Yesterday mid-to-late afternoon, I opted to enjoy the outdoors by sitting on the front porch. I didn't anticipate that I'd be watching cars drive by. Truth be told, there are more golfcarts that go by than vehicles. I was mostly …
Yesterday mid-to-late afternoon, I opted to enjoy the outdoors by sitting on the front porch. I didn't anticipate that I'd be watching cars drive by. Truth be told, there are more golfcarts that go by than vehicles. I was mostly lost in thought while enjoying the outdoors.
I had worn an old (but like new) shirt to physical therapy earlier in the afternoon. The shirt was given to me by my son 17 or 18 years ago. It may have been longer ago than that. I don't wear it often.
I know that while my granddaughter was taking skiing lessons at Lake Tahoe as a little kid, I opted to do the same. You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but at the age of 61, I didn't consider myself old and I was ready for adventure. Subsequently, for many years following, I regularly went to Colorado to ski a couple of times a year.
The front of the shirt had a patch that read USMC Mountain Warfare Training Center. The physical therapist wanted to know the purpose of the Mountain Warfare Training Center? When my son was stationed there, it was a training center to prepare troops for surviving in the elevation and terrain of Afghanistan.
The remote base was established in 1951 as the Cold Weather Battalion with a mission of providing cold weather training for replacement personnel bound for Korea. As I shared, when my son was there, it provided pre-deployment training in support of Operation Enduring Freedom – the war in Afghanistan.
We made several trips to visit Craig and his family while he was stationed there. It was easiest to fly to Reno, NV and rent a car to travel to Bridgeport where family housing was located. The base was 21 miles away where elevation ranged from 7,000 to almost 12,000 feet. The terrain was beautiful.
Craig's family hiked and camped in places I would have described as high risk for a two-and-three-year-old, but what do I know? I do know that Craig and one of his Marine Corps buddies went bear hunting and took Jenna and William along – Each Marine was carrying a backpack with a small child located on their backs. Subsequently, Craig served us bear to eat. When you wrap bacon around anything, it makes it palatable.
When we came to visit, Craig and Becky ensured we didn't miss any tourist attractions. Though the General was mostly terrified, we took the 2.4 mile ride up in the Heavenly Mountain Gondola that provided a panoramic view of Lake Tahoe. It was memorable, probably more so for the General than me.
On another visit, we toured Bodie, California. It was previously a gold-mining town that today is a shadow of it's former self. The 19th century ghost town has many buildings in various states of decay.
On another trip, we drove to San Francisco for a long weekend. Whenever and wherever we visited Craig's family, we left with a host of memories to precious to forget.
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