Memorial Day with Dad

The Wise County Veterans Park at 405 North Trinity St.

Today my son and I escorted my father to the Wise County Memorial Day Service at the Wise County Veterans Memorial Park in Decatur, Texas.  As stated in an earlier post my dad is a World War II veteran and Purple Heart receipent.  It was a great honor to attend the service with my dad.

The Wise Country Veterans Memorial Park is a block wide and half a block deep.  The memorial does a great job on honoring all branches of the Armed Forces.  For today's ceremony the park was appropriately decorated showing great respect for the veterans.

The park is very well kept and was decorated for the occasion.



The Wise County Veterans Group conducted the service and emceed by the WCVG Commander Art Pierce.  The ceremony included the posting of the colors, the National Athem, Pledge of Allegiance, the playing of Taps, and a great speech by guest speaker Rear Admiral John N. H. Costas, USN (Retired).

Rear Admiral Costas delivered the keynote address

Rear Admiral Costas' speech asked and answered why we have and should have a Memorial Day.  He spoke with great respect for those who had given the ultimate sacrifice for their country.  He also displayed great respect for those currently serving in the military.  He delivered a fitting message full of sincerity and honor for all of our brave men and women.

This small community service did a great job of remembering and honoring the greatest armed forces in the world.  My dad enjoyed the ceremony and my son and I felt great pride and honor as we accompanied PFC Wendall A. Osburn.

Oz, PFC W. A. Osburn and Richard

 Proud of my son and his grandfather.

My dad's brick at the Veterans Memorial Park

May God bless all of our past, present, and future troops.  If any of our brave men and women are reading this I want to say "Thank you for your service."





Heading to see Old Faithful?

Last summer I made my first trip to Yellowstone National Park (other post about YNP trip- Osprey Falls,  Mesa Falls).  If you have not visited the park you need to.  It has so much to see and do.  Of course when you are there you need to keep yourself well nourished and in doing so you may as well enjoy the food.  Let me recommend three worthy eateries.

If you enter YNP through the east entrance Cody, Wyoming is the last town prior to the park.  Cody has a lot to offer.  There are museums, shops, and a lot of restaurants.  Arguably the most historic and famous is The Irma Hotel, Buffalo Bill's historic hotel named for his daughter.

The Irma was built in 1902

The Irma offers buffets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Patrons may also order from the menu.  The dinner buffet includes Prime Rib, Salmon, Catfish, BBQ Ribs, salad bar, various vegetables and soup, as well as numerous desserts.  Everything was great!  The Prime Rib was tender and delicious.  I really enjoyd the Italian Wedding soup.  No one in our group had a complaint about the food.   The turn of the century atmosphere was enjoyable.  So while in Cody stop by 1192 Sheridan Ave. and enjoy the daily gunfight show prior to an enjoyable dinner.

A great bowl of soap at the Irma

Enjoy the daily gunfight show on the street outside The Irma

If entering YNP through the west gate you will travel through West Yellowstone, MT.   West Yellowstone is literally outside the west entrance and is a great location to stay when visiting the park if you don't want to stay inside the park.  At 115 Yellowstone Avenue we found the Outpost Restaurant.  We had just ridden in from a long day on the bikes.  We were hungry and it was a little on the cool side.

I ordered the Beef Stew with cornbread and salad bar.  The stew hit the spot!  Big hunks of tender beef, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, etc.  The cornbread was standard cornbread but I found it a great combination with the stew.  My friends ordered various items and enjoyed their meals.  The cost of the meal was not excessive and actually a good value for a tourist town.  While you are visiting the area shops stop by the Outpost for some tasty grub and then visit Yellowstone Motorhed for any motorcycle needs including Hawg Wash to clean your bike.

Yellowstone Motorhed for your motorcycle needs while in the YNP area

It is not a complete trip to YNP until you see Old Faithful and the historic Old Faithful Inn.  Now that I have eaten (twice) at the Old Faithful Inn I can say you are missing out if you don't take time to enjoy at least one meal in the inn.

The required photo of Old Faithful.  It is very impressive.

 The historic inn lobby

Old Faithful Inn dining room

The Old Faithful Inn offers buffets at breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as a full menu.  After view the famous geyser we ate lunch at the inn.  My son and I enjoyed the lunch buffet.  The grilled trout was the highlight of the meal for me.  Light, flaky, and well seasoned the trout was great.  I also enjoyed the bison chili.  Various vegetables, potato soup, and other dishes were available.  For once I don't remember what was served for dessert.  I think that was because the rest of the meal was so good.  We enjoyed lunch so much we decided we would ride back in from West Yellowstone for breakfast one morning.

Two days later four of us left the campground early and enjoyed a hike and a view of the Grand Prismatic from a higher vantage point before joining the rest of the group for breakfast back at the Old Faithful Inn.

Steam rising in the cool morning air from the Grand Prismatic

Breakfast at the inn did not disappoint.  Hot cakes, fresh fruit, yogurt, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, cereal, milk, juices, and more!  It was an awesome spread.  Sometimes buffets are just average food.  This buffet was anything but average.  The servers kept the food fresh and hot.  It seemed there was a continual flow from the kitchen to the buffet line.  Everything tasted great.  I loaded up at this breakfast deciding I would just skip lunch.  I am really glad we made the early morning ride.

Yellowstone National Park is an awesome place.  Make sure to enjoy some great food while you are there.

ABCD - A Bloggers Centerline Day

It was 85+ degrees yesterday and I got a lot of riding in.  Today, not so much.  Cold front hit bringing rain and a high of 55 today!  However, life situations more than the weather kept me from riding today but, not from getting my ABCD photo!

Standing at the crossroads, which way do we go?

There is some significance in the location of the photo.  Over the last few months my wife and I along with our teenage son have been discussing his educational future.  We were standing at the crossroads between continuing in public school or going to a high quality private school.  I am an assistant principal in a local district and he has ridden to school with me for the past 8 years.  Letting him attend this local private school is a big decision.

We decided to let him attend the private school, he is really excited.  This road leads to our house and the crossroad leads to the new school.  We were heading to a parents' meeting at the school when my lovely wife snapped the shot.

I will miss having him ride to and from school/work with me but, I am excited about the quality of education he will get.  I know he and I still have a lot of miles of riding ahead of us, after all, we have our 10 day trip to the Smoky Mountains coming this summer!