If there is one thing that Ine will come away knowing about me this year, it is that I LOVE the beach. One of my favorite times we've had together was when we went to Tybee Island back in February on our way to Florida. It was so great. I wanted to go to Myrtle Beach at some point, as I haven't been in almost 2 years, but there just isn't time or resources to devote to that trip. But also in my head, I've had in mind that I need to start working on my Bucket List 2.0. And tops on that bucket list was parasailing, which obviously can only be done at the beach. So in looking at our schedule and at what kinds of things I could do with Ine, it seemed we had Mother's Day weekend and that seemed a great opportunity for me to take the girls and do something I really wanted to do. I booked us a hotel room for a night in Virginia Beach, which is not my most favorite beach, but is all that is available to us Virginians. The plan was set. In talking with Ine earlier in the year, I had also asked her about some other things and found out that she really loves animals and was interested in a dolphin cruise. The place I found to go parasailing offered dolphin cruises, so I was able to book that for us as well.
We left Friday morning--Ine had no reason to be in school and I decided to pull Leah out for a day. We stocked up on sunscreen and road snacks and headed out. The traffic was perfect, which was important because we are coming up on summer traffic season, but no problem at all. We steamed into Virginia Beach around 12:30 and were just in time for a 1:00 dolphin cruise. The weather was definitely iffy, but they were sailing, so we bought tickets and headed out to the pier for pictures. There was this hilarious shark head we climbed into and someone offered to take our picture, so that was fun. Then we just messed around with the camera while waiting for the boat to set sail.
Our boat was the Flipper, and frankly, I was a bit concerned it should have been called
the Minnow, because as soon as we left the dock, the water got REALLY choppy, a big wind picked up, and for added fun, it started to rain.
We got lunch on board the boat, and then went out to the front to see the dolphins. Unfortunately, due to the weather, Leah spent the entire cruise wrapped in my sweater glaring, but Ine bravely stood on the deck and watched for dolphins.
And happily, the dolphins obliged and came out to see us.
I didn't get too many pictures, they were really, really fast and as soon as you'd see them, they would go back down again and swim off. But it was fun. I had done a dolphin cruise a couple of times in Myrtle Beach, but it was always scheduled around when the shrimp boats were out, as dolphins love to chase shrimp boats for an easy meal. This was the first time I had seen them out and about just doing their dolphin thing. They are pretty amazing creatures. And Ine was grinning ear to ear!
On the way back, unfortunately, all 3 of us got a little seasick. I had to sit with my head down and just focus on breathing, which helped. People were falling all over the place, and I was so happy to get back to dry land! They did have volunteers on the boat, and they gave a little presentation to Leah and another little girl, so we learned about dolphin anatomy and Leah got a souvenir picture of a baby dolphin. Often now as we are driving along, we hear "You wanna see a baby dolphin?!" from the back seat and we have to oblige and look at the picture. It's very sweet.
Afterwards, we headed over to our hotel and discovered that in town that weekend were a huge cheerleading competition, the Special Olympics, AND a Monster Truck rally to name a few. The beach was packed and noisy! It was quite something. Still, we had a nice room on the 4th floor and a great view of the beach.
We headed down to the beach for a little while before dinner. Leah wanted to play in the sand. Ine was concerned as she didn't really have the right shoes for the beach, and she was going to wait up on the boardwalk, but eventually she did come down and hang out with us.
Ine says she doesn't much like the beach--she and her family don't go because it is quite crowded and they would rather be 'doing something' than relaxing on the beach. I do understand that, and in my younger days I was that way as well, but now I am happy to just sit in the sand and contemplate life. Still, Ine was a good sport and as soon as my feet hit the sand, I could feel the stress of the day melt away--the drive was over, I felt better from the boat cruise, I was with the girls, and everything was fine.
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| This guy was hanging out over our table |
After a while, our tummies got the better of us. We had coupons for a buffet with free lobster, but it was closed. We went to another restaurant, but after 3 or 4 minutes without them even acknowledging us, Ine said she had a bad feeling about that place, so we left. We finally happened upon Planet Pizza, an alien themed pizza joint, where they happily sat us and fed us a LOT of food very promptly. Leah and Ine had fun running around looking at the aliens.
After dinner, we did a little souvenir shopping. I thought Ine should get a Virginia Beach keychain for her collection, but she ultimately wanted a stuffed dog and Leah wanted a mermaid doll. Then we decided to go check out a mini golf place we also had a coupon for.
When we checked into the hotel, they gave us a variety of booklets with ideas for entertainment and lots of discounts, not unusual for the beach. I had looked through and found an ad for something called 3D blacklight mini golf and knew we just had to try it. Years before, Leah and I went to glow in the dark mini golf with my dad and had a lot of fun, but that place is long gone, so this seemed like it would be super-fun. We found parking nearby and headed in.
To say the place was crazy would be an understatement. Everything from the pencils and scorecards to the golf balls to the decor was done in neon colors. Then they somehow made it 3D, so you golf wearing 3D glasses. The insane thing is, it messes with your depth perception and there are times you have no idea where the hole is, how far away anything else. It was CRAZY... And needless to say, it was So. Fun. We have video of us tapping the floor with our feet trying to figure out where the floor is, finding fake holes, just hilarious. We laughed so hard.
I proudly got a hole in one, which NEVER happens. It was a pretty great activity.
