Weekend Trip

If The Lover and I ever create a theme song for ourselves it will need something about being spontaneous in the chorus because it seems to be a very serious running theme in our lives.

Last week we caught wind that my northern family was heading to Williamsburg, VA for a little weekend fun. Since I had to cancel my Christmas plans last year to see them and then couldn't go again earlier this month I figured I really didn't have an excuse not to go see them. I was really itching for some sister time. Trying to be reasonable though I shot my sister's requests down at first, no we couldn't go because even though we just got a paycheck we still aren't comfortable enough to spend money again, that is until The Lover called and told me to pack my bags.

One day is all we'll spend there, he said, giving me enough time to catch up and satisfy my need for family time at least for a little while. So I packed just a few items and we headed that way. We made it in at 11pm just after they fell asleep so the next morning we caught up at breakfast. It was good to see everyone though my brother was convienently missing. He's at that age where family trips are gross. After breakfast they had this grand idea to go Geo-caching, something I'd never heard of before but it sounded like a lot of work. They garaunteed me that there would not be a lot of hiking, if at all, but it would be fun and well worth it. So we head to a park, a very big wooded and swampy park full of snakes (we saw two!!!) and turtles and bridges. We start the hunt for this mysterious treasure and about 2 hours later after hiking 5 miles they finally find the damn thing while I patiently wait on the hint, bridge number 17 which was earlier mistaken for marker number 17 accidentally throwing us way off track and ultimately making us walk in circles. It's okay though, circles became a running theme for the weekend.

My sister got some stickers in the treasure and I swear to God one of them was of a chair. Who wants a sticker of a chair?? I hobbled back over the heat (it was roughly 90 degrees), over the jeans I decided to wear the got heavy and managed to rub on my inner thighs causing amazing amount of pain, over my shoes that created lovely blisters on my toes. I had underpacked and I was paying for it! After hydrating our bodies we went to Colonial Williamsburg but unfortunately did not get to see much. We had unexpectedly spent too much time on the Geo-cache and it cut severely into our learning experience. They let us walk through to the place but we couldn't go in any buildings. It was neat to see the people in costumes and the old times buildings but it was hot and I was still in the same clothes beginning to hobble, it was hard to keep my whining to a low grumble. I managed but I guess my facial expressions gave me away, the family sent The Lover and I back to the hotel while they finished looking at some shops.

They called again to meet up with us for dinner. We ate at Joe's Crab Shack in Hampton and it was DELICIOUS. I had the fried shrimp with fries which they seasoned with Bay's Seasoning, so tasty. We ended the day with a round of putt-putt in which The Lover managed to get some hole-in-ones and ice cream at Friendly's. I was ready to say my goodbye's until The Lover said he wanted to go to Busch Gardens the next day with the family and I was easily convinced albeit sore.

So we met again for breakfast at a pancake house which had delicious pancakes. I decided this time to wear swish swish pants (you know what I'm talking about) and flip flops because really who spends all day at an amusement park? This family does. We arrived at 10am and didn't leave until 8:30pm again before the rest of the family because now I was REALLY hobbling. It was fun though, I got some more sun, took lots of great pictures, spent good time with the family, went on spin-ny rides with the sister, and cooled off in the splash zones. By the end of it we were all worn out. We looked like zombies eating dinner and shortly thereafter we said our goodbyes for real that time.

We spent one more night in the hotel too tired to move. I was sunburnt, allergic to the air, and sore from the waist down but I was happy. It was good to see the family and for The Lover to finally meet my father. Things went well and when we got home it took about a day to fully recover. It's hard work being on vacation with a large family, I'll tell you....

Lesson learned on this trip; always overpack because you never know when you're going to spend 3 hours walking in the woods for a slab of stickers.