Norfolk, VA

Well, today we woke up at the crack of automated wake-up call and groggily set about showering up and loading the car. We’d unanimously agreed that *of course* we could somehow be much faster this morning, so the wake up call gave us a half an hour more sleep… for a grand total of six and a half hours.

Amazingly, we were up, ready, packed, breakfasted, and on the road by ten minutes til eight, which was actually ten whole minutes before schedule. Turned out we needed those ten minutes and then some – when I’d indulged in that extra half hour of sleep, I’d totally forgotten to take rush hour traffic into account.

We sailed out of Williamsburg and onto the highway, where we were greeted with an ever-growing sea of brake lights. Eventually, the two lanes widened into four (on each side) and we had the good fortune to be the only car in the HOV lane for a good 15 minutes… until the HOV lane ended and the highway went from four lanes… to three… to two… to construction… to Check Gas – 3 Mile Tunnel Ahead.

Yeah, that’s right.

As always in such circumstances, traffic ground to a halt (except for the jerks who fly around the exit only lanes to cut back in, one–maybe two–cars ahead of where they were in the first place) but we were able to see massive ships (with their own skylines, they were so big! We thought it was land at first.) and experience driving through a 3 mile tunnel.

On the other side, traffic picked back up to normal speed and we made it to Norfolk only slightly behind schedule. My second-biggest concern at this time was filling up the rental car with gas so that I didn’t have to cash in an IRA or anything to pay the crazy Ha-ha!-You-sucker!-You-didn’t-fill-your-tank-and-now-you-owe-us-your-life! fees. My first-biggest concern was that the hotel didn’t have an available printer, so we were unable to check-in online ahead of time for our flight.

If you’ve never flown Southwest, this may mean nothing to you. So what? you say. Just check in at the airport, like normal people, you say. Ha! I snort in your general direction. =) Actually, Southwest is a little different. (Haven’t you ever seen the truly frightening television show “Airline”???)

First of all, there are no assigned seats. There being three of us (one a minor, one with motion sickness and a slight fear of flying, and one being me and in charge of everything,) I really wanted us all together.

To get on the plane, people are categorized in three groups – A, B, and C. First, people with children or wheelchairs board – and sit anywhere they want. Next, the entire A group boards – and plops down anywhere *they* want. Then B, and last C.

Near as anyone can tell, Southwest assigns groups based on the order of check-in. First they fill up the A group, then the B group, and so on. Therefore, checking in online 24 hours in advance is a clear advantage… and one we didn’t have, since by my watch the plane would board in less than an hour and a half.

So, I gassed up the car, rolled into the airport, and pulled into the Enterprise lot. A twenty-something girl – quite possibly the most sourfaced, snarky person on the planet – greeted us with a scowl.

She held out her hand as I stepped out of the car. I must’ve hesitated a moment too long, because she finally spoke. “Can I *have* the keys?”

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I didn’t know what you were reaching for.”

She rolled her eyes and tapped her handheld PDA-thing. “Where’s the paperwork?”

“Oh, crap,” I answered. “It’s in my suitcase. Give me a sec and I’ll get that out for you… unless you can hunt me up in that computer?”

She scowled. “You should *always* have it on you. ALWAYS.”

“You’re right, it’s not on me, although it is *with* me… Let me pop the trunk and I’ll get out my suitcase…” I pop the trunk and the boys start unloading the back.

She taps into her PDA. “Ridley?”

“Yes.”

“Erica?”

“Yes.”

“You’re returning the car?”

??? “Yes.”

She sniffs and starts walking away.

“So…” I start trailing after her. “Since you found me in the computer, do you still need to see that paperwork?”

She stalks further around the car without responding.

I stop moving and try again. “Do you need the paperwork still?”

She tosses her head. “I’m LOOKING for DAMAGE.”

Er, okay. “But do you need the paperwork? If you do, I’ll be glad to get it. If you don’t, we’ll get our bags out of your way and-”

“Just go past the building on the right and walk to the terminal.”

Okay, then.

What a ray of sunshine. On that cheery note, the boys and I glanced at each other and silently agreed that further conversation would be useless. We grabbed our bags and headed out of there before Miss Personality changed her mind.