On the way back, we discovered there was a fun house. It was similar in that it was a 3D black light fun house, so we decided to do that as well. All I can say is that a stellar amount of drugs must be consumed in Virginia Beach for people to invent this kind of thing. It was crazy. Leah just wanted to whip through it, but I had to keep touching things to see what was there, what wasn't there... As fun houses go, it wasn't that spectacular, but it was fun to look at and see the artwork they had made. There really wasn't much to take pictures of due to the fact that you really needed the 3D glasses to get the full effect, but it was fun.
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| The sun through the fog |
We slept sort of well that night. The room had two temperatures: hellish and Frozen, so it was hard to sleep between the two. Leah passed out though. That child can sleep anywhere!!! In the morning we had breakfast and checked out. I called the parasailing place and they were going to fly that morning and invited us down for 11:00, so we went down to the beach for a little while. After a point, I got everyone together and we headed back to Rudee's Inlet for our parasailing appointment. Because this was my bucket list adventure, I went whole hog and booked us a 1000' flight (approximately 305 meters, for all my readers not in the USA) and paid for them to take tons of pictures of us as well. Unfortunately, a huge fog bank rolled in overnight and there was no way we were going up at 11. They pushed us back to 11:30, and then at noon they said they would just call us when we could go up, as they didn't want us to wait around. We decided to go for lunch and then went down to the beach. Just as we unpacked and settled ourselves in the sand, the phone rang and we were told to get on back to Rudee's and do our parasail! Sigh! :)
They took us on board right away, and we were outfitted with everything we needed--harnesses and lifejackets. Although it looks scary due to the height, parasailing is actually quite safe. You are strapped in in such a way that you can't fall out of the harness, and you are very firmly attached to the parachute. The absolute worst case scenario is that the parachute would detach from the boat, but even so, you would simply float down to earth, land in the water, and they'd pick you up as you floated there in your life preserver.
So we got this as our safety speech, and then got attached to the chute, which they inflate before you set sail, so you even know that is working properly. Once we were attached, they told us all to sit on the deck and just wait for it. So we did. Leah was starting to freak out a little bit, poor baby, and Ine and I were both nervous--I have to admit, as excited as I was, I am afraid of heights. But I do believe these kinds of goals are about pushing yourself to do new things, and this was one of them.
We heard, "Are you ready, girls?" and then the captain sped up the boat. All of a sudden, we were in the air.
They had us hang in the back just a little while, took some pictures and then we heard, "See ya, girls!" and the line was released and we went up in the air and soon could not see the boat any more. It was not a super fast ascent, and it was very smooth and calm. Not like a roller coaster, not scary at all. Just a peaceful lifting off.
It was still so overcast, but I wasn't doing it for the view, and in fact, in some ways, it was better, as we had no concept of how high up we were. We floated along and once we got to our cruising altitude, we broke through the fog and suddenly shot into a beautiful blue sky. I looked behind me and you could see a wall of fog and clouds like a waterfall. It was hard to imagine we had just shot through there. And then we just hung in the air. I cried. It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life up there. It was so serene and peaceful, you couldn't even hear the ocean. My girls were at my side, and it was just perfect. Once we were up, everyone relaxed. Ine called it "amazing" and Leah asked if we could try skydiving! HAHA! Not likely, kid! We knew we were tethered the whole time as the rope remained taut, and soon they started reeling us in, which was an interesting process in which they made a series of turns with the boat to release the tension and let the rope go slack, making it easier to reel in. We landed right on the boat, never got wet at all. It was so smooth, particularly in comparison to the dolphin cruise. They took a picture of us after we landed.
I would happily do it again! And again. And again. And both girls agreed.
It was perfect. Life in that moment was perfect.
I can't even explain to you how I felt, what I thought. Even now, when I've had a week to process it, I can't put into words what it meant, so I'm not even going to try. But go out there and accomplish your goals with the people you love around you and you'll know what I mean.
We had to return to earth. We headed back to our hotel from the previous night, armed with our parking pass, dropped off the car, and headed to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. I hadn't put Leah in her bathing suit, and Ine and I weren't in our bathing suits, but I told her she could play near the water and advised her not to get 'too wet'. Apparently we have very different definitions of 'too wet' because in no time flat, that child was soaked and covered in sand. The waves were still pretty rough, and Ine and I got pretty soaked too! But there was a lot of laughter and fun and we didn't mind one bit.
We briefly decided to try and stay one more night and have another day of fun at the beach for Mother's Day, but unfortunately due to all the competitions and whatnot, we weren't able to get a cheap hotel room. Once Leah's school is out, I would definitely consider trying to go down during the week for one more night, but frankly, once her school is out, we only have 2 more weeks with Ine, one of which I hope to spend in Niagara Falls, so I don't think it's likely to happen. And maybe it shouldn't. It was such a great time, maybe we should just let it be.
We headed back to the car around 5:30 and the girls got changed from their wet clothes into dry, sand-free delights. We were on the top deck of the parking garage and had a pretty great view, so we snapped a couple of pictures before heading out.
We left Virginia Beach around 6pm and had a quick dinner at McDonald's per Leah's choice... Ine and I are both sick of it, but she hasn't yet figured out it's not that great. Fortunately Ine is a good sport where Leah is concerned in these matters. Then we headed west and north to get on home, and arrived back around 10pm. I slept like a rock!!
What an amazing time we had. It was fun, adventurous, interesting, and wonderful.
