We had the best weekend, y'all.
So, it was the 150th anniversary of the Battle of First Manassas out where we live. There's been a billboard up advertising a twin-pack DVD set of Gettysburg and Gods and Generals for weeks. About 17,000 people were expected to show up for the re-enactment slated to take place somewhere not on the actual battlefield proper. Roads were blocked, dudes hauling cannons around on little trailers clogged up the gas stations starting Wednesday afternoon.
You might be thinking we bought tickets and were part of the festivities and taught the Young Prince more about Stonewall Jackson and fifes and drums and what-all.
You'd be wrong. We got the hell out of town.
Honestly, it was over 100 degrees this weekend, and there was no way we were going to sit around outside watching guys in wool suits run around challenging each other with bayonets. And since we weren't going to do that, we certainly weren't going to venture out and sit in all that traffic to do something really exciting like grocery shopping. So we'd already concluded that one of two things would happen: We would stay home and go absolutely insane from being indoors all weekend because it was really too hot to play outside, or we would stay home all weekend, try to play outside, last about 10 minutes and then spend the rest of our time panting on the living room floor from overheating.
Instead, after the kid's drama camp wrapup performance on Friday afternoon (he had a tiny part; he was a shopkeeper and a prison guard, though he did have actual lines,) we did some laundry, threw together a bunch of items and loaded the car with snacks and towels and chairs. Then we got up at 5 a.m. Saturday and drove 4 hours to Chincoteague. NeighborGirl came with us, which was completely awesome as she 1: serves as another boot on the neck of the YP, and 2: she and I share a worldview that involves raising our eyebrows and making fun of people who are not cursed with self awareness. Going to the beach at Assateague was good news for us in both regards. We parked our vinyl chairs at the water's edge and proceeded to make fun of everyone whose bathing suit was too small, whose tattoo was too ugly, whose behavior was too slutty or whose pale fishparts were too sunburned at the early-early hour of 11 a.m. Meanwhile, Not Your Average Blogger and the kid flopped around in the surf. The YP also buried himself in the sand a few times, then ran back into the water and rinsed off. It was great. We just sat and absorbed Vitamin D for about three hours, and then after a few minutes of debate decided we were not going to bop on back home that night; we'd stay over and head home on Sunday instead.
That required a bit of work on our part -- we had to find a room, and probably got the last vacancy on the island, and then we had to go buy clothes that were not full of sand and salt water. I am pleased to report that my new car did remain fairly sand-free, especially considering what kind of shenanigans the kid was pulling (including somehow suckering NeighborGirl into carrying his filthy self back to the car because the sand was too hot on his feet. I know, she has much to learn.) After getting lunch and tooling around the island for a bit looking at the scenery and the houses and so on, we checked into our hotel and spent another hour or so in the pool. We then headed out for a night of entertainment -- we saw Captain America at the very old-fashioned theater and then had dinner at a place called Bill's which was not too bad. Oddly, the entrees were the worst part of the meal. Soup, salad, sides, all amazing. Prime rib was more "meh, it's ok" rib.
After dinner we drove around a bit more, but it was fairly dark and there wasn't a lot to see. We headed back to our hotel and NYAB and the YP passed out fairly quickly. NG and I didn't last much longer, though we did finish a couple crossword puzzles.
Next morning we got up and had breakfast at the same Bill's as the night before. I took a shot and tried scrapple, and having done so I can safely say I see no need to ever go near the stuff again. The pancakes were pretty good, my omelette was not awful. The grits were pretty runny, though -- more like Malt-O-Meal than mush. I think the YP did not like this establishment, as the only time he showed any truly smackdown-worthy behavior was while we were sitting and waiting to eat. Perhaps next time we will find a place with waterfront dining and toss him into the water when he acts up.
After breakfast, we headed out to the lighthouse and climbed it to the top. NG and the kid pounded up there pretty much without stopping. I'm not in good enough shape for that, though I'm better than I might have been a month or two ago. After the lighthouse, we wandered back into town, stopped at the museum and spent way too long locating items in a scavenger hunt. A quick swing by Dairy Queen and it was time to head home, a trip that went fairly quickly and seemed even shorter thanks to NG's excellent taste in downloaded comedy routines.
I wish I could tell you I had photos of all this loveliness, but of course I left my camera at home like a dope. But even this was a good thing; as it means I'm bound and determined to go back in two weeks and do it all over again! Frankly, I'm ready to buy a house there and spend all my weekends and most vacations there. But I reckon we should maybe spend more than two days there before making that kind of commitment, no?
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