My Aunt Liz and Uncle Paul invited us to go on a lighthouse cruise tour to support Community Speaks Out.  Community Speaks Out is a non-profit organization who work families who may have a loved one suffering from addiction.  Here is the link to this organization if you need/want further information – Community Speaks Out.  This is where all the seriousness of the event ends.

It was another beautiful day in southeastern Connecticut.  However, as the time approaches for us to leave the harbor the fog starts to roll in.  No matter.  We still will sail.  That is sail if the boat shows up.  We were supposed to depart at 7 pm.  At 7 pm we are all waiting but there is no boat.  It finally shows up at 7:20 pm.  We cannot immediately depart because the boat had been out deep sea fishing all day.  It needed to be cleaned before we could go aboard.  It’s still all good.  I am with family and friends who are all there to support a good cause so no worries.  We finally get moving around 7:45 pm.  Due to the fog instead of viewing lighthouses like originally planned we are now going to cruise the Thames River.  That was huge disappointment to my Uncle Paul because he gets this view every day.

We following along the shore passing Milestone (I forget its new name), Seaside, Harkness Park, Ocean Beach to our great view of the Ledge Light Lighthouse.  This is my first time seeing it up close.  I promised Edonna lighthouses while we are in New England.  This is a promise kept.  We tour the Thames River a little past Electric Boat then turn around for the ride back to port.

This is when the ride gets interesting.  First it is cloud to cloud lightning.  Next it is cloud to ground (water) lightning. The wind whips up.  We all crowd in the inside area.  We are about 20 minutes from port when the skies up open and pour.  It continues to pour as we return to port.  I never lets up so we end up disembarking in pouring down rain.  We were all in a row but it seems we got separated once we hit land.  There is are people who are turning to get into my Aunt’ car.  She starts yelling, ‘That’s my car! That’s my car!’  You see those folks had the same exact make, model and color of Honda.  They were parked two spaces over.  He kept hitting his key fob and the lights were going off but they never realized it.  After Liz explained where their car was, we jump in the car.  However, my uncle is now missing.  Liz and I are laughing our heads off at the people who were trying to get into her car.  Edonna says, ‘Where’s Paul?’  We both stated we did not know.  Edonna accuses Liz of losing Paul.  We start frantically looking for him through the rain.  He is two aisles over walking back and forth.  Liz starts beeping the horn but I don’t think he can hear it through the storm.  She drives over and he finally sees us.  He misjudged where we parked.  Edonna tried to ingratiate herself into his good graces by throwing me and Liz under the bus about him being lost.  We are all soaked to the bone. It could not have been more fun.  I hope Community Speaks Out made a few dollars off that fundraiser.