Friday, January 30, 2009

1971 to 2003

Ex was Air Force (Colonel 30 years) and we moved around a bit. Not as much as some military families.

Rapid City SD Ellsworth AFB We were there 3 years/him 4. Loved the Black Hills but not the shopping available. The hang-out on Sunday's was K-Mart (I kid ya not). We would hike and tube on the streams. We were there for the flood(1972), that was major, luckily we were not near the flooding. I worked at the SD Fair and that was hit and quite a mess to clean up. Aunt in Denver so we made many runs to have some metropolitan experiences. My college roommate's hubby played for the Denver Broncos so we would have 50 yd line seats (free). Yes I ski!

Colorado Springs CO 7 years NORAD After SD, loved it here. Our home had a front range view of the mountains and Pikes Peak. It was amazing to watch the changes throughout the day, especially during the summer when it would snow on the mountains.

Stafford VA 3 years Close to family (200 miles), ex worked shifts in the Natl Military Command Center in the Pentagon. During mid-shifts (6nights) would take my 2 babies to PA so he could sleep. Sad thing was being 45 miles south of DC and small kids did not get to take a lot of advantage of the Nation's Capital. No cell phones then so if we had a sitter and a problem arose while we were in DC, well you can imagine, so we did not go often just the 2 of us.

Santa Clara CA.....just loved CA. So much to do and so little time. We lived behind Great America and bought a year pass ($29.95 -kids free). One night a week we would go after the crowds left, sure miss those times. With 2 MLB teams on weekends would see who had the best give-aways and go to a game ($5 tickets). Close to San Fran and the zoo so visited many times. Company come- wine country, SFO, Hearst Castle, on and on. Sad thing was only there 18 months. Also Ex's aunt lived in Palo Alto so had family close by. Loved the Nut Tree ( Vacaville CA)-Castroville (artichoke capital of the world)-Santa Cruz on and on! A friend had horses stabled near Half Moon Bay on the ocean so I would go ride with her on the hills overlooking the ocean, was amazing. Only a 5.2 quake while we were there, but we were like what was that!

Colorado Springs again...seven years. New home- view of mountains. Many of the same friends(military and civilian). I went back to school to get a degree in Travel and Tourism. The school wanted you to take 3 courses per period after a time I started taking 4 so I could finish before we were given orders, but alas I had 3 more to graduate when we had to move so there went that degree.

Montgomery AL-Maxwell AFB and the Air War College (school for Lt Colonels/Colonels plus 40-50 international students. One of the students was a Lord, who had been the pilot of the Queen of England's jet (now that was cool)!!! Sorry Donna, but I dislike AL too hot from May to Nov...never fit in even with living there 12 years. Private schools ate up our money (7-12 grade-2 kids) as local schools were horrible and scary. Saving grace was trips to Atlanta-Destin-Ft Walton Beach and of course driving distance to our timeshares (Orlando/Lake Buena Vista-Jensen Beach FL). Oh and the cockroaches grrrrrrr.

State College PA....back at the start. Still painful to talk about so maybe some day!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful post! Thank you for sharing the places and fun you had in them. Your approach to life comes through...for enjoying every minute. : )

Donna in Alabama said...

That's okay about not liking Alabama, I've lived here all my life and do not know any better..ha ha I am not fond of the heat here either! I have had cock-roaches when I lived in a mobile home but since I built my house in 1986, I haven't.

Donna in Alabama said...

Were you in Rapid City, SD in Dec. 1970? My aunt, whose husband was in the AF was stationed there. He had just came back from Vietnam. There names were Gary and Marilyn Boatwright. The had a baby named Shawnna while there.

Sydney said...

Yay! Glad to see another post! Colorado is one of the states I think I could be very happy living in...

meb said...

Didn't know you had posted delee... love this post... I lived in Florida for 20 years and loved even the hot, hot months and those cockroaches, if you're talking about Florida, were really palmetto bugs... (overgrown cockroaches). LOL Hated those suckers!

donna in al, I think I'd like Alabama too... anywhere hot would be fine with me.

Laurie said...

Wow, you have lived in a lot of places and each one had its own beauty. I guess that's one advantage of military life, lots of travel. Thanks for sharing with us!