VACATION 1999

June 1999

I have always wanted to see the Atlantic Ocean. I grew up on the Pacific coast, but as of June 1999, had never had a chance to see the Atlantic. We decided to vacation in Virginia that year. We stayed in Williamsburg at a nice motel with a pool. We enjoyed hours at the pool. It was extremely hot while we were there, and we all felt like we were going to melt.

We visited Busch Gardens, The Old World, one of the nicest theme parks I have ever been to. The park is divided into several areas representing different countries in Europe. Ryan and I especially enjoyed riding the Loch Ness Monster, one of my favorite coasters of all time. We also rode the Big Bad Wolf, and enjoyed the big drop over the lake. The kids enjoyed the Land of Dragons and splashed in the water there. There was a log ride and the Roman Rapids. I rode Alpengeist, the tallest inverted coaster I have ever ridden. It was quite a rush. We also enjoyed Escape from Pompeii.


Busch Gardens Williamsburg

We were able to spend a day at Virginia Beach where we went to the Virginia Marine Science Museum. It was really nice, and we enjoyed the shark exhibit and the seals. There were several different science exhibits and the kids enjoyed playing with those. We took our picture in a shark's mouth. While we were there, we also got to see a dinosaur exhibit with animated dinosaurs. Matthew especially enjoyed this section.


Virginia Marine Science Museum

I got my wish and got to splash in the Atlantic Ocean. We splashed in the waves for a couple of hours. At one point, I saw something large swimming past me. At first I thought it was a shark and almost had a heart attack, but then a guy popped up out of the water and I breathed a sigh of relief.

At Virginia Beach, Ryan and I went through Nightmare Mansion. It was the scariest haunted house of its type we have ever been through. Someone was following us from behind the walls and kept calling "Hey little boy" at Ryan. He got scared and started crying.

We visited Jamestown Settlement and were able to walk through Powhatan's village. The boys enjoyed going on board the boats. They were much smaller than what I imagined they would be. There were people dressed as laborers in the settlement.


Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown

That same day, we visited Yorktown. The boys enjoyed dressing up in the Revolutionary War costumes. There were tents you could walk in to and guides dressed as soldiers to answer your questions.

The vacation would have gone better had it not been so hot, and Alex was sick and cranky a lot. There was so much to do and everything was so spread out. I regret that we didn't take the time to visit historic Williamsburg itself.

In August of 1999, I took my family and my friend, Brian O'Sullivan to Jenny Wiley State Park for a picnic. Brian and I rode the sky lift. It was extremely hot that day.


Jenny Wiley State Park

In September 1999, Patti's mom came out to visit us with her friend, Carolyn. Carolyn had always wanted to see Dollywood, so we took a day to drive to Pigeon Forge. There was a car show going on that day, and the roads were jammed packed. Once we reached Sevierville, it took two hours to get to Pigeon Forge. By the time we got to Dollywood, there were only a couple of hours left before it would close. Ryan and I took off on our own and rode the Tennessee Tornado 7 times. This coaster had three loops and is probably my favorite looping coaster of all times. We also rode the Blazing Fury a couple of times and the Falls, and the Smoky Mountain Rampage. I was surprised that we were able to ride as many rides as we did in that short amount of time.

Dollywood