanters and played some, before she left to go do something and he played something on the piano for me. It made my heart happy.

Once back at my aunt's place, the two boys gamed for a bit, before we all called it a night. Tuesday morning was kind of somber, since that was the day I left to come back here. The two boys and I went out for lunch at this amazing sushi place. I'm so glad that my cousin had mentioned it; the food was so good. I ate so much good food while I was out there. I'm amazed at the fact that I'd only gained 3 lbs.

When we finished lunch, we made our way back to the house and just kind of hung out until it was time for me to leave. I think I cried like, 4 separate times in the span of two hours. It was rough having to leave. The closer it got to the point of actually going back to the airport, the more and more I wanted to just stay.

As I've said countless times, the two weeks I was there {with the exception of the very first couple hours} was absolutely amazing. I felt comfortable, welcome, at home there; something that's actually crossed my mind several times, for multiple reasons. Under specific circumstances, I would be very happy with a life there.

There were a few things that I'd wanted to do, or had thought about doing, while out there that I didn't get the chance to do, but one of those reasons is why I'm actually going back in December.

However, I'll talk more about that in the next entry because this one is already long enough. I'm sure there are details of the trip that I missed typing up, but just know, that was probably the best vacation of my entire adult life.