quinn222

If I missed anything pls advise.

Ok, my usual pictorial trip report:



Got on the road about an hour later than I wanted to but still got through Jacksonville before 4 (which was my goal). Arrived just outside the gates of Parris Island around 4 and found the place we were staying in, which was right across the bridge. This trip was great because usually I'm the planner. This time I just had to be where I was told and didn't have to worry about a thing. Anyway, we were in a condo that was decorated all Marines. The entire thing had marine stuff everywhere, even the tissue holders had the Marine Corps symbol on them. We had no plan for that evening other than dinner. Worked for me. The place we went to had an old abandoned railroad track in front of it. I won't bore you with them but I took tons of photos of that. I took this shot there too though:



The next morning some of us were up at the crack of dawn...actually it was no where near the crack of dawn, it was long before the crack of dawn...and made our way onto the base and over to the parade deck. It was pitch black, you could hardly see a thing. So we are sitting there talking (that's when I took this shot of the Iwo Jima memorial:)



as we were starting to get a hint of the sun we realized that there were marines, hundreds of them, on the parade deck. They had been there the entire time, since before we got there. Dressed in dark colors and standing perfectly still and not making a sound. Seriously, 500 or more guys and we hadn't a clue they were there for quite a few minutes.

So we entertained ourselves watching them do group stretches for a bit and then they charged off. This was the Motivational Run. This was the first time anyone had had a chance to see their marine for three months and everyone was going crazy trying to pick theirs out of the pack. It was impossible though, they all looked alike and there was a whole company of them. Even though we knew which platoon to look in it was still impossible to pick ours out. After they ran by the stands we all headed out to the street to see them run back (and really, 500 guys in shorts, lovely) and then listened to a talk from the commander or whatever. A very fine Lt. Col.







Next up (after a few hours) was another briefing. Seriously, I think that's what they called it, The Family Briefing, and then the marines came into this big room where we were and lined up by platoon. They had us seated in front of the platoon our soldier was in and they gave a liberty call. Finally! They had until 7pm but couldn't leave the base. Anyway, we still hadn't spotted J but he spotted us and went straight into his grandparents arms before the rest of us could even get out of the stands. They had been up front in handicapped seating. So we wandered around, had lunch at a place right on the water ($10 each and J ate free.) After some shopping we headed back to our place and out to dinner. He had to stay on base.



The next morning we headed back over to the Parade Deck and it's good thing we went early, it was a mob scene! We snagged seats in our section though and after a while the Marine Band showed up and the ceremony followed. It was very nice and thankfully brief, since it was hot!

Hummer, the Marine Corps mascot:






And finally, they were on leave! Supposed to be ten days but it's more like 6.

We all went back to the condo and J changed out of uniform and packed up some stuff:


And then we went out to lunch and said our goodbyes and split up until Thanksgiving. Unless we go up to Camp Lejeune before then. We got in a couple of hours and then stopped in Jacksonville for the night. This was my view from a room in the Hyatt Regency:



I was so tired driving the rest of the way today I was kind of scared but we made it in one piece and so did the rest of the family. I'm really glad I have tomorrow off!