What a Weekend

Off to Pierre we went for a fun filled weekend of celebrations for the Vietnam War Vets Memorial and just time to get away that we all know that is well deserved and over due in our lives at times!

The start was great we got there and my roomies brother-in-law had the cooler waiting for us and in a blanket if ice was Newcastle (nectar of the Gods) and other brand beer........................
...AAAHHHH!

We got up on Saturday and headed out to the parade route. We were right at the beginning of the route and just missed all the motorcycles at the start of the parade but that was ok....lots more to come later! The parade was about 1 1/2 hours long and was well worth the viewing. Lots of well deserved recognitions for the Vietnam Vets!

Saturday afternoon we watched the dedication of the memorial at the house. We felt it was going to be really busy down by the capital and also we thought that veterans should be there and that we didn't want to take space so that a vet didn't have room. While watching the ceremony I saw my God parents!! I later asked for their autograph and told them they were on TV and of course always good for a laugh my God mother replied "Glad I was not scratching my ass when the camera was on me!!!".....hahaha....

We hit the concert they had that night CCR and Steve Miller band. CCR rocked and of course it was fun people watching. There was one lady that seemed to think that all of us enjoyed her dancing...little did she know we all had a HUGE laugh over her dancing..not that it was all that bad but it was VERY sugestive and all we could think about was how many chiropractor visits we would need to get things back in place if we had been dancing like that plus they didn't have a pole for me to dance by so that took me out of the picture right away! The Steve Miller band was good but they played only one of their songs in an hour otherwise it was songs from people he toured with. By this time it was getting REALLY cold so we headed back to the house to have Chili and more beer!

Sunday we went to the memorial to see the staue and of course it was still busy with a line to walk up and see it. It is an awesome site. I went down to see the WW1 and WW2 memorial statues and there was a Vietnam Vet there that wanted a picture of the statues. I asked if he wanted to be in the picture that I could take it for him. Of course he said yes. I snapped the picture and then told him I was not sure if I got the last statue in the frame but he said he didn't care that it was an honor to stand with them and of course he was very emotional and thanked me numerous times. That really hit me. You couldn't help but wonder what he had been through in Vietnam and how he was treated when he got home.

This was a LONG OVER DUE tribute to men and women of the Armed Forces!!!
www.sdvietnamwarmemorial.com