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This post has been repurposed from my previous blog. All photos by Jessica Hall.
Before deployment last year we took a mini-vacation to the charming Bainbridge Island just west of Seattle. The island feels like a small town and has breathtaking views of Seattle along its shores, as well as on the ferry ride over.
This post is repurposed from my former blog Hall Pass and an article I wrote when I used to work for the local base paper (you can read that as well on their website) when I attended the media day prior to opening last year. I haven’t made it back since so some of the photos may be outdated. All photos by Jessica Hall.
In downtown Tacoma is the new LeMay America’s Car Museum. I won’t lie to you, I love me a beautiful classic car, and the museum does not disappoint. But they also had cars that the average person today has owned or driven at some point, like station wagons and hybrid cars. And that is part of what makes LeMay America’s Car Museum special: it’s relatable.
I know Thursdays is usually reserved for food and drink posts but I’m making a slight exception. I mean this is about ketchup…but it’s mainly military.
Some of you may have heard about Ketchup-Gate, it’s on about every military spouse related website out there. It was named by NextGen Mil Spouses after this article from the Washington Post about how commissaries are a huge part of defense spending and basically how some are trying to eliminate them. It focuses on the apparently 12 varieties of Ketchup at the grocery store. But there have been others, like this one from HuffPo which cost some uproar in March.
There have been lots of responses to these, but the most recent and a great argument is from Amy Bushatz on SpouseBuzz with her open letter to those that are so vocal about the “lavish” benefits military families are entitled to, from pay to on-post grocery stores. After reading the whole article from Washington Post – I can say that I think looking for a better financial model for the commissaries is a good idea but fully eliminating them would not go over so well. Let me share a story:
When we moved into our new house there was one element that I was really excited about: our breakfast nook. The only thing missing was the perfect table. Instead of looking for a brand new one we decided to look for an antique table to paint/refurbish. The hunt took us to a lot of antique stores in the area (and there are are a lot), we saw refurbished furniture, furniture that should have stayed in the 70s, and furniture that was just overpriced or too big. But we finally found the perfect table.
Apologies for the lack of military-esque posts lately. To be honest I’ve been a bit busy. But also, since James isn’t in school or deployed I have realized that we are living the garrison life. One that includes training at times but just feels like a “normal” life, since he is home around dinner time and on weekends. In some ways it just seems like what life would be like if we weren’t military, except his days start wayyyyy earlier than most work places thanks to PT. We’re each busy with work, me with school, and both of us with keeping up with our friends. But let’s see if I can explain what life is like stateside.
