trip synopsis
day one consisted primarily of driving down here. we were on the road from 4:30am to about 6:30pm, and we pretty much just crashed after we got here and got some dinner.

day two was our visit to colonial williamsburg, and some of the shops near william and mary college. it was all cool, with lots of great shopping, but i've only gotten shannon one gift so far. but i think it's a good one. and i haven't really found anything for anyone else, not because i haven't been looking, but because i just haven't seen anything good enough. after that, we went to WAFFLE HOUSE! for dinner. i was ecstatic, of course. then we went on the chesapeake bridge-tunnel, which was really pretty much exactly as you would imagine it, only even longer.

day three was busch gardens, which rocked my socks off. lots of roller coasters and fun stuff to do. i didn't get to do as much gift shopping as i would have liked, specifically in germany and ireland, but it was still loads of fun. and we also missed out on our last opportunity to see the queen, in jamestown. dinner was pizza, and men in black.

day four was indeed spent in historical jamestown. lots of old things. it was cool to see the archaelogical digs and all of the ruins and stuff. 400 year old bricks... very exciting. and there was an island drive ... lots of nature. i climbed a tree, it was very exciting. for lunch we went to the college delly here in williamsburg. after jamestown, we went to an outlet mall where i got a pair of black velour pants for $5. very exciting, i know. for dinner we came back to the hotel and got a bunch of pies for dinner, while we watched rat race.

day five was yesterday, where we were supposed to spend the day at virginia beach. when we got there it was 55-60 degrees outside, with 30+ mph winds. walking around on the beach was like getting sandblasted, and the undertow was so strong you could barely keep your footing. needless to say, i had a good time. our visit was short-lived, and we spent the remainder of the day relaxing in colonial williamsburg. dinner was a phenomenal meal at the king's arms tavern. i got the fish catch of the day, salmon with mixed veggies and walnuts. it was amazing.

day six was canoeing, which i view as a tremendous success. i got sunburned a little, and scraped up a little, but nobody got very wet or died, so all in all a good trip. it was very windy, especially for the return trip, but i had lots of fun. after canoeing i'm drawing a blank. i think we went back to the hotel for a bit, then went to a late lunch at "the sportsman grill". some interesting discussion was had there, as i recall. after that i think we went to yorktown, which had a really cool beach, and we walked around for awhile, seeing what there is to see at the battlefield there. i pontificated extensively regarding my government conspiracy theories, seeing as the most seemingly random bits of forest were fenced off with barbed wire, claiming them as "federal property". pshht. after we were done there, we went back to the hotel again. ellen, katie, and i went swimming, while hunter went for a walk, i suspect to say goodbye, since we would be leaving in the morning.

day seven began bright and early, and we were on the road by about 7:30. we got to D.C. before noon, so we parked the car, and caught a metro rail to the mall. we went to the museum of natural history first, and got to see all of the dinosaurs and mammals and gems and things that they have there. from there we went to the american indian museum to get lunch and to shop at the gift shops, although we never actually saw any of the exhibits. but the lunch there was spectacular. after that we spent a fair deal of time in the air and space museum, where we saw spaceships and rockets and airplanes and the exhibits on loan from the american history museum, which is currently closed for renovation. we also rode in the VR flight simulators, which was cool, although maybe not fifteen dollars cool. but i still had a good time, and it was a very interesting comparison to busch gardens. by the time we got out of there and got to washington monument, it was closed for the day, so we resolved to come back in the morning for passes. we moved on to the WWII memorial with the fountains, which were very tempting under the afternoon sun. we also went to the lincoln memorial to say hi, and to show ellen, who had never seen it before. we hopped a cab from lincoln memorial to union station. at union station we got to take a look at the architecture, and went to the food court for some dinner and gelato. after dinner we took the metro back to the car, and checked into the hotel for the evening.

day eight was spent in DC again. when we went to washinton monument in the morning, all the passes were already sold out, and everyone was hungry, since we hadn't eaten breakfast, so we went to chinatown and had this texan barbecue stuff for lunch, and it was absolutely delicious. we went to the archives after lunch to see all of the important documents and such. i was much more impressed with their 700-year-old copy of the magna carta, all in microscopic latin, than i was with the charters of freedom. but perhaps the coolest thing about the archives was the architecture of the building. i'm pretty sure it was built to withstand an atomic blast; just huge and amazing. we also went to the capitol building, but couldn't get in (capital vs. capitol, anyone?), and we went to the botanical gardens, which were very pretty. then we caught a metro back to the car and began our return journey home, stopping for dinner at waffle house, one last time. interesting note, this particular waffle house was franchise #666, if anyone is amused by that.

and from there we drove all night, until we got here this morning. after we got back, i slept from about 8 to noon, so hopefully i won't be too whacked out tomorrow. tonight is libby's concert, and shannon and her mom are coming up for the scholastic books dealie, so hopefully i'll be able to hook up with them. i completely spaced the concert when i was talking to shannon on the phone, but i'm hoping we can still work something out.

but yeah, that's pretty much it for the trip. there might be more that i've forgotten. if so, i'm assuming someone will remind me and i can make according amendments.

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