Vacation!

Ahhh, family vacation. Right now everyone’s still asleep, but I expect that to change shortly. We’re off for a week: to Huntsville today, where we’ll get to see a number of our friends. On Sunday, we drive down to Gulf Shores to spend a few days at the beach, then to New Orleans for a short visit, then home again next Friday. The boys don’t know where we’re going yet; they’ve been told it’s someplace with electricity and good food, and that it’s possible that we might see penguins (at the NO aquarium). Updates here will be more sporadic than usual. I have a number of things to write about, including some comments on Rick Atkinson’s Pulitzer-winning Army at Dawn, a sharply drawn and very readable history of the WWII campaign in North Africa) and a review of my earlier posts on where the military comes from. However, I have a nagging feeling I will be too busy eating shrimp, going to my favorite museum, and keeping the boys from scaring other vacationers. Maybe I’ll get to find out which truck stops really have WiFi– that guy from T/A never called me back.
Two quick notes: thanks to Anders for the cool blockquote style, and brother-in-law Paul has a new blog.