Livin' on a Boat

January 8 & 9, 2011, Saturday & Sunday - My brother graduated from Officer Candidate School with the United States Coast Guard Dec. 2010. He has been living on a 34 ft sailboat ever since. Well, we were finally able to get away and go visit him and see his "place". After 4 1/2 hours on the road when we arrived we were not able to see Cameron. He had to inspect a foreign ship in the morning & was expected to be done by noon. Well, they found something on the ship that was possible going to be a major violation...so things drug out. 4 more hours later Cameron was finally able to enjoy his Saturday with us. We met him at his boat & he gave us a tour. Oh, I forget to mention it snowed like crazy when we were eating lunch. It was like we were inside a snow globe. We had never seen snow like that before. It was little round balls, just coming down like crazy.
We got on Cameron's boat. Pretty neat to finally see it after hearing stories from the other relatives that had visited him. He had a heater on and it was 57 degrees inside. Boy, it was cold. We kept our jackets on. Visited for a little while and then headed out to find the hotel. The dock was wet from the snow when we went to the boat.....when we came out it had turned a little icy. We had to be careful walking. There are no railings on the dock. You slip and boom, you are in the harbor. No thanks!
Enjoyed hanging out at the hotel and taking the kids swimming. Had Papa John's for supper & got a good night's rest.
Enjoyed a lovely continental breakfast in the morning. Then we drove through downtown Portsmouth. Took pictures in front of the harbor and said our good byes. Thanks for a great weekend, bro!
This is the USS New York. It was commissioned on Nov. 2, 2009. It is made from 7.5 tons of World Trade Center Steel. "We're very proud that the twisted steel from the World Trade Center towers will soon be used to forge an even strong national defense," said New York Gov. George Pataki. "The USS New York will soon be defending freedom and combating terrorism around the globe, while also ensuring that the world never forgets the evil attacks of September 11, 2001 and the courage and strength New Yorkers showed in response to terror."
The ship’s official motto is “Never Forget”. Pretty awesome that we got to see this ship right across from where Cameron "lives in a boat".