Lilla Travels

Tomorrow we return to Massachusetts so we spent our last day relaxing on Topsail Beach (Surf City to be exact) with our friends at their beach house. 
D loved riding the waves and spent hours and hours doing so. Miss M loved the huge hole she dug in the sand. And it was fun to watch a nearby crab dig his hole deeper and deeper into the sand. We found dozens of sharks teeth washed ashore and had a great day with our friends. 
It was a perfect ending to another amazing vacation. 
 

We’ve spent the past two days in Topsail Island and it’s been very relaxing. No seaweed on the beach, plenty of shells, and lots of waves. Swim, sunbathe, repeat. 
Big D has loved riding the waves, spending the entire day in the water breaking only for lunch. Miss M has enjoyed sleeping late.
At night after dinner we’ve walked on the beach with flashlights to watch the crabs scurry about. 

Yesterday we began the day introducing the kids to an icon of the South: Waffle House. 

Since it wasn’t raining, we headed black to Duke to visit their beautiful gardens and walk through campus. The gardens were loaded with flowers and had largest lilly pads I’ve ever seen. Duke’s campus is really beautiful – reminds me of Hogwarts!

We’ve been joking that this trip has been part vacation / part college tour. Over the past two weeks we’ve visited University of Virginia, University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, College of William and Mary, University of North Carolina and Duke University!
A few hours after visiting Duke, we arrived at the fifth leg of our trip: Topsail Island. Topsail Island is south of the Outer Banks, and we’re staying at our friend’s beach house for the remainder of our trip. We had a relaxing rest of the day catching up. 

Today we drove 3+ hours from Williamsburg to explore Tobacco Road — an area that refers to sports (particularly basketball) played between Duke and UNC Chapel Hill, rival Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) universities which are located close to each other in North Carolina.

We started at the Dean Smith Dome at University of North Carolina. Even though the arena was closed due to renovations, we found a way to sneak in and admired the dozens of banners. The smell of polyurethane permeated the air as they had just resurfaced the court.

On our way out we stopped into the basketball operations office where we met Asst. Coach Hubert Davis, who played for UNC and the NBA. UNC is the reigning NCAA champion, and all kinds of trophies from the past season were there on the desk. The kids got to hold the NCAA National Championship trophy.
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After a quick stop on E. Franklin Street for some UNC merchandise, we then headed to Duke.

Big D has been a Duke fan for years, so prior to the trip we signed him up for a Duke informational session designed to give prospective applicants a taste of Duke. There were high school kids from all over the country, but D and Miss M were not the only young ones in attendance. The admissions woman who spoke about Duke was so fantastic that Paul and I wanted to apply when she was done. At that point, a number of Duke students were present to split the group up and take us around campus for a tour. Unfortunately, it was pouring, and we decided to scrap it. Instead we headed right to the spot on campus Big D wanted to see the most anyway: Cameron Indoor Stadium. 

Cameron is widely considered one of the cathedrals of college basketball. Again we were met with renovations being done and the floor being surfaced, but we convinced a nice worker to let us in and see the inside. This made Big D very happy. 

Afterwards, we were able to explore Duke’s basketball Museum, filled with trophies, jerseys and the guidelines to Krzyzewskiville (google it).  

After checking into our hotel, we met a friend and co-worker at The Pit, an authentic barbecue restaurant in downtown Durham. I went with the pulled pork, Paul with ribs and the kids with some salads, all of which was delicious.  

After dinner, we walked 2 blocks to the Durham Athletic Park, former home of the Durham Bulls, the AAA baseball team, and the site of filming for the movie, Bull Durham. It was a long, but fun day. 

1. Everyone has been so friendly in Virginia. You can tell who is from the north since they don’t make eye contact or say hello. 
2. There are a lot of cicadas. They are noisy and it’s disconcerting to think they could drop out of the trees overhead at any time. 
3. We saw a black snake, several feet long, on the loose, slithering past one of the rides at Busch Gardens. The staff member keeping an eye on the snake didn’t seem alarmed and said it likely came out of the Busch Gardens woods. Yikes!

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4. Big D loves the buffet at Kingsmill. He has 3-4 plates of food each morning: bagels, eggs, pastries, fruits, French toast and waffles. 

5. There’s been some pretty trees that wouldn’t last in New England (such as crepe myrtle), and one with these green pods that we still can’t figure out!

It was a rainy day today but we made the best of it in Colonial Williamsburg. I think the rain accentuated the smell of the horse droppings in the street, and when it wasn’t raining the air was thick and muggy. 

