Tag: vacation

Posted on
by

image

When the Siege at Yorktown concluded 232 years ago with Lord Cornwallis’ surrender, General Washington recognized the impact of the American success by commissioning a statue to commemorate the battle. But did anyone think that all those years later Americans would still be visiting the site?

Perhaps. Perhaps not. But here we are in 2013, and we still go there, year after year, and for good reason. As I mentioned in the Jamestown update, it’s one thing to hear about the battle, and another to see where it happened.

Today, my cousin and I visited Yorktown, and it is still clear as day some of the conditions the American and French troops had to endure as they closed in on the British. Lots and lots of earthwork done to create a battlefield that perhaps neither truly knew would be the final one up until then last couple days.

Continue reading →

Posted on
by

image

Today we all (two aunts, an uncle, three cousins, and me) went to Busch Gardens. The thing I found interesting is that is was reasonably not crowded, such that most of the rides did not have long lines, except the popular Verbolten.

Busch Gardens is a very roller coaster-heavy park, and I’m not much of a roller coaster person, but I did go on two of the water rides, the Pompeii and the Roman Rapids. Both were quite fun, though the Rapids ride gave quite a soaking. It was refreshing, though.

At first, anyway. Several hours later, when my socks were only a little less soaked than they were when we got off the ride, and my pants still felt like I peed myself, and it was less warm, then it wasn’t as fun. Lesson learned here: it probably would have been worth the five dollars to use the dryer afterward.

I also saw the predator show in the animal reserve area, but maybe it was because I was so soaked, but it just didn’t seem as appealing as such a show may once have been.

What I think this means, as I observe, is that Busch Gardens is a good park if you like coasters, are a kid, or are a parent of a younger kid, but does not have quite as much to do if you’re a young adult who doesn’t like coasters.

Even still, I did have fun on the water rides, even if by the end I was very much ready to get back to the resort and change into dry clothes.

Posted on
by

Due to some weird WP app thing, this is being posted later on Wednesday instead of later Tuesday.

Today my cousin and I went to Historic Jamestowne and Jamestown Settlement. We first went to the archaeological site at Historic Jamestowne. I’ve always been a bit excited to see the ruins of a settlement and it was no different here, even if many of the earlier structures have disappeared. It’s one thing to hear about Jamestown, but another thing to see it in front of you. It just makes it seem more real.

The part of the site I found perhaps most interesting is that the settlers rebuilt their church not once, not twice, but four times on the same site, and oftentimes on top of the preexisting brick. It just goes to show that letting disaster not stop us from rebuilding is nothing new (two times were after fires).

At Jamestown Settlement, it was fun to see the full structures of the James Fort and nearby Powhatan village, but I was surprised to see that the staff wasn’t in-character. This was okay, though, as it allows one to relate the structures and ships to the 21st century. It was also smaller than I expected – it is suggested that everything takes between three and four hours to see, but we were to do it in two, including watching a presentation and demonstration of a 17th century piece of artillery.

All in all, we had a fun time and learned a lot about both the settlement and the people.

Posted on
by

image

Before I start on today, I’d like to make an addition to yesterday’s post, because I feel like I made the wedding ceremony and the reception sound really routine, when they were anything but that. Both were fantastic anyway, but what made them reallly stand out was the wedding party’s ability to boogie, starting as soon as the ceremony ended and they left the chapel.

When we got back to the hotel for the reception, it got even better. After my cousin and her husband were introduced, the wedding party immediately went into a rendition of the dance from Psy’s “Gentlemen.” And that there helped set the mood and cement the night into my mind.

So that was the wedding part of this trip in a nutshell.

Today officially began the vacation part of this trip, and it was also the busiest so far. The first thing was breakfast for the wedding party and the guests. Originally set for a nearby IHOP, it ended being in the hotel buffet. It was pretty good, all said.

Afterward, I bid adieu to my parents and grandfather, who
image

were heading back home, and went off to see the liberty bell and potentially Independence Hall. The first lesson of the day was that the SEPTA subway isn’t built to be obvious to visitors. It takes a minute to get used to. After finally figuring it out – not without some consternation – we made it to the Independence Hall mall, but did not make it to the Hall itself as tickets were sold out (I got a picture in, anyway). So we saw the liberty bell, which is much smaller than it seems and, though I get the symbolism of it, just isn’t as great as I thought it might be.

Next we decided to take a historical tour on a double-decker bus with an open top. We learned a lot about Philadelphia in 90 minutes than we ever could have by walking around ourselves. For example, did you know that Philadelphians have their own version of the “curse of the Bambino” supposedly brought on by building a structure taller than the height of William Penn’s statue? Or that the statue’s hair strands are four feet tall? Me either. The tour was highly informative and entertaining, but it did start to rain. We stuck it out up top until just before it started to pour.

After the tour we were hungry, so we subwayed it to the Terminal Station Market on Market St. It’s a packed collection of shops, vendors, and food-court style restaurants. I’ve seen one before in another city, but this one was cool nonetheless. I wanted pulled pork, but that food vendor was closed, so I got BBQ chicken instead. It was very good, and the homemade macaroni and cheese was excellent; a good meal for $10.

image

After dinner, we had to get back to the hotel to go see Wicked at the Kimmel Center across from our hotel, and it was still pouring, so we considered our options. We weren’t going to hoof it in the deluge, would have to take two likely expensive cabs, and I don’t think anyway else but me was up for another subway ride. Luckily my uncle found out that a guy from the tour desk was heading home (the Market was closing soon) and so we ended up with a tour in central Philadelphia’s underground pedestrian concourse that’s adjacent and providing access to the Center City subway lines. Originally built in the ’60s, it was intended as a pedestrian alternative in inclement weather. It went through its rough patch, but is apparently mostly safe now, if a bit creepy and leak-ridden in areas (and stinky every now and then). However, it’s definitely not one of those places most tourists are going to go through during their time in the city, so I was happy to experience it, even once. I like some local flavor, even if it necessitates constant vigilance. We were in a big group, though, so there was plenty of that among us.

After a brief respite at the hotel, we headed across the street for then show. One word for it: WOW! It was excellent. I’d always wanted to seen it, but it never happened, despite being visiting NYC four years in a row. The actress who played Elphaba for tonight’s show was the understudy, but she could just as well be the main actress for then role. She was that good. I’ll have a larger review for the show on the TicketNetwork Blog once I return home.

Finally, my aunt, one of my cousins, and I went for ice cream at nearby place, and it was pretty good. A little overwhelming on the options, though.

Today’s continuation to Williamsburg, VA, will be a long train day, so my report will most likely involve something outstanding (anything), and/or some commentary on the place we’re staying at. The real meat will pick up back up on Tuesday.

I close by bidding farewell to Philadelphia. I will be back as there is so much more to see.

Posted on
by

image

No, I didn’t make a mistake in choosing this photo – I just really like it.

I’ll keep this one short, because what is there to say? Other than a lot of traffic making the second shuttle late, the ceremony went off without a hitch, as did the reception (which was over too fast). Everything was really well done, and nobody stumbled over words. Afterwards, we hung out at the hotel bar.

That’s pretty much it. Tomorrow marks the end of official wedding festivities and the beginning of the vacation proper, with plenty of history.