We just returned from a couple of days in Williamsburg. We spent Monday heading there and browsing at a few of the crappy outlets (and a few nice ones). Got separated from half of the family but finally reunited hours later. I think we were at the biggest outlet mall around.

On Monday night, it stormed as hard has I have seen since living in Virginia. The lightning was centered in Williamsburg – lightning for hours and hours. The bathroom started leaking around the fan close to midnight, prompting a frantic call to the front desk to be moved. The resort was very quick (less than 10 minutes) and met us with a new key to the closest room they had. A quick dash outside and we were dry again. It was a difficult night to get sleep, though. Up at 6:30 again so we could fetch our belongings from the original room (jumping over puddles along the way), it made for a very short night. All in all, the resort handled things very well.

Tuesday, we spent the day at Busch Gardens. It is a great amusement park – very clean and lots of shade. It was a steaming hot day, though, so lots of water was consumed! We got there before anyone else (an early opening special), so got to ride a few rides with NO lines at all. I even rode Alpengeist for the first time (with no wait at all!). What a thrill. It is smooth, unlike the other coasters that bounce you around. Looking at it from the rest of the park makes it seem bigger and more dangerous than it really is. However, I have now ridden all four of the coasters at Busch. Pretty cool for this mid-40’s guy!

Wednesday was spent at Water Country with few crouds until late in the day. Our son overcame many fears and rode on some of the biggest non-tube water rides at the park, and had a great time. He’s really maturing and I think made great strides with the personal fears. I think he also realized that he can trust his parents to not push too far. Later in the day, we returned to Busch Gardens for dinner, a couple of quick rides, and “Imaginique” – a Cirque du Soleil style show that starts after dark.

Thursday was a short Water Country day before heading home. It was hot and had long lines and many rude people. More on that later. Sue is working for part of the day today, so didn’t get to spend much time at all on vacation. Time to look elsewhere for her since I’m staying for a while.