Summer Vacation Plans

I mentioned in passing the other day that my sister and I are planning a trip this summer. We've been talking about taking a sister's trip for a couple of years now, but it has never worked out - I usually have money problems, and she usually has family things to attend to. This summer, though, if I have anything to say about it, we are actually going to go. I am determined of this, because our destination is Williamsburg, VA. That doesn't sound all that exciting, does it? Land of history, where there is a whole section of town where people dress up like they still live in colonial times, and then they proceed to bore you with all the details of how people lived 400 years ago. Yawn. But! Williamsburg is also the home of Busch Gardens.

When I was ten years old, my parents and I moved to Virginia. We moved because my step-father, who was a brick mason, couldn't find much work up here in central New York, and what he could find was seasonal, meaning that he was unemployed for four or five months out of the year. He and my Mom decided to move so that he could find more regular work, and they decided to move to Virginia because at the time my oldest brother was stationed there with the Air Force. We moved to Newport News and lived there for two years, and then we moved to Williamsburg.

Now, I never really felt at home in Virginia. I liked it well enough, but I always seemed to feel something pulling me back north. But one thing I did love while I was there was Busch Gardens. I started going with my friends, and in fact had season's passes every year while I was growing up - once my parents could afford them, that is. I rode my first roller coaster there - the Loch Ness Monster. I went with some high school friends, who convinced me to try it. I was terrified, but I got on. I probably wouldn't have if they weren't with me, but they were, so I did. I must have had more adrenaline running through my body than I had ever had before, because when I got off my legs were literally shaking. But I loved it - I was hooked. We walked off the ride, went back around and got right back in line to go again. It was fantastic. To this day, the Loch Ness is my favorite roller coaster, for admittedly sentimental reasons.

Then, during the summer between my junior and senior years in high school, I worked at Busch. I was an "area hostess," which was a nice way of saying that I walked around with a broom and dustpan, picking up people's cigarette butts and garbage. My least favorite part was cleaning the bathrooms (although they were air conditioned, and a nice place to retreat to when the weather got too hot), my most favorite was working when there was a concert - I could stand outside and do my job while hearing the concert for free. Not that they ever had anyone great - it was a family park, that very rarely got any rock musicians. Still, it was fun.

I only worked there that one year, but I continued to go back as often as I could every summer that I lived there. Then my Mom and I moved back north in 1994, after the death of my step-dad, and I haven't been back since. But then at Christmas my sister brought up the idea of finally taking that sister's trip, and we decided to go to Virginia and go to Busch, and I've been amped about it ever since. The map is my current desktop wallpaper (and is at the top of this entry). I've been going over it, and not only have they added two new roller coasters since I was there last, they've also added a whole new country! (The park's theme is the old world, and the park is separated into European countries - Italy, Germany, England, etc. I worked in France that summer.) To the right of England is now Ireland.

Obviously I am very excited about this trip. I have figured out how much money I will need to take with me (way too much, it's kind of scary to think about), I have downloaded the map and read the whole Busch Gardens website - if my sister backs out this time, I may have to shoot her. Busch Gardens here I come! We'll be there in June, so you had better start preparing.