Started off day fourteen of the bukkit tour after a refreshing night's sleep at the Holiday Inn. The girls and I took our time and got ready for the day and packed up the room. We figured it was going to be a hot day requiring lots of energy (the forecast called for 106 degrees Fahrenheit). When we pulled in on day thirteen, we thought to ourselves "What luck, there's a pancake and waffle restaurant right next door." So that's where we ate. Just as advertised, they had pancakes and waffles. The girls both had an order of apple pancakes and I had pigs in a blanket. Mmmmmm...blaaannket covered piiiiigs.
We walked back over to the car and started it up and the temperature reading was 97 degrees in the shade at 11:15. Laela and I were convinced that the day was going to be miserable and weren't looking forward to it at all, but this was the one thing that Miranda asked to do while we were on vacations so we were determined to make it happen. We had to rearrange our schedule a bit. Busch Gardens was supposed to be the very last thing that we did before coming home, but a tiny hotel issue had occurred which necessitated rearranging the schedule and I'm glad we did. Finding it was easy after leaving the hotel because we were so close to the park that all we had to do was follow the signs. I was really surprised by how expensive the tickets were. King's Island and Cedar Point are just a little over 1/2 the cost of Busch Gardens. The turnstiles to get you into the park aren't very efficient either, there was quite a line to get in which had me feeling very dubious about the rest of the day.
We hooked up a fast pass so that ol' wheezy McGee didn't have to swelter in the lines all day. There was a really nice older lady that helped us out with the pass. She set it up for four people and told Miranda that she should find some lucky fella to round out the four and that if she saw a bachelor in his seventies to toss him her way. It was really funny.
So we were all excited about the park, grabbed a map and started trying to figure out which rides to ride. Much to our chagrin, there are only four roller coasters in the whole park. I guess we're a little spoiled in Ohio with Cedar Point and King's Island. We rode the following: The Griffon, the Alpnegeist, Apollo's Chariot, and the Loch Ness Monster. All of them were fun steel coasters. The Alpnegeist was a foot dangler similar to the Raptor at Cedar Point. The Griffon is kind of odd because they seat you 10 across and if you are on the end during the ride, you don't see any track under you especially if when the stop you at the top of the 90 degree drop and let you dangle for a few seconds before they let you go. An interesting historical note on Apollo's Chariot: On opening day 1999 Fabio was in the first car on the first ride. As it plummeted down the hill a goose struck him in the face. When he exited the ride he was covered in blood, fortunately (depending on your point of view) he only suffered a cut on his nose.
We also took in some other rides, notably the water rides. There were three of them: your standard log flume, Roman Rapids your standard whitewater tubing ride and Escape from Pompeii which is a combination of King's Island's Adventure Express and Congo Falls. The water rides were fantastic for cooling us off and certainly made the day's oppressive heat more bearable.
Other park notables: We had dinner at the Festhaus. Guinness on tap plus "authentic" German food. There was a big gazebo in the middle of the hall and I said to Laela, the only thing we need is a polka band. 10 minutes later we had a polka band and dancers. It was silly fun and we enjoyed the entertainment. After dinner, Miranda and I rode the Alpengeist and Griffon coasters again, we stopped by the fudge shop and went back to our car. I took about ten minutes to unwrap my "meat toes" as Laela calls them. It was good though, an once of prevention (individually wrapping each of my toes before we left for the day) is worth an pound of cure and my digits were no worse for wear when we got finished.
So we make it back to the hotel and there is a tour bus parked in front of our parking spot from last night and it is filled with Boy Scouts. Let's take a moment and discuss the invasion of scouts on the Bukkit Tour. Once we had gotten to Washington, DC there were Boy Scouts everywhere. Apparently there was some kind of Jamboree in the DC area. They did not call us in advance and clear that with the Bukkit Tour coordinator. So everywhere in DC we went there were throngs of scouts. We figured we were finished with that after we left DC. Not true. Busch Gardens was also packed with scouts and of course a bus full of them were staying at our hotel. Now don't get me wrong, I was a scout back in my misspent youth. The problem is, I was a scout back in my misspent youth and I know what kind of shenanigans will be wrought by clusters of teen age boys traveling in packs. Ever since we arrived in DC, I've had a crick in my neck because I've had to strain it giving the evil eye to young men gawking at my daughter. Our favorite thing to do when we get to a hotel is to go and take a dip in the pool. Guess what? Full of scouts causing a ruckus. So we look over at the hot tub. Full of scouts. We got in the pool and huddled in a corner for about ten minutes and I got sick of it. I told the girls "Watch me go clear out the hot tub and then follow me." I walked over to the hot tub and there were about nine kids in it (small tub so it was packed like sardines. Scowling all the while I took the last seat available on the bench and three of them immediately hopped out. The "leader" of the last six saw Laela and Miranda get out of the pool and start walking over and said to the rest "Why don't we get out and make some room for them?" Walrus powers ACTIVATE! We relaxed for a while went back up to the room and got cleaned up.
We had bought some fudge, chocolate covered Oreos, and candy fruit slices at BG but we didn't have any milk. Laela and I Froggered our way across the street to the 7-11 and bought some milk, came back to the room and snacked with Miranda while watching the Boondocks on Adult Swim.
So that was day fourteen of the Bukkit Tour now in the books.
PS: No stickers have been found at Busch Gardens or any other stores in Virgina to apply to the Bukkit :(
