Travel - Pocketful of Joules

Our Williamsburg Trip, Part 2: Old Cars & Busch Gardens

I had to divide this into a few pieces, because there was just too much FUN to stick in one post! If you missed, it you can read Part 1: The Timeshare here.

After we escaped our timeshare meeting, we grabbed some breakfast at one of the half-dozen pancake houses in the area. We ended up at the Capitol Pancake House and I can vouch that their pancakes and coffee were amazingly delicious!

Once we stuffed ourselves full of caffeine and carbs, we followed signs to a local car show. For just $5 we were able to check out a ton of gorgeously restored cars. Oh and you may recognize my outfit from last week’s Stitch Fix – I’m so glad I decided to go with the chevron top because it was the perfect shirt for a day of outside fun!

After browsing the pretty cars, we hopped down the road to go to Busch Gardens. We had visited Hershey Park in the Fall and thought that Busch Gardens would be a hit with Jack now that he was a bit older.

The park opened at 10:00 am and we ended up getting there around 11:00 or so. I have been to pretty much ALL of the amusement parks in the area and I have to say that Busch Gardens is one of the most well organized parks I’ve ever seen. The parking lots are super easy to navigate with shuttles picking you up and dropping you off at the park doors. As an added bonus, Jack thought the shuttle was a ride.

Since Jack is a HUGE fan of Elmo, our first stop was the Sesame Street Forest of Fun. Right when we got there, we saw that we could do a photo session with Elmo and Big Bird. Of course, Jack isn’t smiling but he was basically pulsating from the excitement of sitting on Elmo’s knee! Hmmm… maybe this can be this year’s Christmas card?

We rode a TON of rides and my husband even surprised Jack with a mini Elmo to add to his collection. Oh, and the reason Jack looks so freaked out is that he just saw a grown-up rollercoaster go by and thought we were going on it.

And here he is giving kisses to a caterpillar in the Sesame Street forest:

Over a span of about 6 hours we visited the ENTIRE park, from England to Germany to France and back. The weather was gorgeous and OH THE FOOD. We devoured lunch in Italy, dessert in France and snacks in Germany.

We also watched the Pet Shenanigans show, which Jack was GLUED TO the entire time.

Family CHEESE!

The only thing we missed out on was we really wanted to see the Sunny Days Celebration on Sesame Street, but we were stuck on the wrong side of the tracks while a train went by and missed it. I could see Elmo’s head bob into my line of sight every couple minutes if I jumped as high as I could (which is basically 3 inches), but that was about it.

We had SO MUCH fun though and Jack didn’t even have a meltdown from skipping his afternoon nap. It honestly could not have been a better day and I’d go back in a heartbeat!

We even had some energy left over and decided to walk around Colonial Williamsburg after the park. After cruising around and visiting a few stores, my world was rocked by a colonial drumline. Unfortunately, they weren’t QUITE as awesome as the real* Drumline… but they were still pretty cool. To be honest though, if they played each other’s drums I may have fainted from happiness (the ‘oh no they DIDN’T’ part is at 3:17).

Are you an amusement park lover? If so which one is your favorite? Are you one of the 5 fans out there of Drumline?

Disclaimer: This post is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and comments are my own. However, I would like to say a big THANK YOU to the people at Busch Gardens for providing us with free park tickets.

* The first time Travis and I ever watched a movie together, it was Drumline on TV, so it holds a special place in my heart. Also, it is awesome.

Our Williamsburg Trip, Part 1: The Timeshare

One of my favorite things in the world is vacations – whether it be a week on a sunny island, a one-night getaway to a B&B or a three-day weekend somewhere within driving distance. It really doesn’t matter WHERE; I just love to get away for a bit. Especially if there is a beach nearby!

I am frequently (ahem… always) the vacation planner. I’ve planned every single vacation that my husband and I have taken. Ever. I have a spreadsheet I use for our packing lists, I do a bit of research before we go to find fun things to do, I remind Travis to ask off of work, and I even PACK for the entire family.

It can be a bit exhausting, even if I do love traveling.

I may have mentioned a time or two (or twelve) that I’d love it if my husband surprised me by planning something. I’d honestly be happy with ANYTHING if he took the initiative and planned a getaway.

Well, apparently my husband was listening because one day when he and Jack were shopping at Bass Pro Shop he was approached by a man asking if he’d like a 3 day/2 night vacation package for just $199. The man told him what a GREAT DEAL it was, because for the price of $199 you go on the amazing vacation AND get a $25 Bass Pro gift card today. Oh yeah, AND an additional $75 in Bass Pro gift cards when you go on your trip!

Sounds pretty great, right?!

My adorable husband thought it sounded pretty great too. He can be the hero by planning a fun vacation and it will hardly even cost us anything! He signed some paperwork and went on his way.

