Michael's favorite places in Virginia

Since we spent quite a few days doing the boring/historical stuff, we had to do something for the kids! "Kids" meaning mostly college students....

We went to Busch Gardens, which is an amusement park with areas themed by country. I only remember that Germany?!?! had a huge indoor amphitheater. It was memorable because it was air conditioned and we ate lunch there... They did do a yodel/dance number while we were eating...It was entertaining... I guess. We also saw some Irish "Riverdancing."

I wasn't too impressed by the place. Some of the shows were entertaining and the roller coasters are massive, but I was too intimidated to ride them... I like Epcot in Orlando, FL waaaaay better.

As part of the Historic Triangle pass, they threw in a pass for Water Country USA. Best idea for a waterpark - a lazy river with liftvests! It's way easier to navigate a river in a lifejacket instead of trying to float on an inner tube. Great way to cool off in the heat!!

This reminds me of another fun thing we did at our hotel. One night, we were able to watch the movie Matilda on a blow up screen while in the swimming pool. They probably should have heated up the pool a little bit, but I love Matilda... and Roald Dahl... so I didn't really complain too much.

Colonial Virginia

Our visit to Colonial Virginia was "NOT BAD..."

In fact, I really liked it - well, Williamsburg, at least.

If you've ever wondered where they do colonial reenactments, it's in Virginia. There are 3 main settlements/battlefields in Virginia: Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. They call these sites the Historic Triangle. I'll summarize them in chronological order.

Jamestown
Think Pocahontas. It's mostly outdoors. There are replicas of the ships that were used to first come to America, an indian village, and a colonial village. This is where we realized how hot it can be... especially when we were dressed as settlers.

Williamsburg
This was definitely my favorite part of the experience. Here's where everyone is dressed as colonial settlers. I don't know how they where all that clothes! They also pretend they are from the 18th Century. It's really funny. The man in the first photo of this post is the owner of the wig shop. He was pretty grumpy... (as you can probably tell).

We were so excited about the full costumes, we asked to take a picture with one of the men. We told him we were from California and he asked if that was an island!

It was Michael's fault.....

Yorktown
There's not much here... It was where we won our independence from the British though. We reenacted the final battle. Our guide was a huge history buff and owned all this cool stuff.

Southern Hospitality

Surprisingly, I really liked visiting the South. Although, I guess, I wasn't in the deep south or anything...

Last June, we took a family vacation to Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. Since I've always lived in the bay area with cool and breezy weather all year long, I thought it was hot, hot, hot! It was humid everywhere. I wore shorts and dresses for my entire vacation. If you stand in the sun for 5 minutes, you can feel the beads of sweat start forming on your forehead. 

I think my favorite parts of my vacation were the southern hospitality (being called ma'am everywhere) and the food! Everyone we met was really friendly and our guides were always very helpful. The trip was also more fun because we were accompanied by 3 other families in Virginia. The more the merrier!

PS expect a lot of posts today...i'm in a writing mood. there are a few reasons for this furious typing:

1. I'm taking advantage of some down time by reliving memories, instead of shopping on-line. It's a dangerous habit working on a computer all day. so much access to Nordstrom....

2. It's really sunny outside and good weather. SO, i'm happy. I'm going to spend most of the weekend in SF, so I hope that the sun stays out!

3. I'M GOING to the VIRGINIA ISLANDS on May 6th for a week. YEEEEE. i was browsing photos of our hotel and I CANNOT wait. April is flying by!!! 

MUST. GO. TO. BEACH. 

This also showed up on my newsfeed this morning: 5 Amazing Beaches