Fortunately, Thursday evening, I packed the car, so we were loaded and ready to go early Friday morning. I packed all our stuff into the medium-sized suitcase and put the medium-sized suitcase into the largest-sized suitcase so we would have an empty suitcase for all our shopping loot when we got to VA. I also paid Southwest for "early check-in". They automatically checked Ian and me in on Thursday, so I had our boarding passes printed and ready, too.
We started our vacation by oversleeping. Friday morning came, and we were supposed to be at the airport by 4 a.m. I woke up at 4 a.m. "IAN!!! GET UP!!! GET UP!!! I OVERSLEPT!!! GET DRESSED!!! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE AT THE AIRPORT ALREADY!!!" I was proud of him. We were up and out in ten minutes flat. All's well that ends well - we made it on time and boarded with no problems.
We landed in Norfolk, Virginia at about 9:30 a.m. The temperature was about 45 degrees, and I kid you not, it felt like summer. Ian and I walked around in our hoodies without winter coats on, and everybody looked at us like we were nuts. When someone asked where Ian's winter coat was, he responded, "We're from Buffalo!" It just felt so warm to us. Nods of understanding all around.
Because Williamsburg is closer to Norfolk than Suffolk (our ultimate destination), we went shoppin'! The Williamsburg Outlet Mall is HUGE. I purchased sneakers for Ian in the next three sizes up and outfitted him for summer. I also picked up some beautiful sweaters. Clearance/Presidents' Day sales were everywhere.
On Saturday, Russ (Ma's son) took Ian to the Virginia Living Museum. He had a blast. Ma bought him a SIM card for his phone, and he tried to fill it with photos. He shot over 250 photographs. (I have to call Obiwan and ask him how to get them out of Ian's phone onto my computer. That's one area of technology I haven't mastered yet.) I finished my fourth (of five) Quantitative Analysis assignments and took a nap while he was gone. It gets so ... quiet... when Ian's not around. :D
Saturday evening, Ma cooked a wonderful dinner and invited Wayne, one of my classmates. It was great to reconnect with him. He and his girlfriend have seven children between the two of them. I don't know how they do it. They live in Virginia Beach and love it there.
Sunday was laundry day, and then on Monday, Ma and Uncle AJ took us to Waterman’s Beachwood Grill. The food was wonderful! I had sea scallops wrapped in bacon, and they practically melted in my mouth, they were so tender. My friend Tracy met us there. She moved to Virginia Beach about five years ago, and she loves it there also.
There is this strange kind of bible-belt thing that goes on down there...the IHOP waitress, before she served Ma, told her she could tell she 'read her Word'. I was a bit taken aback by that. Ma mumbled, 'Uh, huh', or something appropriate like that, and I bit my tongue. If a waitress said that to someone in an IHOP up here, she'd get yelled at or slapped. It's a bit of a different world there.
Zeus, Hera, and all their cohorts didn't come through for us with more snow for Baltimore, so we had to come home.
Southwest Airlines is wonderful. They are friendly and extremely easy to deal with, both on-line and in person. And they have no fee for your first two bags.
For our next vacation, I'd like to go visit family in Santa Fe. Another toasty warm place. :)