When I noticed the strange charge on our credit card, Travis told me about the AMAZING DEAL he had purchased for us. He handed me the paperwork and that is when I saw that we had gotten snagged for a timeshare presentation. Yup, the amazing deal with a timeshare weekend where you are required to attend an “approximately two-hour sales presentation and tour.” After a bit of googling I found that many of the presentations lasted much longer than two-hours… which is when I started to worry.

But then, I found it. The magic words in the teeny tiny print: “Maryland residents are not required to attend a timeshare sales presentation in conjunction with this promotion.”

That’s right, Marylanders are exempt, which means we can enjoy the trip, receive the gift cards and mosey on our way! YAY, Maryland!

We booked our weekend for the Bluegreen Patrick Henry Square in Williamsburg, Virginia. It did cost an extra $50 to have a weekend reservation, but it was worth it. The suite was BEAUTIFUL with two bedrooms, a large sitting area, two bathrooms and a full kitchen.

Our room had a king-sized bed that I wish I could have brought home with me. We set up Jack’s pack-and-play in the other room… but soon realized that this will probably be his last time sleeping in it. My kid is a GIANT! And I’m not sure why he’s doing a kissy-face in this picture…

The hotel was located within walking distance to Colonial Williamsburg, which was fantastic. There were tons of restaurants around too – including 5 pancake houses within about a half-mile. Apparently Williamsburg visitors love their pancakes!

There were also horses across the street, which Jack LOVED! Basically every time we walked out of the hotel doors he started yelling, “Horse, HORSE! Neigh! Neigh!”

When we checked in we were informed that we’d have to show up at a 8:30 am timeshare meeting the next morning. I told them that we were Maryland residents and would be passing on the blabbity blab, but they said that we still had to show up and prove our state residency.

Um…okay.

The next morning I was all fired up, ready to fight the good battle to get out of there with our gift cards. I had my game-face on. Imagine me entering a room in slow motion with Turn Down for What blaring* and maybe an explosion behind me. It was totally like that. I instructed Travis to keep from smiling and being nice (it’s really hard for him, because he is one of the nicest guys in the WORLD). Jack was ready to spazz out because he hadn’t had his morning cup of milk yet. We were READY.

And it was totally anticlimactic because it took about 10 minutes total. We filled out some paperwork, got some mild snootiness from the receptionist, and went on our way with $75 of Bass Pro money.

Yeehaw!

So there you go, our timeshare experience was SO MUCH less horrible than we were expecting! We actually loved the hotel, even though you’d have to either buy another timeshare weekend or purchase the actual timeshare to stay there again.

I’d love to hear about your timeshare experiences – have you ever bought a timeshare weekend? Did you get sucked into a super long presentation? Are you as confused by the Turn Down for What video as I am?

3/4/16 Update: I published this post on 2014 and in the last couple months I’ve gotten a few emails that Maryland law has recently changed to allow time share presentations. When we dealt with this, it was right in the small print on the offer that we were not required to go… so be sure to check the small print for your particular ‘deal’ before committing.

*I JUST watched the Turn Down for What video for the first time and that is EXACTLY how I imagined I’d enter the room. You know, like a crazy man humping a TV. Obviously. Also, what the hell is happening in this video and why is it making me laugh so hard that tears are streaming down my face?!

47 Hours in Savannah

I was asked a couple weeks ago to fill in for one of my co-workers at a conference in Savannah, Georgia. I pretty much jumped at the chance because I had just been snowed in the house for 4 days with a cranky 2 year old. Also, I figured that Savannah would give me the chance to experience some warmer weather AND a bed all to myself.

Of course, I had no idea that I’d come down with the stomach bug from hell on Wednesday morning. It was the most LITERAL 24 hour bug I’d ever had – lasting from exactly 5am on Wednesday until 5am on Thursday when I woke up for my flight. One moment I was curled up in bed fighting off chills, fever, aches and another visit to the bathroom… the next minute I sat up, swayed a little and thought, “Wow, I don’t feel like I want to die anymore!”

So, off to the plane I went. Unfortunately, there are no direct flights from BWI to Savannah, so I had 2 flights with a ridiculously small layover to get from one flight to the next. The flights were pretty short too; however, I did have enough time to pick my two favorite items out of the Sky Mall catalog.

Winner for “Who Buys this Stuff?” is the Decorative Toilet Flush Handles in the shapes of dolphins and seashells. Yes, these are actually a thing and they sell for $19.99! My favorite part of the description is a tie between the line “to withstand the most demanding flushing needs” and that these handles will “simply add something that will make friends and family members say, Wow!”

Wow, indeed.

