November 02, 2003

Road Trip - Day 29: Kings Dominion

We all woke up early this morning, after a fitful night of sleeplessness. Jenna was cold, I'm not sure what Zach's problem was, Joel complained that the dog kept him awake, and I was "the princess and the pea" incarnate. The mattress pad on our bed kept getting bunched up because the sheets wouldn't stay tucked. Every little lump woke me up. (Add to that Joel's snoring and breathing in my face, and well, you've got a night of tossing and turning and very little sleep!) Needless to say, we were all tired today.

The kids and I went to breakfast while Joel packed us up and loaded the van. He opted to skip breakfast 'cause pancakes make him sleepy, and we were on our way to the theme park.

Kings Dominion was just a few miles down the road. We put Socrates in the kennel. (He was not a happy puppy watching his "pack" walk away while he was incarcerated in a strange cage....) Poor baby. :-(

We made it into the park just after 10 o'clock, I think. It was the last day of the season today, so we expected there to be quite a crowd, but it actually wasn't bad.

The first thing we did was the SpongeBob 3-D show. I sat in the stationary seating because the simulator rides wreak havoc with my neck. Joel and the kids sat in the simulator seats for what turned out to be a pretty wild ride. It was really loud and there was lots of screaming going on. As we left the theater, Zach let us know how much he did not enjoy it. Jenna loved it, however. (...Opposite ends of the spectrum...) To each his own.

After that, mostly because I think he was so tired from not sleeping last night, Zach opted out of the rides. With my neck problems I knew I wouldn't be riding rides, so Joel and Jenna were the coaster kids today. For the first time Jenna got to go on some really big coasters, even some that did loopty-loops and corksrews! (She is so brave!) She screamed, of course, --I could hear her from where we were waiting!--but she wanted more! So for the next four hours or so, Joel and Jenna rode rides while Zach and I waited.

It probably would have been more enjoyable, too, had it not been so hot today! It was in the 80's with no breeze, so it got pretty warm.

Anyway, we left around 2 o'clock, stopping down the road at Cracker Barrel for a late lunch. It was 3:30 or so by the time we got our food, so we called it dinner. (The kids had a snack before bed.)

Because we are pretty much spent, we decided that perhaps we should shave a couple days off our trip and try to make it home a little sooner. Zach is really getting homesick and we are all weary of motel rooms and museums and historic sights, etc.... Bottom line: I think we're just ready to be home.

So tonight, we are sleeping in Durham, North Carolina at another Red Roof motel, and tomorrow we will begin our jaunt across Tennessee. Lord willing we will be home before the weekend! :-)