Vacation - Day 1 - Great Dismal Swamp
It was a wonderful long needed two weeks of vacation.
We left Thursday afternoon and stayed the night in a lovely motel in Suffolk Virginia. I say lovely, as it was one of those motels that you have to slip the clerk cash under the teeny slot in the bullet proof glass. And the train that ran every ten minutes RIGHT BEHIND the motel was also a nice touch.
Anyway, we couldn't get into the house until Friday afternoon, so I decided to be adventurous and visit the Great Dismal Swamp. Folks, there's a reason this is the called the Great Dismal Swamp. George Washington named it that in the 1700's for a pretty goddamn good reason. And the only reason I think the NPS owns it today is because nobody ever wanted to buy it from the government over the past 300 years.
Our trip to the Great Dismal Swamp involved us getting out of the car, immediately being swarmed by the biggest fucking biting flies I'd ever seen and running back towards the car screaming. The flies then swarmed the van. I was screaming to Erik, "Drive! Drive! Before they pull out the rocket launchers!!"
One thing I do love about going to the Outer Banks is that there are like, 3 Sonics on the way. So of course, we had to stop at the Sonic for lunch. Over the course of the next two weeks, I think I went to Sonic at least 6 times and no, I am not exaggerating. Because I love the Slush. LOVE IT.
After lunch we drove to Bodie Island and the kids worked on their Junior Ranger activities with the help of the friendly NPS folks. I love those park rangers. Seriously, I've never met a park ranger that wasn't nice. We were going to finish their Junior Ranger up that day but a huge nasty thunderstorm blew in and so we just ran to the van and headed for the house.
We love this house. We stay there every year. My kids even know the address of the beach house. Driving up is like seeing an old friend again.
4 Comments:
I've driven through the Great Dismal Swamp, too. There's nothing 'great' about it and describing it as 'dismal' is being generous. It's downright hell! My biggest fright was running out of gas in the damn thing and having to hoof it to a gas station. I think I would have died in my car first, with Spanish moss draping my limbs before I'd venture out in search of petrol. This is why, when I venture to the Outer Banks, I go down through Williamsburg and Hampton Roads. Once through the GDS was once too many for me--and I've been through it twice! (The first time, unwittingly. The second by stupid, stupid choice.)
And I agree: the rangers on Bodie and Hatteras are the best! In fact, we (you and I) have a mutual friend whose husband was once a ranger down there!
Wow, that sounds like our honeymoon B&B. There were plastic patio chairs and a dead bee in the shower. And the water kept running cold even though we were the only ones staying there. Nice.
The house does sound nice though. I hope the rest of your vacation was.
I'm glad you got away from the flies before they ate you. :)
I have been remiss ... let me catch up on your posts, then I'll leave a comment worth reading (hopefully). Welcome home, I missed you!
*Great Dismal Swamp* sounds like a punk band.
I'm glad you didn't get eaten alive by the giant bugs ... I was beginning to wonder!
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