Once we made it inside the airport, we quickly discovered that we were at the furthest possible point from the Southwest counter. (It was at the diagonal opposite of the airport, but of course you can’t cross an airport diagonally, so we had some fun sprinting with suitcases.)

I had had the foresight to sign my brothers up with Southwest frequent flyer numbers (knowing that nearly always gives preferential treatment at any airline) and somehow we managed to land a B, and escape the dreaded C group.

Our flight from Norfolk, Virginia to Indianapolis, Indiana was fairly uneventful (except for a random pitstop in Baltimore) and my parents met us three yards from the security exit. We headed straight home, except for stopping at Steak and Shake, where nobody got steak but everybody got shakes, except my dad, who got coffee. (Mine was a Caramel Mocha Macchiato… dee-lish)

And that, my friends, rounded out our adventure!

Tags: airports, road trip

Williamsburg, VA

Today, we got up and breakfasted before we split ways – me to the hotel room to do work on my laptop, Andy and Rob to Colonial Williamsburg so Rob could see the reenactment he missed on Tuesday.

Around noon, the boys rolled back into the hotel room, ten shades of hot and sweaty, collapsing on the beds and panting like dogs. Andy managed to explain that they didn’t get to see the Reenactment because tickets were required ($34 per adult is the smallest Williamsburg ticket deal) and Rob begged me to check the Weather Channel’s web site to get the current temp. Verdict? 92 degrees, with a heat index of 103. Yikes. No wonder they were hot! I tossed each of them a water bottle, glad that I’d sent them off with water bottles in the first place, and asked them if they wanted to hang out in the pool. No, they said. It was too hot to walk the hundred yards from the room to the indoor pool. Poor things. (At least they got ice cream while they were out – all I’ve got is a half-smushed granola bar.)

While the boys melted into their mattresses, both of them glued to the Discovery channel followed by Law & Order, followed by Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Cash Cab, etc, I sat with my laptop getting a ton of stuff done – until the hotel Internet flaked out and died. I called to complain and of course the only person who could decipher my cryptic message (”please reboot your router”) was out to lunch, so I took off for the Food Lion and loaded up on bagel-chips and hummus. Rob seemed to think the hummus was radioactive, but Andy and I took care of the entire tub in record time. By then, the Internet connection was up and running again and I was able to get a lot of my work uploaded, to my intense relief.

Later, we hit the IHOP for supper and went to the movies to see Pirates of the Carribbean before coming back to the hotel room to pack up. The wake-up call comes at 6:00 am – wish us luck!! =)

Tags: food

Williamsburg, VA

Today we slept in a half an hour later (look out, it’s 8:00!), ate some breakfast, and headed down the road (in a car this time, not on foot) to Busch Gardens. After paying $10 to park in Italy section, row 1 (you wanted to know, right?) we gripped our e-tickets in hand and headed for the turnstiles.

The place was packed, but somehow the lines we chose were rarely longer than half an hour. Rob and I rode all 4 of the roller coasters (Apollo’s Chariot twice) and test-rode DarKastle for Andy, who has… motion sensitivities. After deeming it Andy-safe, we text messaged him and he met us at the entrance so we could all ride together. DarKastle was an extremely cool ride: a haunted gothic castle (modeled after the Storybook Castle in Bavaria) in the moving-car 4-D style like the Spiderman ride in Universal Orlando. I highly recommend.

The Loch Ness Monster was the first coaster with interlocking loops (a la chain-link) and I have to admit, it’s getting pretty fogey-ish. Bri’s afraid they’ll tear it down before he gets a chance to ride it. It was the one ride that scared Rob and I to death – they slowed us to a crawl before we took the first loop (the sky cars were flying past us, and those go .5 miles an hour) and we were afraid there wouldn’t be any G-force to keep the train on the track or us in the seats. We did make it to the end alive, although we didn’t go back to tempt fate a second time.

As for other 4-D adventures besides DarKastle, we also did Corkscrew Hill in the Ireland section, as well as the Pirate adventure in England, starring Leslie Nielsen and Eric Idle. (If you recognize either of those names, then you know how chock-full of silly fun that one was.)

Rob and I got soaked on a water ride called Escape From Pompeii, and the three of us checked out the animals… namely, Busch Garden’s famous Clydesdale horses, a donkey named Zipper, several bald eagles, and some wolves.

