Scooter Chronicles

Other then one incident, our vacation turned out to be a great get-away. We didn’t see all that we wanted to, and part of that was to save money, but we did make sure that we enjoyed our time. It all started with the drive down to Virginia, where we left five minutes ahead of schedule. A couple of years ago my Mother-in-Law traveled with us to Virginia, and she had brought along a crossword puzzle. With us helping her fill in the answers, we realized how it helped pass the time. We had bought a couple of books to bring with us, and Marcia started one just as we got on the beltway around Washington, DC. It seemed that in no time we were just miles north of the exit for Ashland, Virginia. With little traffic and the crossword puzzles helping, the drive down turned out to be great.

A typical day on our vacation for me was getting up an hour before Marcia and Nigel to read. When they would get up, we would eat breakfast (we went out one morning to Cracker Barrel), take our showers, and then heading out to somewhere we wanted to go. We would come back and eat lunch at the condo (since we did a bit of grocery shopping when we first go there), play with Nigel for about an hour, and then put him down for a nap. Marcia and I would usually take a nap at this time too, and I wouldn’t sleep as long, so I would end up reading for half of his nap. Then we would head out to do something else, then make plans for dinner, while relaxing the rest of the evening.

This was our third time in Williamsburg using Uncle Joe’s timeshare. (Thanks again UJ!) But this year we stayed somewhere different then the first two years. These condos were laid out better, had more amenities (like a stereo with speakers throughout the place and a DVD player), and had other things that were just better overall (more comfortable couches and chairs, and unlike the place before the dining room table was wood instead of glass).

One of the highlights was going to the King’s Arm Tavern on Sunday night. The food was a bit like glorified dishes you would have elsewhere, though still very good. It’s the atmosphere though that brings us to the taverns. And I had a hefeweizen that I forgot to ask who made because it was fantastic!

We went to Busch Gardens on Monday. Because of smaller crowds given it being a weekday, and the clamor to ride the new roller coaster (the Griffon), most of the park felt deserted for the first half of our stay there.

Nigel wearing his hat to protect his head from the sun.

We were disappointed to be entertained by the QuadTuba Quartet (a group of four tubas if you can’t figure it out by the name) instead of the usual house band and dancers at the Festhaus, but the food was as good as usual. (The beer wasn’t bad, considering it was Michelob’s Amber Bock, but it was too hot to really enjoy it anyway.)

Nigel, with Daddy, in the Land of Dragons.

We took Nigel to the Land of Dragons which is an area specifically made for younger children with lots of water. He seemed very interested in looking around and seeing everything, but hesitant to actually walk around and get involved. The one great thing was like the rest of the park, it was deserted there. We also put Nigel on his first amusement park ride: the carousel. He was a bit worried at first, but halfway through relaxed and enjoyed the ride.

On Tuesday night we visited Marcia’s relatives that live in the Richmond area. As always, it was great to see them again. Just wish the evening would have ended better.

On Thursday afternoon, I headed over to the Williamsburg AleWerks. This used to be the Williamsburg Brewery, which I had visited every year I went, when we knew it was there. (There Stock Ale was very good, his tastier version of a brown ale.) I had stopped by last year after the buy out, but the new owners were renovating the brewery, putting in a new brewing tank, so they weren’t ready yet. But this year they were all set up. I ended up buying a six-pack of their Colonial Wheat Ale and a bottle of their “400″ Ale, a updated Imperial brown ale recipe originally done by Thomas Jefferson (supposedly), and done in honor of Jamestown’s 400th anniversary. I have had the Wheat Ale since getting back, which is pretty good, but nothing new. Though the first two were not good at all, because I forgot to follow their directions to re-suspend the yeast. Even after correcting this mistake, I had a Sam Adams’ Summer Ale the following night and was amazed at how much I like the Sam over the AleWerks brew. I have yet to try the “400″ and will probably wait until the weather cools off.

Before going to the AleWerks, we drove down to Jamestown. Because we didn’t think and took our showers before, and the fact that we didn’t feel like paying the entrance fee, we just drove around the surrounding area on a road called Island Drive instead of walking around the original site. The drive was still rather adventurous. The drive on the Colonial Parkway to Jamestown was very nice too, almost worth the trip alone. We did stop in at the gift shop though and bought Nigel a pirates’ hat.

Nigel the Pirate!

And that’s about the only pictures we took while on vacation. We were too busy enjoying ourselves to stop and take pictures.

Note to my Mother: I am using a new application for the photos. You can click on them to get the bigger versions.