A Visit To Jacksonville

Yesterday was interesting - we hit some of the boutique shoppes on the coast and ended up buying things we didn't need for prices that were downright silly. Sometimes I guess you just got to do that.

I couldn't come down here, though, without cruising J-Ville. I'd always been a West Coast Marine and never had the "good fortune" to be assigned to Camp LeJeune. Cruising the main drag outside the gates to the base made me downright homesick! Furniture rentals, barber shops, tattoo parlors, pawn shops, used car yards - they were all there in abundance. About the only thing I saw that was new was the "pay day loan" check cashing places. If only those Marines had a clue as to the interest rates these places charge, they'd be out of business in a real hurry!

The Beirut Memorial is also located here, since all but about 20 or so of the Marines and Sailors who were murdered in the truck bomb attack at the Marine Barracks in Beirut were from LeJeune. We had to stop and pay our respects to the fallen. I took a couple of photos of the Memorial and if they turn out all right I may post them when we get back home.

Speaking of which, we have to head back this afternoon since She Who Must Be Obeyed has to be at work tomorrow. I think today might just consist of chillin' by the ocean for a while. Overall, this has been a really good long weekend escape from Winston Salem - albeit way too short!

But that just supplies the motivation for doing this again, right?