Tag Archives: national park

Dr. Martin Luther King and the Dreams

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On the holiday in 2012 that commemorates his life, the news cycle is consumed by the election process and pointing fingers at “those people” who are responsible for the failings in our Government. It should go without saying that the thrust of these remarks are that “we” are doing everything we can and “they” are doing everything possible to prevent us accomplishing good.

To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Flashback, if you will, to September 24, 2011, Betty and Keith visited the recently-opened memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King on the National Mall in Washington, DC. We are going to share some pictures we took that day in September of the Memorial. It should be on your list of places to visit. Come with an open mind and with sufficient time to “soak” in the dreams of Dr. King.

In these sour, pessimistic times, it is important to remember the great lesson of King’s remarkable life: Impossible dreams can come true.
This is not a partisan message; King was every bit as tough on Democrats as Republicans. His activism even transcended ideology. His call for social justice and his opposition to the Vietnam War were rightly seen as liberal, but his insistence on the primacy of faith and family was deeply conservative.

Eugene Robinson

Dedication Plague

The dedication date reflects the original planned date. The arrival of Hurricane Irene postponed the dedication until October 16, 2011.

 Martin Luther King, Jr.
(January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

May he rest in peace. May his dreams keep good men and good women from resting too comfortably too soon.

Halloween at the Beach: Part 5 – Have to head home

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Although its been great fun, it must come to an end.

Monday morning we woke up relatively early and were checked out and on the move about 9:00. We stopped in Kill Devil Hills to fill the truck. The Shell station had an interesting layout. There were 6 or 8 pumps on 3 or 4 parallel islands. Traffic was so that everyone came in from the same side of the corner and then went to the islands. Cash or credit didn’t matter, just pump and go. With the traffic pattern, everyone went out by passing the cashier sitting in a drive up booth. The lines were orderly and not having to prepay cut the lines and time to accomplish your business and move along.

We decided to follow the GPS to see what way they would send us around or through Norfolk this time. The routing got us off the 168 toll road expressway and on a surface street that took us into Virginia Beach via the Centerville Parkway. This was a new one to us. We got onto I64 a few miles before the Hampton tunnel.

Our next stop was lunch at Pierce’s Pitt BBQ in Lightfoot near Williamsburg. That’s a frequent stop for us as the food is good, the prices reasonable and the in and out relatively easy.

Although it threatened rain, it never hit us and we made good time to the Springfield interchange about 4:30. Traffic wasn’t as bad as we figured and the new configuration for the I66 interchange kept the backup limited to the right two lanes allowing us to continue on to slow at the Tyson’s Corner construction. With two of us, we were able to use the HOV lanes on I270 and made it home about 5:30 which was ahead of the trick or treaters.

This trip and the one in the spring are highlights for me and recharging the internal batteries. Unfortunately, Tuesday meant back to work.