We rounded out the evening at the night show called Kinetix, featuring rock music and acrobatics, like the balancing-upside-down-on-a-small-pole thing (common with Chinese Acrobats, if you don’t know what I’m talking about but have seen that) and the flipping-through-the-air-on-long-ribbon-ish-curtain-thingies (as seen in Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba) and the super fun-looking flying-around-barely-missing-each-other-on-extra-bouncy-trampoline thing, which is one of my all-time favorites.

Last but not least, let me share with you a sampler of the heat-induced conversations we were having… (It was 90+ in the shade).

Erica, waiting in line for 4-D ride: So, Andy. What are the top 3 best things about being Andy?
Andy, without even blinking: Sim City 4 Rush Hour Expansion Pack, learning about history, and… driving.

[cut to next scene]

Erica, waiting in line for coaster: Know what? You’re pretty fun, Rob.
Rob, nodding in agreement: I know.
Erica, stifling laughter: Yeah? What’s so fun about being Rob?
Rob, after thinking a moment: Riding roller coasters. And chocolate-flavored laxatives. They both give me a rush.

And with that thought…

Tags: animals, theme parks

Colonial Williamsburg

This morning we got up, got ready, and got breakfast… and then Rob got sick, so he stayed in the hotel room to get some sleep while Andy and I headed for Colonial Williamsburg.

The majority of the buildings are from the 1700s, and the costumed inhabitants are pleased to share their knowledge with anyone who asks questions. Most of the larger structures, such as the foundry, the magazine, and big estates, also have guided tours to explain what you see and what life was like here in Virginia in the 18th century.

Andy and I were wandering aimlessly down one of the streets, when a woman stopped us to ask if we were on our way to the reenactment. Reenactment? We had no idea. She said if we kept walking in the direction we were going, we’d run smack into it, and that’s what we did. We reached the the Capitol building at 10:45 am, July 25, 1776, just in time to hear the Declaration of Independence read to an excited mob of 18th century Virginians.

The reenactment took place at several different locations, each in its own “time”, at a key point in history. When the actors weren’t acting their scenes, they stayed in character and would answer questions as if they were living in that exact moment. For example, one actor, Wil, a thirty-something black slave, was thrilled to hear the Declaration in 1776 because he thought freedom was around the corner. A couple “years” later, he realized that freedom only applied to the states as separate from England, not for slaves. He later debated running away to join the British troops, who offered “freedom” to slaves who fought on their side. A year later, one of Williamsburg’s trusted allies – Benedict Arnold – swoops in to seize the city.

The (very interactive) reenactment continued in this vein until General Washington himself rode in to announce the good news that the war was ending, and set off toward Yorktown and victory. Pretty cool.

Andy and I toured the magazine, which housed all the guns and ammo, and the foundry, where its workers were busy silversmithing and… pewtersmithing?

Next, we swung by the hotel to check on Rob, who had just woken up and was feeling much better, so we walked back to the old town and had a bite to eat before taking more tours.

We rounded out the night with some good old-fashioned Japanese cooking on the habachi grill… Rob took to chopsticks like a fish to water, but apparently Andy’s chopstick skills looked a little shaky, because the hostess ran back to our table with a pair of training chopsticks for him. Andy took one look at the rubber-banded training chopsticks and refused to use them, determined to master the real deal, which he did.

He also had an opportunity to stop, drop, and roll, when one of the chef’s tricks turned out to be setting the table on “fire” and Andy thought the whole place was going to blow. He leapt and ducked and was a good sport when everybody cracked up, and the rest of the tricks (knife-catching, shaker-tossing, flaming onion volcano, etc) unfolded without a hitch.

Tags: food, reenactments

Richmond, Virginia to Williamsburg, Virginia

Today we woke up and went to the hotel continental breakfast. Allegedly, it was open until 9, but at 5 minutes til the hour, the hotel employee ran around locking things in cabinets and blocking access to the microwave. She even scowled over my shoulder, key in hand, while I refilled my apple juice, and lurked around the rest of the (crowded) breakfast area.

We packed up the car and checked out (semi-full) and headed out for our first destination – the Science Museum of Virginia (Rob’s pick). Outside the entrance way was a 70-ton granite sculpture of the earth, soon to be rolled on its correct orbit by the boys. The museum was exceptionally interactive, and we spent a couple hours wandering around, playing with all the experiments. One of my faves was the special chamber where you could watch unstable atoms exploding. That was pretty cool.

