8/8/08 A Visit to Bethany Beach

I'm taking my meds as prescribed and everything I eat or drink tastes terrible. I am NOT liking this! I'm sleeping somewhat better but still have slight difficulty breathing when I walk too fast or climb stairs. The inhaler takes care of that in no time flat. This inhaler is my new best friend!

Kenny left this morning and will be gone for the next four days. If we had known this before we came down here we could/would have changed weeks. All the same we're here.

Since Bob and I spent many a "summer camp" in Bethany Beach at the Training Center we decided to take a ride over there to see who was around. We ran into several people we knew and it was nice to catch up with old friends.

I always loved having my two week annual training at Bethany Beach, especially if my unit had it the same time as my dad's. You see, Dad wasn't crazy about mess hall food, but to give credit where credit is due we did have good cooks, but there are just so many good restuarants at the beach. Towards the end of some days Dad would come to my unit or call me and ask me if I wanted to go to dinner with him. It wasn't a hard decision to make. On one hand I had mess hall food, on the other I had Surf n Turf, now which one would YOU pick? Especially if DAD was buying!

One complaint about having "summer camp" at the beach was that most soldiers spent more than they made for the two weeks. With all the restaurants, nightclubs, boardwalks, poker games, etc. it wasn't hard to do.

Just like many military bases of all types Bethany Beach Training Camp has a FamCamp if you will. There are two sections for RV's with full hookups, 50 amp service and cable. While there was only one RV in each section this particular day, Bob and I have made use of these facilities many times. Its a cheap way to be at the beach at $22.00 per night.

These are the new pull thru sites.

This is the "old" section, all back in sites.

Done at the Training Center we took a ride over to the Bethany Beach proper.

The first thing that greets you is Bethany Beach's landmark sculpture of "Chief Little Owl" . The statue, depicting a Nanticoke Indian chief with a north-facing eagle atop his head, is the second totem pole to stand in this place. The first one, "Whispering Giant" carved in 1976, as well as the new one, were carved by Peter Toth. Toth has now placed a totem pole in each of the 50 states and another 15 in Canada. His purpose in doing so, was to promote unity among all people. The first totem pole showed serious damage after seven years. This one, carved from red cedar is expected to last 50 to 100 years.

After finding a parking place, no easy feat in August, we made our first stop on the boardwalk.

There is just nothing like boardwalk fries! Served in a large cup, doused with vinegar, they are a meal unto themselves! See that cup of fries in Bob's hand? $6.50 for those fries and worth every penny of it!

Below is the bandstand on the boardwalk. On weekend nights and sometimes during the week local community bands, to include the 287th Army Band from the Guard give free concerts.

The first thing we noticed was that we couldn't see the beach from the boardwalk. Tons and tons of sand have been brought in to form a barrier between the ocean and the boardwalk. In order to get to the beach now one has to walk down a walkway and down a few steps. This sand dune is to help prevent beach erosion and flooding during our famed nor'easters. The dune is planted with young beach grass in near perfect rows.

It was the perfect day for the beach! Of course the beach is much smaller now with the sand dune in place.

There were colorful beach umbrellas as far as one could see. It was here that we noticed the clouds coming in.

We took a walk on the "boards" and took notice of these hermit crabs and their colorful shells.

As you can well imagine, space is at a premium in the boardwalk shops. There isn't always room on the shelves for the goods so the shopkeepers do the next best thing! They hang 'em.

The shopkeepers are very smart in Bethany Beach. This one in particular put these battery operated stuffed animals that barked and oinked and could walk on a leash at eye level for the toddlers who wanted them.

Need crocs? What color?

You can buy just about anything on the boardwalk at the Delaware beaches. Have a need for a pirate sitting on a barrel? For five hundred big ones you can take this one home.

Done window shopping, we made our way to the inlet to see if the fisherman were doing any good. They weren't from the land but the fisherman in the boats were pulling in good sized flounder and tog.

We would have stayed longer but it is now apparent that we have a monster storm coming in. We think its best to get back to Kenny's before it hits. We didn't make it. The sky got black as night, the lightning was horrific and thunder so loud as it cracked just overhead. Then the hail started. The white spots in the picture below are in fact hail stones.

We finally got home and stayed put for the night watching the opening cermonies of the 2008 Olympics which were just fantastic!