#33: 1st Time to the Ocean
The closest I had been to an ocean, before 1996, was watching ocean scenes on “Nature”. However, a trip to Orlando, Florida, with my High School band, finally put me at an ocean (and a first time at the beach)! We stopped by Cocoa Beach for an afternoon of relaxation before the next day’s performances and competitions; those competitions will be part of the last post. Anyways, I waded a few feet into the water, but not too far, since I can’t swim and didn’t want to get snatched into the water by some mutant Man-of-War or something. It was a fun trip!
#34: NYC Monuments
2006 and 2007 saw me on Pep Band trips to New York City, for the Big East Conference Basketball Tournaments. We had more than enough time to explore parts of the city. Some of the places I saw included the 9/11 Memorial and The Statue of Liberty.
The Statue was especially nice because I always wanted to, but thought I would, see it in person. We finished the trips with the basketball games… in Madison Square Garden. I would love to take another trip back to New York City, one of these days.
#35: “The Asylum”: The 3rd Street Apartment
This wasn’t a ‘moment’, so much as it was a ‘time period’. For a little over 5 years, I lived in the Old Louisville neighborhood. I wrote a lot about it a few months ago.
#36: USS Alabama & Gulf of Mexico
In 2002, the UofL Marching went to Mobile, Alabama for the then-GMAC Bowl against Marshall University. One of our tourist stops was the USS Alabama Memorial Park. We got to tour the USS Alabama; that was an awesome tour! It was a little weird because the ship, although huge, it wasn’t particularly tall or wide. At 6’1″, there were a few walkways that felt low. Nevertheless, there was so much interesting tech and weaponry on board to see and hear about! We stood close to some of the big guns, saw a lot of the military vehicles out front, and could even see the Gulf of Mexico. It was a very cool tour!
The Nexus 