Afterwards, we headed to downtown Richmond for the Edgar Allan Poe museum. I jabbed at the doorbell before I realized the sign said closed on Mondays (oops) but the caretaker happened to be home and gave us a mini-private tour of the gardens and one of the buildings. We got to see several original documents as well as several pairs of Poe’s fashionable stockings.

We next set to wandering downtown, heading past the St. Paul Church, Capitol Square Park, the (old) Governor’s Mansion, and several historical buildings. (The boys pointed out the secret symbol hidden in the FedEx logo and discovered another in the DHL truck… photos attached.) We also snacked at City Hall (Andy got a massive Dr Pepper, Rob got cookies, and I got a Ghirardelli square because I know what’s good) before taking the elevator all the way up to the Observation Deck for a look around the city skyline.

Last but not least, we managed to get ourselves horribly lost (followed by wonderfully un-lost) and randomly in front of the Confederacy Museum (which is what we were looking for in the first place when we got lost.) True to form, when we finally broke down and asked directions for it, we were 30 yards from it.

One of the stranger things about the Civil War (to me) was the black soldiers in the military, fighting for the South. The white soldiers didn’t want to fight next to black soldiers because they were uppity bigots and all, so I get that part, but why would black soldiers want to fight for the side that perpetuated slavery???

After that, we piled into the car and headed for Williamsburg, about an hour or so away. Our hotel (the Historic York Street Inn) is conveniently located within walking distance of the main colonial section, and we headed right over to eat dinner and see the sights.

Colonial Williamsburg is filled with 88 of the original early 1700’s homes and buildings, and many more restored ones. Costumed, in-character people man the apothecaries and foundries, give tours of the estates, and so on. However… we did eat dinner just outside the colonial district in an Italian joint, featuring throughly modern pizza, grinders, and Coca-Cola.

Tags: food, lost, museums

Washington, DC to Richmond, Virginia

So, this morning (being both Sunday and downtown) not much was open in the way of breakfast. We rolled out of bed around 7:30 and decided to eat at Union Station. The hotel did offer breakfast… according to the rooom service menu, we could’ve gotten fruit, coffee and bread for a measly $14.50, plus 10% tax, 18% tip and a $2.50 room surcharge. (And the bread’s not even toasted.)

We checked out of the hotel and bought our last D.C. Metro ticket and took the red line to the Amtrak station. I stood in a long line for my will-call tickets, only to discover that they could only be retrieved through self-service kiosks, not actual persons. (Who’d-a thunk?)

Next, we grabbed a table at Au Bon Pain and ordered breakfast right on time… they switched the menu over to lunch right after we ordered. (In case you’re interested, “lunch” began at 10:13 am)

Nothing much of interest took place until we got on the train, and from that point on, nothing much happened at all. What was supposed to be an hour and a half trip dragged into a 3 and a half hour trip. (A threeeeee hour toooouuuur…)

The deal was, our train was supposed to leave at 10:55 am, and as long as we rolled into Richmond before 2pm when Enterprise closed, they’d come pick us up at the Amtrak station and everything would be hunky-dory.

Nothing was hunky-dory.

The train was late arriving, late leaving, and stopped on the tracks for prolonged periods of time at random intervals. At one point, the train in front of us stalled on the tracks and proclaimed a “state of emergency” (!!!) and we were of course stuck behind them for quite some time.

I kept in contact with Enterprise througout (”We’re moving!” “No… we’re not.” “Yes! We’re inching along again!” “Er… scratch that.”) and although they dispatched a cashier to pick us up (and she waited in good faith in front of the Amtrak station for a full 15 minutes after the whole Enterprise branch shut down) we were still inching past Asheville when she had to give up and call it a day.

So, when we finally detrained (that’s a word Amtrak uses – not sure if it’s real, but hey) in Richmond, we were tired, hungry, crabby, and afflicted by a killer case of cabin fever.

We taxied to the airport ($41), which had the only open Enterprise location, and I was hit on by our cab driver, Pedro, who slipped me his phone number on a pink business card and made sure I knew where he’d be clubbing later. (???)

