Our primary reason for going there was to visit one of my very best friends, Stephanie (who used to live in Turkey with me and was also in the USAF) and her husband, Dave (who she met in Turkey). I hadn't seen Steph in two years so I was dying to visit her and finally meet their children. They've lived all over the US for the past couple of years, and Dave just got back from a six month jaunt to Iraq... so I figured we should visit while we could!
Here's where Havelock is located:
There's pretty much nothing cosmopolitan nearby. Like, not even a Starbuck's. Apparently you have to drive two hours to Raleigh if you want corporate coffee... or real cream in your drink, as opposed to non-dairy creamer, which appears to be the standard in Havelock.
It's fair to say that Dave (who is definitely more of an urbanite than Stephanie, who is from upstate Minnesota, an hour from the North Dakota border, and is used to remote locations) isn't exactly fond of rural North Carolina. So why do they live there, you might ask?
Dave flies one of these for the USMC:
It's an EA6B Prowler (electronics/radar jammer), and the only place they're stationed is Cherry Point Air Station located in... yes, that's right... Havelock, where a day of shopping = Walmart. Poor Dave.
However, they have a cute house on base, and if you click on the picture on the left, you will see that they even have an official name plate in the lawn with Dave's rank. How hierarchical. Stephanie doesn't like living on base so she bought a foreclosed house about 10 minutes away that is in the process of being totally gutted and renovated. We visited it, but I forgot to take a picture. Just imagine a tan brick Colonial style box.
Here are Steph and Dave's boys, Thomas (3 mos) and Nathan (2 in September)...
I could never find a way to get a picture of Stephanie not involved in kid activities so here she is reading a book to Nathan one evening... and the first of many pictures of me holding Thomas, who at 3 months is like a cuddly little sack of potatoes, and I just couldn't get enough of him...
I forced Miguel to take Thomas here. He was much happier hanging out and drinking Hefeweizen with Dave than schmoozing around with the baby. But as you can see, I was quite fond of smothering poor Thomas...
Here's a Smith-Franklin family photo at Atlantic Beach. Havelock might not be NYC, but at least there is a gorgeous beach only 30 minutes away... here is one of the few solo photos of Nathan. He wouldn't sit still long enough to get many pictures of him...
Thomas and me... not only is the hat blinding him, but he might be getting boils from being held by me so much. He was so freaking cute...
Dave made him a little sun cave. Between Steph, Miguel and me, we snapped about 15 pictures like this. Here are the two best ones...
This is the next morning prior to our departure. More snuggling from Auntie Kit... and Miguel too. (Nathan had already strapped himself in his carseat and refused to leave the mini-van (yes, I did say mini-van, although Dave is still in denial and prefers to focus on its high-tech aspects, such as its built-in DVD player AKA "neglectavision")...
And that was that. We had such a good time with them, talking, catching up, enjoying the beach, sharing a delicious waterfront seafood dinner (sorry, no pics of that, but we were busy eating), and then hanging out late that night hearing Dave's myriad stories -- from going to Indonesia after the tsunami to life in Iraq.
We left last Tuesday morning, heading northeast to Ocracoke Island, which will be featured next time.
As one last note, I just had to draw attention to two photos that came up when I Google image searched for "Havelock North Carolina." The first is positively scary. Apparently there is some boondocks North Carolina dating site, and this man's photo popped up...
Grrrrr... you go, Tiger!
The second is this sign that really is posted outside the Marine Air Base... saying "Pardon Our Noise... It's the Sound of Freedom"... OK, I was in the military for four years so I'm allowed to say this, even if no one else will... THE MILITARY CAN BE SO FREAKING CORNY.
For the love of God, please someone stop this sappy schmaltz the military insists on doling out. It's simply wretched.
And that's my two cents for tonight. Toodles!
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