Winner for “Why this Combo, WHY?!” is the Bidet Sprayer/Digital Accessory Cady/Toilet Paper Stand:

Because OF COURSE you’d want a bidet to also hold your iPad. Duh. Also, am I confused that a bidet is to wash your sassy downstairs bits after using the toilet? Because, the picture shows someone washing their leg and… that seems a bit excessive, right?

Anyways, a truck ride + a shuttle ride + two short flights + a taxi ride and I finally ended up at the Hyatt Regency in Savannah. I only had to work for a couple hours that evening, so I was looking forward to doing some exploring.

It was cold and rainy though, so I figured that was the perfect excuse to order room service and eat it while snuggled in bed with a new book for my kindle (Attachments by Rainbow Rowell, suggested by my buddy Katie at Words for Worms).

The plan for Friday was to hang out at my work booth all day. Which would have been fine, except my box of supplies didn’t show up until 2pm, so I was rocking out at an empty table for most of the day.

Yes, I am actually that pale. I mean, part of the problem was the light shining in… but I could use some time in the sun (preferably on a beach with a frosty drink).

I had a 90 minute break for lunch, so I took the opportunity to check out The Paris Market. I had heard so much about it online and couldn’t wait to see it myself. Only to realize once I got there, that I had actually been there before (and loved it) last time I was in Savannah about 7 years ago! It’s like a beautiful French version of Anthropologie and I pretty much wanted to buy EVERYTHING there.

Or just move in to the store for the rest of my stay.

I resisted buying everything and walked away with only two purchases – a pretty scarf for myself (picture further down) and a signed copy of Scampering Through Savannah for Jack.

I then stopped in a random storefront restaurant for lunch and was BLOWN AWAY with the BEST chicken fried rice I’d ever had in my entire life. If you’re ever in Savannah, go to Aroy-Jung Asian Fusion because it totally rocked my world.

After stuffing myself full of ricey goodness, I returned to the exhibit hall to hang out by my empty table for a few more hours. That evening was my last chance to really explore Savannah before my morning flight, so I mapped out my attack so I could be sure to hit as many places as possible before they closed. For some reason, many of the shops I wanted to visit closed at 6pm (even on a Friday night) so as soon as the conference ended at 5pm I ran up to my room, changed my clothes, and ran back out the front door.

Of course, before I ran out I had to take a picture of my new scarf from The Paris Market, STRIPES EVERYWHERE! And no, I haven’t gotten rid of my bangs… I just didn’t get a chance to trim them before I left due to the stomach bug.

Within my one hour deadline, I was able to make it to all of the stores on my must-see list before they closed. My favorite was Red Clover – the salesgirls were so incredibly friendly and the clothing was gorgeous. I could have ended up with an entire bag full of jewelry, but only purchased one shirt that was SO SOFT that I couldn’t resist it (it’s this one). The store has an online shop, so I’m definitely going to keep it on my radar.

I also enjoyed The Salt Table and sampled a ton of different flavored salts and sugars. My favorite was the coconut sugar and I’m kicking myself for not buying some to put in my morning coffee.

While I was walking around town, I made it a point to stop by Leopold’s Ice Cream and wasn’t sorry that I did. I had a small cup of their Chocolate Chewies & Cream ice cream and it was amazing. So CREAMY and the chocolate chewies were the perfect addition. I’m kind of craving some now actually…

Even though I’d just had ice cream, I figured that it was a good time to grab some dinner and went by Rocks on the River at the Bohemian Hotel, which was right next to my hotel. I have to send a shout out to my wonderful bartender, Amy, who made me a delicious Champagne Cobbler. YUM.

I also had their white pizza, which was super yummy. Lots of cheese, garlic and pesto – which is a perfect choice for a girl going back to her hotel room alone. Not that my husband would have minded the garlic breath, he would have probably devoured the leftover pizza and smelled just as bad!

After my dinner, I was ready to go back to my room to warm up (and finish my book) but still needed to get a souvenir shirt for Travis. We have a tradition that I buy him one from every business trip I go on, which ironically started with a trip to Savannah 7 years before. Well, the shirt I bought him on that trip was worn so many times that it has holes, so I bought him an almost identical shirt at a shop on River Street.

And then I was DONE.

So done. I trudged back up to my hotel room, threw on my pajamas and wrapped myself in blankets with my kindle for my last night on my own before returning to normal life. I was up by 8am, packed up my little suitcase and got home on Saturday afternoon.

When I opened the front door, I heard “oooh, who do you think is home?” and was then greeted with a running hug from Jack. The perfect end to a pretty great trip!

Have you been to Savannah? Did you think that everyone was insanely nice? What are your favorite things to purchase when you’re looking for souvenirs?

Disclosure: There are a lot of links in this post, but only one is an Amazon affiliate link (for the book). Pocketful of Joules is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. All the rest of the links are just to make your life easier if you’re planning to visit Savannah!