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Life's a beach
Oct. 8th, 2007 10:54 amSo vacation last week- no riding the pony, only riding the waves on a ferry and a 75 foot fishing boat. Went to OBX- beach was pretty though I didn't spend as much time there as I would have liked- vacationing with an almost-2-year-old is only vacation in a relative sense. We had the most fun on the beach at Okracoke (sp?) - it's a fantastic beach and my son loved playing in the water, although he kept wanting to go farthur out (um, you can't swim kid, get back here).
We went to the Elizabethan gardens on Roanoke and they were really lovely. It was cool among the shady trees and there are probably over a mile of paths through the gardens with many fountains. My favorite was a massive fountain sourrounded by walls of topiaries and flowers in concentric squares with paths and steps in between.
I spent a half day fishing with my dad and my niece, and we caught some small fish (no shark like last year though). I got seasick for the first time in my life, as did my dad, we were nauseaus but took Dramamine, so at least we didn't throw up. We were riding about 6 foot waves and the large fishing boat was tossed around like a toy- no storm or anything, just BIG WAVES and bad glare. I caught a puffer fish that sucked in enough air to make him totally round, about the size of a softball. Before tossing him back in the ocean, the guy on the boat dropped him on a ledge an the fish bounced right back up to his hand like a basketball, which was odd but quite funny. I caught one keeper, a "sea mullet" which was about 8 inches long and had small, needle like teeth. My brother in law gave me directions and I cleaned my first fish- cut off the head behind the gills, slit open to the tail, and pulled out the guts, then scraped off the scales. I cooked it in some foil under the broiler with lemon, garlic, and butter, and it was pretty good. Lots of little bones though.
We were supposed to fly back on Saturday, but hubby got lost on the way to the airport and we spent the night at a motel in Norfolk, Va. It was pretty awful. We had already returned our rent-a-car and had no reservation anywhere, so we had to call around to find a place we could afford and take a shuttle. When the van finally arrived, the driver told us many uncomfortable things we would rather not have heard. "I'm from Tennessee. Y'know the crime rate there is so low because I can shoot somone just for being on my property. They want to secede from the union. My neighbor has like 500,000 rounds of ammo, and more guns than you've ever seen...." My husband whispers to me as we step out "If anything happens, take the boy and GO. I'll throw myself at him...".
The humidity was unbelievable- I think 96% or something. We tried running the A/C in our crappy motel but it made me cough, so we spent the night turning it on for about 20 minutes till I would start coughing and then we had to turn it back off. The baby has never slept in anything but a crib or pack n' play, so one of us stayed next to him on the edge of the bed all night trying to keep him from rolling off. Mostly my husband, because the boy would not stop trying to play with me instead of sleep. "Mama, UPPY!" *giggles* *climbs on my head*. It's my own fault for playing "horsie" with him at home and carrying him around the living room whenever he climbs on my back.
It was a mostly sleepless, uncomfortable, god-awful night, and it makes me want to avoid Virginia for like...ever. I had always thought of it as some sort of horsey mecca, but our time there was a horseless nightmare and I couldn't leave soon enough.
On the other hand, it made home look better than ever, and I'm so glad to be back in my wonderful, cool, arid state. I missed Trudi, and I'm sure she missed her treats. :)
We went to the Elizabethan gardens on Roanoke and they were really lovely. It was cool among the shady trees and there are probably over a mile of paths through the gardens with many fountains. My favorite was a massive fountain sourrounded by walls of topiaries and flowers in concentric squares with paths and steps in between.
I spent a half day fishing with my dad and my niece, and we caught some small fish (no shark like last year though). I got seasick for the first time in my life, as did my dad, we were nauseaus but took Dramamine, so at least we didn't throw up. We were riding about 6 foot waves and the large fishing boat was tossed around like a toy- no storm or anything, just BIG WAVES and bad glare. I caught a puffer fish that sucked in enough air to make him totally round, about the size of a softball. Before tossing him back in the ocean, the guy on the boat dropped him on a ledge an the fish bounced right back up to his hand like a basketball, which was odd but quite funny. I caught one keeper, a "sea mullet" which was about 8 inches long and had small, needle like teeth. My brother in law gave me directions and I cleaned my first fish- cut off the head behind the gills, slit open to the tail, and pulled out the guts, then scraped off the scales. I cooked it in some foil under the broiler with lemon, garlic, and butter, and it was pretty good. Lots of little bones though.
We were supposed to fly back on Saturday, but hubby got lost on the way to the airport and we spent the night at a motel in Norfolk, Va. It was pretty awful. We had already returned our rent-a-car and had no reservation anywhere, so we had to call around to find a place we could afford and take a shuttle. When the van finally arrived, the driver told us many uncomfortable things we would rather not have heard. "I'm from Tennessee. Y'know the crime rate there is so low because I can shoot somone just for being on my property. They want to secede from the union. My neighbor has like 500,000 rounds of ammo, and more guns than you've ever seen...." My husband whispers to me as we step out "If anything happens, take the boy and GO. I'll throw myself at him...".
The humidity was unbelievable- I think 96% or something. We tried running the A/C in our crappy motel but it made me cough, so we spent the night turning it on for about 20 minutes till I would start coughing and then we had to turn it back off. The baby has never slept in anything but a crib or pack n' play, so one of us stayed next to him on the edge of the bed all night trying to keep him from rolling off. Mostly my husband, because the boy would not stop trying to play with me instead of sleep. "Mama, UPPY!" *giggles* *climbs on my head*. It's my own fault for playing "horsie" with him at home and carrying him around the living room whenever he climbs on my back.
It was a mostly sleepless, uncomfortable, god-awful night, and it makes me want to avoid Virginia for like...ever. I had always thought of it as some sort of horsey mecca, but our time there was a horseless nightmare and I couldn't leave soon enough.
On the other hand, it made home look better than ever, and I'm so glad to be back in my wonderful, cool, arid state. I missed Trudi, and I'm sure she missed her treats. :)
