Anklo blog

Time for the main event, Busch Gardens. As with most tourist towns in the South, Williamsburg is littered with pancake houses. I think the kids tallied 11 once they started paying attention. The Astronomical Pancake House had caught their eye and it’s Urbanspoon ratings didn’t suck, so we gave it a shot. Okay, but no big whoop.

Made our way to the park without incident and had my first wish granted, the Bounce Pass includes parking. Found a spot and set off on foot to the tram stop. Once inside the park, it took us a little while to get our bearings. The maps are accurate enough that you won’t get lost, but they aren’t really to scale. I’m glad Kinnamon had some experience to help guide us.

No going over all the details, but here are the highlights.

If I were to ever ride the Griffon or the Alpengeist, you can be assured that the ride will have been preceded by whiskey. I honestly think that I’d prefer sky diving to riding the Griffon. All but Maewyn did ride the Loch Ness Monster and the adults rode Apollo’s Chariot. Oddly, the ride that made me the most uncomfortable was (I forget the name) the big swinging boat thing. Sat at the end and did not like it at all. No entertainment value to me. The most entertaining ride was the DarKastle. Video is a little cheesy for 2011, but the 3D effects were good. It was just fun. Didn’t have to way more than 10 minutes for anything.

We saw a couple of animal acts and the Irish Dance show. All worth the time, particularly the Irish Dance. The food in the park was a pleasant surprise. It’s not inexpensive, but it was much better than expected. Would happily eat it by choice in a non-park restaurant. Also quite happy with the beer selection, but it was heavily dependent on location.

Fireworks (and a couple of repeat rides) ended the evening. We stayed until they shut down and made us leave. We spent about 11 hours at the park, didn’t ride everything, and only went in one or two of the shops. We could easily spend two days at Busch Gardens.

Word of the day… HOT. Heat index at mid day was 104 degrees. Just keep that in mind.

I had picked The Spoon Cafe for breakfast based on favorable Urbanspoon reviews and it’s proximity to the hotel. We left about 8:45 for the two block walk. When we got close enough to see the building, it was obvious we needed a plan B. There was a sign saying that they had moved and Maria remembered seeing on the way into town.

We walked back to the hotel and got in the car for the short drive down the street. Upon arrival in another empty parking lot we find an Opening Soon sign. Shit. We give up on local hot spots, drive back to the hotel and settle for the breakfast buffet.

We finally depart for Colonial Williamsburg shortly after 10:00. Had no trouble finding the Visitor Center nor getting our vouchers converted to actuals tickets. I had chosen the Bounce Pass which gets us into all three attractions whenever we want all week.

We board the shuttle and ride to the Governor’s Palace to start the sight seeing. Hot, just a reminder. Walked and looked and toured and walked. Hot. I’ll mention that the costumed tour guides and shop keepers are all in character. Kind of annoying to me, bit not a big deal.

That gets us to 3:30 and the need to eat. Went to Berret’s Seafood Restaurant in market square. Food was really good. Service was a little spotty, but in fairness, we arrived between lunch and dinner. Had to sit in the small bar area, which was fine, but I think that was partially responsible for the minor service issues.

Did some shopping afterwards. Still hot. Shuttle back to the car and back to hotel by 7:30. Since our lunch was so late, we knew more food would be required. We decided to do drinks, appetizers, and cake at the Chili’s. Went off without a hitch and then the kids insisted on a swim. Long day. Tomorrow, Busch Gardens.

For the past few trips we had managed to get out the door at pretty much the desired time. This lulled us into unwarranted confidence. Maria had been shooting for a 10:00 AM departure. I was going to be happy with noon. The reality had us leaving Cary at 2:00. On the plus side, I was quite calm through it all.

The drive was pleasantly uneventful. One rest area stop and a very nice last leg through the Virginia countryside. Most of this stretch was paralleled by a paved bike path. I’d love to ride the full length of that sometime.

