Category: Family

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.

Packed the car. Breakfast at The Wooden Spoon. Stop at the Shell Man. Drive north on US1. Rain. I75 across Florida is a dead zone.

Stopped at outlet mall north of Naples for some food. Most of the stock at outlet stores is there because nobody wanted it.

Onward a few more miles to Mark’s out in the middle of nowhere. Very enjoyable visit. The next generation of Febbos is great.

Next day is all about getting home. After breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we got on the road about 9:00. Drive. Rain. Drive. No rain. Repeat until we get home at 11:30. Loooonnnggg day.

Today was our last full day here and we decided to make it a day at the beach.

Had a light breakfast at the condo then suited up and drove to Sombrero Beach. This is a very nice city park with everything you need handy. The water was warm and calm with minimal seaweed. Maewyn really enjoyed her snorkel gear. Whole family had a great day. Right on verge of too much beach, but not quite. Just about perfect.

Back to the condo to get clean. Dinner at the Tiki bar for the third time. Condo. Girls had a night swim. Sleep.

Shopping. End of story. For a place that doesn’t appear to have much in the way of shopping, we managed to spend pretty much all day in stores.

Started the day with a very nice breakfast at the Wooden Spoon. This is a little diner with ten tables and a counter. Simple food but done well and another friendly server. Friendly service has been a common theme everywhere.

First stop was a Kmart for some toiletries, etc. Then we hit a string of clothing, shoe, souvineer stores. Rinse and repeat.

About 4:00 we decided that a full lunch was pointless and went on a snack quest. I’m sorry to say thar the best we could find was Wendy’s for a frosty. Marathon has sit down restaurants and fast food, but no snack type places that we could find.

With a second wind, the girls found a few more shops, then we went back to the condo for a little down time before dinner.

For the record, Maewyn got a snorkle set, a watch, and a Vera pencil pouch. Kinnamon scored a new Vera lunch box. Maria was the big winner with a tumbler, a shirt, and a handmade dress. They also got a puzzle for the group.

Oh, and a new table clock for the condo. The original met it’s demise when it slipped from Maria’s hand to the tile floor.

Since we first saw Chappy’s, Maewyn has been plotting for a swim in the restaurant’s pool. We finally relented and made a return trip. While we were waiting for a table I ordered an appetizer from the bar and Maria supervised the swim.

I finally got to see a sunset over the water. No green flash, but still pretty impressive.

Our table was ready and Maewyn’s swim ended. Dinner was uneventful. It was hot.

Condo. Shower. Bed.

The day of the only scheduled activity had arrived. It was Maria’s birthday and she was going to swim with the dolphins.

We didn’t really know what to expect. We knew the location of the Dolphin Research Center and we knew Maria had a 12:00 reservation. We ate breakfast in the condo, packed the sunscreen and cameras, and off we went.

The DRC is a really nice place for being up close to the dolphins. All of the staff seemed truly excited with their jobs. Maria was the only one in the family to actually touch a dolphin, but all of us had a good day there.

The layout has a Tiki-covered spectator penisula surrounded by several interconnected habitats with two to six dolphins each. So the visitors who aren’t participating can observe any and all of the activities. We all had a good time and stayed longer than we expected.

On the advice of a staffer, we had lunch at The Wreck on the other side of the lot. Once again, great food and very friendly service. The girls went back to the gift shop while I finished the pie and my beer.

Hot and tired (again) we went back to the condo. I crashed in the AC and the girls went for a swim in the pool. Eventually we all got clean and went to a late dinner. We returned to the scene of the thunderstorm and ate light. A classic margarita and peel-n-eat shrimp for me.

Back to the condo and bed.

This has been a long day. We decided that today would be a daytrip to Key West. First time for all us.

We started with a return to the Stuffed Pig for breakfast. Crab cake and eggs today. Still good and more than I could eat. After a quick family photo op with Willy B. Bacon, we headed south on US1. Very pleasant drive down to Key West with some great scenery.

Just as we hit mile marker 5 it started to rain. Didn’t think too much about it at the time. We made our way around the west side of the city to Caroline St. and on to Duval. At this point the pedestrians were extra aggressive due to the rain. Somehow we managed to get ourselves on a dead end alley behind the Westin parking garage. One five-point turn later and we got into a small parking lot to get our bearings.

It was still raining and a bit of a mad house, so we decided to head east to the southernmost point marker. The closer we got, the more it rained. We parked within sight of the marker and tried to wait out the storm. After about 30 minutes, and seeing a trash can float past us in the street. We went back west to get in the parking deck and just do something.

We parked and set off in the light rain. Next door is the art museum where we stopped briefly to come up with some sort of plan. It was time for lunch so we asked a hostess at the museum for a suggestion and she pointed us to the Roof Top Cafe. Excellent choice. We had a tasty, fun lunch. Girls even hsd virgin cocktails By the time we were done the rain had stopped and the urban flood waters had begun to recede. We started walking east on the south side of Duval.

I’ve never been to New Orleans, but Maria the veteran traveller says that Duval St. is an island version of the French Quarter.

We walked, we got hot, we bought a few trinkets. By 7:00 we had made our way back to Mallory Square. That was enough for one day and we decided to leave Key West and head back to Marathon. I may write more about my impression of Key West in another post.

Maria found a restaurant on the south end of Marathon for us. I can’t recall the name at the moment (I’ll update the post later), but it had good reviews. When we walked up, all we could see was a shack, a half dozen picnic tables, a 10-seat bar, and a hostess stand. We waited. And waited. No employees in sight. Waited. Near the end of our patience an apologetic hostess emerged from the shack. It turns out that the shack was hiding a fairly large, air conitioned dining room. I know this because we had to walk through it to get to our crappy table on the dock. Actually it was more of a covered storage area with four tables next to the canal. Kinnamon picked the table and it was her birthday so … As a bonus there was an industrial fan on high sitting six feet behind my chair. What? Speak up, I can’t hear you over the gale. The food was bland too. Finish eating, drive to condo, shower, bed.