We visited the blacksmiths shop, saw how wigs and textiles were made, we visited the press room and bindery, and spent some time in “the magazine” artillery shed learning about weapons. 

Due to the rain, Paul’s axe throwing session was cancelled. 

We’ve spent a lot of time learning about American history over the past ten days, so by 4pm we were pretty historied-out.

We spent some time in the pouring rain enjoying the lazy river until they closed the pools for lightening. 

Take-out pizza for dinner and catching up on some TV was all we could handle tonight. Tomorrow we begin the fourth leg of our trip!

Kingsmill on repeat
We spent the entire day at the resort, lounging by the pool, drinking frozen mocktails and cocktails, Big D and Paul played tennis, Big D and I briefly rode bikes, and we swam a lot in the lazy river. 
We even repeated our dinner location: Food for Thought. 
We’ve spent a lot of time in the sun and water, so we’re looking forward to a day of exploring tomorrow. 

Spent today at Busch Gardens Williamsburg – riding coasters and enjoying the shows. It has a European theme with rides and shows related to specific countries. 

We hit the Invadr wooden coaster, Le Scoot log flume (twice), the Loch Ness Monster coaster with two inversions, Escape from Pompei water ride, and the Apollos Chariot coaster which had the most up and down drops. We all had headaches and needed a break after Apollos Chariot.

We got soaked on the Roman Rapids (kids went twice), watched a few shows, and rode the Verbolten coaster. 

We closed out the night with one last ride on Le Scoot (again), the Curse of Darkastle 3D ride, and Loch Ness coaster (again). 

As you can guess, since we were at the park from opening til it closed, we dined on “park food” all day. We’re all eating fruit and veggies tomorrow!

Today we spent the day at the Kingsmill Resort taking advantage of all this place has to offer: Paul and I worked out in the morning, I had a massage while Paul and Big D played tennis, we enjoyed the lazy river and swam in the pool, and we went kayaking on the James river. 
We all enjoyed dinner at Food for Thought, kids went back to the pool til 10pm, and we called it a night!

After a stop at Bodos Bagels (an institution on the UVA campus) we headed to Richmond.

Big D pushed the one man sled on the University of Richmond football field, Miss M played basketball on the Richmond Spider’s basketball court, and then we drove down Monument Ave to see the huge statues erected to Confederate heroes and Arthur Ashe (born in Richmond).

After a quick stop at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Arena, we had lunch at Mama Zu, highly recommended to us by some Belmont friends. 

Walked through the Carytown district of shops and restaurants, stumbling upon Coriander Armenian Salads and Grille. The owner had just returned from bringing her kids to Camp Hayastan in Franklin MA.
After Richmond, we headed to Williamsburg for the third leg of our trip. The Kingsmill Resort has pools, a lazy river, golf, kayaking, paddle boarding, tennis, and more. The kids are in heaven!

This morning we explored Monticello – Thomas Jefferson’s home. We took three separate tours of the three story home, Jeffersons gardens, and slavery at Monticello. There was a table set up (in the shade) where the kids could play games that jeffersons grandchildren played at the time, and you could try your hand at calligraphy with a quill pen. Overall very well done and glad we went first thing in the morning since it’s super hot in the sun!

Walked through the mall popping in and out of stores and saw the General Lee statue where locals have been staging protests to keep the confederate flag flying. 

We then went to UVA, stopping into the John Paul Jones arena and church where friends of ours got married. 

Dinner at South Street Brewery and we called it a night!

This morning we left Washington DC for the second leg of our trip: Charlottesville, Virginia. We toured Luray Caverns (26 floors below ground), had fun running around the nearby hedge maze and headed down the highway to see Cooters — a museum dedicated to Dukes of Hazard. Memorabilia, cars, the exterior of Daisy’s Diner, and confederate flags for sale. In fact, the flags are everywhere — houses, bumper stickers…we’re only two hours outside of D.C. and it feels like a different world. 

A short while later we entered Shenandoah National Park where we spent the next several hours looking at scenic views and horseback riding. Miss M really took to the horses and did a great job controlling “Buckshot.” My horse on the other hand, Tonto, did not like me. He stopped to eat grass and apples, kept whipping his tail to hit me, and accelerated to a trot several times versus the slow leisurely pace of the other horses. 

We drove to the end of the mountains trying desperately to spot a bear, but a lizard and deer were the only things in our view. (D and Miss M believe they saw a bear and we’ll just let them think that.) 
Dinner at Citizen Burger in Charlottesville and then to bed! 