Found the Hilton without incident and was happy to see that one of the restaurants I had highlighted was right across the street. We checked in and unpacked, then walked to dinner at Food for Thought. Food was good, but draft beer selection was smaller than I’d expected. Had a Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA and a Tangerine Wheat (which produced orange burps).

Walked back to the hotel and the girls hit the pool, such as it is. There was actually a sign limited the number of swimmers to 10. Not exactly Olympic sized.

Today is the last day of tryouts for Kinnamon’s middle school softball team. She has a good chance to make the cut, but she wasn’t on team last year (didn’t even tryout) so it’s certainly not a lock.

It occurred to me that this could turn out to be a very significant day in her life. Not necessarily earth shattering in a way her wedding day or childbirth will change her, this is more subtle. The result is indirect and the ramifications are varied and neither clearly good nor clearly bad.

Her performance today will determine whether or not she makes the team. If she does, then she’s “in the system”. She won’t be just a rec league player anymore, now she’ll play for her school. That’s a big difference and I’m not really talking about the level of players’ skill.

Being on the middle school team will introduce her to new teammates and coaches. By having either practice or a game five days a week, her playing skills and game knowledge will improve. All this goes toward increasing her self-confidence. The result is that both the likelihood she will tryout for the team in high school and her chance of making the team are improved.

After playing four years in high school, then there’s college. We could optimistically hope for a scholarship, but even if we take a more conservative view, simply playing the game at any college level will expose her to people, places, and experiences that she would otherwise miss. That can lead anywhere.

Then there’s the other fork of the road. If she doesn’t make the middle school team, will she be interested in even trying out in high school? This is a very real possibility. If she doesn’t, then no high school softball. When it’s time for college, playing ball won’t even be a variable to be considered.

I don’t mean to suggest that either result is guaranteed to have any long term effect that is clearly positive or negative. The short term joy or disappointment we’ll have when the roster is posted tomorrow isn’t setting the tone for her adult future. But the result of this tryout may influence the scenery on her life’s road.

Note to Kinnamon: If you ever read this, take it as an example of one of the myriad things that parents think about. We always want the best for our children and it’s very frustrating not to know which route will lead there.

This year’s destination was Holden Beach and while that’s much closer than last year’s drive to the Florida Keys, we were still a bit late getting on the road. You’d think I’d be used to it, but I always misjudge the time required to get everything done and ready to go. When the whole family leaves home for a week there is a mountain of work to do. It makes you question whether the trip is worth the effort.

After a pre-trip lunch at Bojangle’s we hit the road. We took two cars since we had a mountain of stuff (we had to take linens, groceries, and beach toys) and would have five people on the way back. For the cost of one tank of gas, it wasn’t worth the pain of trying to cram everything into one car. As luck would have it, we hit a traffic jam before we even got to Clayton. There was a line of thunderstorms and that slowed everyone to a halt. This slow pace lasted about an hour, then things opened up and we were cruising.

I have to say that the drive to Holden Beach from Raleigh is a piece of cake. A day trip is within the realm of possibility. The real estate office was right where the bridge hits the island and our condo was just down the street. It took maybe ten minutes from the time we crossed the bridge until we were parked at the condo. We unloaded, looked over the place, then Maria and the kids went for a quick walk on the beach. I stayed behind since I was hot, sweaty, a little mad at Kinnamon for having a pre-teen attitude, and obsessed with finding the condo’s wifi password (which I sleuthed out with the help of Google and the use of Maria’s laptop to login to the router. Password is tater2lola3 by the way).

When they got back from their walk it was time for dinner. I have to put in a plug for Urbanspoon. The user reviews helped us avoid an obvious choice and pick the Provision Company. It doesn’t look like much, but it was great. The definition of casual and the shrimp was excellent. We’ll go again before the week is out. After dinner it was back to chores, this time at the Food Lion to stock up. Back to the condo, unload, make beds, shower, sleep

For Sunday, we decided to make our first day be a full beach day with all three meals at the condo. Kinnamon’s friend Alana arrived about noon. Pretty windy, but not too hot and the ocean was just right. Active enough to be fun, but you didn’t get beat to death.