At the Enterprise station, more excitement ensued once I discovered that they couldn’t open my reservation because only one computer could pull up a record at a time, and the *closed* enterprise station still had it up on *their* screen. Yay. Plus I got to have some fun airport taxes, additional airport fees, and so on and so forth until I’d added another $75 to the fee. Joy.

Finally, we pulled onto the highway in our barely-dented 2006 cherry red Toyota Corolla and headed for the hotel, which turned out to be conveniently located next door to an Olive Garden. We walked over to the O.G. and got some grub (me: eggplant parm w/ gorgonzola fettucine, rob: pepperoni & sausage pizza, andy: cheese ravioli w/ meat sauce) and came back to the room feeling a little less stressed.

I went to the lobby to ask for towels (we only got one) and to ask what kind of fun stuff was going on in Richmond on a Sunday evening. Everyone agreed: you could go to the movies, or you could stay home. Rob, Andy and I conferred and came to a quick group decision: movies it would be.

We were, however, wrong. We went to two movie theaters, one in a shopping plaza and the other in a mall. Although all the stores were closed, every single parking space was filled because every breathing inhabitant of Richmond, Virginia was at the theatre.

We decided to cruise around randomly instead, and as luck would have it, we came across a Dairy Queen. (And an adventure. But you knew that.)

Andy orders first (chocolate fury blizzard) and the cashier (young girl) says, “Is that all?” Fair question, I guess, if a bit odd – after all, there were three of us.

“No,” I answer, and nudge Rob. He orders next (snickers blizzard) and the cashier says, “Well, is *that* all??”

Oookay. “Er, no,” I answer. “I want a blizzard too. Is that okay?”

She tosses her hair and answers, “I guess. But if you would’ve asked me an hour from now, I’d be really pissed off.” (!!!)

Once we (finally) got our blizzards (oh yeah – mine was cookie/brownie/cheesecake) we sat outside on picnic tables and spent a couple hours in heated discussions of world politics, Generations X and Y, the pros and cons of space exploration, higher taxes versus national healthcare and improved education systems, and whether the 80s or the present day is more “me” oriented.

I have to say that I find it really cool that my brothers are the sort of people with whom one can have “real” conversations. I’m very proud of them – especially when they know enough about what they’re talking about to argue with me, and tell me things I didn’t already know. They’re pretty cool guys.

So anyway, now we’re back in the hotel room. Andy is boring Rob to death (near as I can tell, Rob’s desperately trying to suffocate himself by lying face-first into the mattress) with the most recent installment of the History Channel’s “Revolution” series, and I did promise Rob that I’d let him check his email.

Til next time!

Tags: food, trains

Washington, D.C.

Today we woke up around 7:55 and rolled out the door about 10 (as usual). We headed to CVS to get Andy some aloe for his sunburns, and narrowly escaped high drugstore drama in the process. (The cashier screamed murderous threats at a guy on his bike who left a ziploc bag of wonderbread slices in the flip-flop aisle. Don’t ask.)

We ate breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe for the second day in a row (this time much wiser: we knew to get our own food and bring it to the table ourselves) and caught the Metro to Arlington Cemetary.

We wandered the vast winding roads throughout the tombstone-lined hillsides. We visited memorials to various wars, armed forces, and the Columbia space shuttle. We also went to the Kennedy graves as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where we witnessed the changing of the guard.

Afterward, we checked out the indoor exhibits: Women in the Military and Faces of the Military. (The attached brochure image “To Pee or Not To Pee” is about the difficulties women face in being ill-equipped physically and clothing/equipment-wise to relieve themselves during missions, etc)

The Smithsonian was our next stop. The whole mall area was rockin’ with some sort of festival the whole time we were in D.C., but we headed straight to the Air & Space museum once Andy determined that the Arts & Industry museum was under renovation. Shockingly (to me), the museum was *free*. Who knew? =)

The funniest section was the debunking of old myths and propaganda, my favorite of which is the story of life on the moon (also attached – a Must Read).

To round out the night with some high culture, we headed to the National Theatre for the award-winning Broadway musical “Spamalot”. (If you didn’t already know, it’s inspired by Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail. If you don’t know what that is, get thee to a Hollywood Video, stat.) The costumes were great, the set was amazing, the casting perfect, and as for the jokes – hilarious. We belly-laughed through the whole thing and quoted from it the entire next day. If you get a chance (and if you appreciate abject silliness) you *must* check it out!