Started the day on the Metro to Arlington National Cemetery. So glad we booked the tram tour in advance — it express took us to the Kennedy family area / eternal flame, then the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where the kids solved the first of the DC trivia questions Grandpa sent us prior to the trip: the soldier standing guard paces 21 steps, turns around, and paces 21 steps back to where he began. 

After the cemetery we walked to the Marine Corps War Memorial and then headed to Georgetown.

First stop in Georgetown: Georgetown Cupcakes! I think Miss M is going to apply to GWU in a few years just to work there. A dozen cupcakes for lunch and we were sufficiently sugared-up for the afternoon.

In Georgetown, we sought out the steps where Father Damien plunged to his death in the Exorcist, the oldest supper club in the nation, and popped in and out of stores before boarding the Metro (again) to visit the White House (again) for more pics and souvenirs, and then on the Metro (again) so we could spend the remainder of the afternoon at the pool.

Went to The Smith for a delicious dinner where the kids all shared their favorite D.C. memory/experience. They are already talking about what they want to do the next time we’re in DC.

After dinner we Ubered to the Korean War Memorial which we had missed on our bikes yesterday. It was an amazing memorial – the fear in the mens and setting helping you visualize the soldiers walking through the brush was so moving. We walked back to the hotel via the Lincoln memorial, the national mall and Washington monument all lit up at night. A great ending to our time in D.C.  

A few years ago, we were fortunate to meet a military family spending two years as our neighbors in Belmont. We spent many many hours hanging outside while the kids played, and they held a special place in our hearts. 

Today we spent the days with our friends, who now live in VA, and picked up right where we left off like four years hadn’t gone by.
First we rented bikes and spent the morning exploring the monuments around the National Mall. Both kids were happy to have the speed of the bikes versus walking, and it helped us get around the crowds. Paul liked the Jefferson monument the most, and I was pleasantly surprised by FDRs.
After a lunch at the row of food trucks, we returned the bikes and headed to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Damian loved all the aircrafts, but we were tired from the morning and quickly lost interest in the museum.
We relaxed on the mall, in the shade, reconnecting with our friends while the kids played.
At the end of the day, the Smalls returned home and we took the Metro to Georgetown for dinner at il Canale. Georgetown was cute – lots of shops and brick bullrings, but combined with a bustling waterfront with one mans boat trying to show up the other.
A nice end to another busy day!

There’s a Starbucks attached to the hotel, but we walked across the mall to Bakers & Baristas for breakfast – everything made in house and soooo good.

Walked across the mall and saw the Capital building in the distance.

At the National Archives, we saw the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Constitution. We even found the misspelling of Pennsylvania in the Constitution. The security guard said the number of visitors to the National Archives has ballooned since Nicholas Cage starred in National Treasure.

Walked through the National Portrait Gallery’s sculpture garden and bypassed a dozen food trucks to enjoy the award-winning Mitsitam at the National Museum of the American Indian for lunch. Named one of the best museum restaurants in the world it specializes in food from various regions across the Americas: I enjoyed a Peruvian salad with inca corn and some buffalo chili while Paul had salpican di pollo (Peruvian chicken salad).

Next at the Smithsonian Museum of National History, we saw the Hope diamond and other exhibits.

And then we made our way to Fords Theatre to see where Lincoln was shot.

A quick trip back to the hotel for a swim at the roof top pool, and spent the evening at the Washington Nationals game. D really liked the park and kept remarking on how open and clean it was. Bryce Harper tossed him a ball and Mari met the Presidents. All in all, a fun night at the ball park!

In general, we’ve been impressed at how clean the city is, and the grid layout makes getting around a breeze. We’ve noticed how friendly everyone is here — from the employees at the historic sites to concession workers. Even the kids have noticed this is definitely not the northeast.

Today we began our summer 2017 family adventure: Washington DC, Virginia and North Carolina.

Started the afternoon with a visit to the Smithsonian Museum of American History where we saw Archie Bunker’s chair, Indiana Jones’ hat and whip, Lincolns hat, and many more American treasures. Big D enjoyed all of the weapons in the historical exhibit.

(Side note: when we walked through the halls of the hotel D exclaimed “oh this place is pet friendly!” when in fact it was room service plates left outside a hotel room door on the floor.)
After the museum, we walked to the White House to view the exterior. Pouring rain today so our plans for the evening (Marine barracks parade) were cancelled. 

Dinner at Del Friscos Grille and then a twilight walk in the rain to the Washington Monument. We were soaked from a day of siteseeing in the rain, but otherwise a good start to the trip!