Tags: museums, shopping, theatre & shows

Maryland & Washington, D.C.

Today we headed out to Six Flags D.C. 

Well… actually, it took us almost 2 hours to leave the hotel room and another 3+ to show up at the theme park in Maryland, due to various factors, including: 3 people + 1 bathroom = slow morning, trying to find a breakfast cafe, finding the right metro, spending 30+minutes riding said Metro, finding the right bus, waiting nearly an hour for said bus, riding 1+ hour on said bus, walking up the car entranceway to the themepark gates, and so on… as usual, an adventure.

The breakfast cafe was a little bizarre… Andy ordered milk. They asked, “Chocolate milk?” No, he wanted plain milk. Well, there was a 50 cent surcharge for chococlate-less milk. (Did we have “tourist” stamped on our foreheads or what?) Next, they asked us if we wanted to eat outside. “Yes!” we answer emphatically. It took a while for us to realize that just because they *asked* where we planned to eat, didn’t mean *they* planned to bring it out to us. Live and learn.

Six Flags was lots of fun (once we finally showed up) because the park was nearly empty and we got to do everything we wanted, in many cases multiple times. Rob and I rode all the coasters pictured here, both Andy and Rob consumed vast quantities of Dippin’ Dots, and all three of us watched the suprisingly funny wild west show.

We left early and headed back to the hotel, where the boys watched some T.V. (but not the Speaker of the House, as Andy initially wanted) and I turned on my laptop to get some work done.

Tomorrow we’re off again!

Tags: food, lost, theme parks

Washington, D.C.

Our 9 day adventure begins! My younger brothers and I are off…

05:00 Wakey, wakey!

Joy of joys, we got to wake up at 5am this morning. Well, most of us did. Everyone except Andy. He was already up – he had to work the night shift and technically was supposed to be there until 6… but he cut out at breaktime so he could come home and join the fun.

06:00 On the road

We piled into the van – my brothers (Andy & Rob), my parents, and I, and we hit the road for Chicago.

07:00 Chicago Skyway

Because the Dan Ryan Expressway was under construction, we had to use some creative avoidance tactics.

08:00 Midway Airport

We arrived about 4 hours early (yikes!) and discovered that the food court was past the security check-in, so my parents (who, like us, had not yet breakfasted) had to turn around and go home without eating with us.

09:00 Haray Carey’s

Andy, Rob and I grabbed some grub at Haray Carey’s. I opted to drink water instead of coffee, planning to hit Starbucks after we ate.

10:00 Waiting at the Terminal

At Starbucks, Andy and Rob ordered the Chocolate Creme Frappucinos and I ordered a Caramel Latte. They were out of both Chocolate and Caramel, which meant *we* were out of luck. We plopped into some seats at the terminal next to an outlet, so I could plug in my laptop and get some work done. Some guy walked by and gave me a hard time about it, but it was all in hillbonics, so we’re not really sure what he said. <>

11:00 – 14:00 Plane

The plane ride was much less eventful than I had feared, except for the landing, which freaked out not only the passengers but also the flight crew and the pilot himself, who joked, “Well!… *That* was easy.” when we clattered onto the runway.

14:00-19:00 Intro to D.C.

We find our hotel (the Beacon, on 17th street, walking distance from the White House) and wander around the city, checking out the White House, the Washington Monument, and the World War II Memorial. We also ate some pizza at Uno’s (a D.C. staple… hahaha) We ordered the Muchos Nachos appetizer (which, when they say muchos, they’re not kidding) not realizing it came with meat. Even though it was completely our fault (for being illiterate and not reading the menu more closely) they ran right back and whipped up a veggie version. We were stuffed before the pizza even came.

ANDY QUOTE: “Well, so far this vacation is turning out terrible. Too many nachos!!!”

20:00-23:30 D.C. Night Tour

We left Union Station for a 3+ hour night tour and it turned out to be a great time. Our tour guide was animated and knowledgeable and we only got lost once. (”We” meaning Andy, Rob and I, not the tour guide. He was a D.C. native who’d given these tours twice a week for 21 years.)

Tags: airplanes, airports, food, lost