Colonial Williamsburg,Virginia 2013

July 5, 3013.

This is the start of a much awaited 7 day vacation. Yes, we have been to Virginia beach and to Jamestown, so you would think nothing is new this time. Well, for one thing, we will spend more time in Jamestown, it is summer in Jamestown (not winter like the last time), we get to go to Bush Garden Water World and more. But first, we need to settle in.

Colonial Crossings of Williamsburg

We got an exchange through Interval International for this 3rd floor unit. It actually looks very nice, historical-like, maybe. While certainly much, much smaller that Westgate in Orlando, and even lesser things to do on-site, the rooms appear better kept, appliances newer. The fitness facilities, pool and other amenities are located in the main building and I did not find any ice dispenser, which would have been nice.

Bldg 300 at Night

Location-wise, it is not the most convenient when compared to Westgate. The place is surrounded on both sides by corn fields, the Pottery Camping grounds is close by and the closest grocery, Walmart is a few hundred yards away but getting there requires you to make a huge u-turn from Lightfoot Rd., Mooretown Rd. and E Rochambeau Dr.

Travelling light

After a few years of taking yearly vacations in and out of the country, there is much to be said about travelling light. The passengers are much more comfortable and you can reduce the number of vehicles needed. Plus, it is much easier on my back. So, the first order of business once you get to a new place is to scrounge for supplies needed for survival.  Living of the land, so to speak. In colonial days that may have meant pillaging the land, or at the very least, hunting or some form of trading with the natives or other settlers.

Today, much of the trading activity involved the local Super Walmart where you still had to hunt for the things you needed, but at least not as physically involved or time consuming. And there is beer!

Tomorrow, we plan to explore our surroundings. Down town Williamsburg. The rest of the week will have to be played out while keeping the weather in mind, except to Monday and Tuesday, that is reserved for Virginia Beach.

July 6, 2013

The day started well enough. A quick shower and breakfast! Except the coffee maker wasn't working. The crossings responded fast, sending over someone in just a few minutes to replace the coffee maker. Kudos to you!

A quick check of the weather forecast shows that the best days, as in least amount of rain is today and tomorrow, at a 10% chance. The rest of the week is 30% chance of rain. So today, we will still go around Williamsburg, maybe add Jamestown to the mix and visit Bush Garden tomorrow.

Historic Colonial Williamsburg

We started the day without much of an idea of where to go to see this historical city. We finally settled on driving down to the visitors center which was a little pass the College of William and Mary. We did not quit make it to the visitors center as we finally located the admission center. The only difficulty we encountered had to do with parking. It was immediately clear that there was a lot of short term, 1 hour parking. We found a parking garage but could not get in because of the roof rack our vehicle carried. A few minutes more of driving and we found a parking that charged by the hour.

Truly, you do not need to buy anything to visit the historic area of Williamsburg. You can ride the bus without an admission ticket. Buying the ticket does allow you to enter the many exhibits and museums around the area. But if you just want to stroll and look around, maybe watch a few of the outdoor reenactments, then save the price of the admission and just take a walk. As for us, we decided to take our chance and get those tickets.

Public Hospital and DeWitt Wallace Museum

We took the bus from the sales center to get a feel of the place. We rode the bus around town and got of at the public hospital. This place was a replica of the original hospital which had burned down. The hospital itself was dedicated to mental heath issues more that to the disease of the body.

Walking down to the basement takes you an area that is deceptively bigger than you would suspect. There is an interconnecting area to the Dewitt Wallace Art Exhibit that featured colonial silverware, locks display, pianos and other artifacts found in colonial Williamsburg. But the most interesting part was a 1 hour show called, "Meet a Nation Builder" that featured an actor who played George Wythe. He was very well prepared to play the part, and I have to admit, I was expecting him to trip up during the question and answer part, or, as he said, if the audience has any query. If there is any part of this visit that I would recommend, it is that you watch this show. It is held in the basement auditorium.

Governor's Palace

The Governor's palace is a reproduction of the original that burned down. It was the original seat of Virginia's Governor before it was eventually moved to Richmond. The transfer to Richmond was necessitated as a defensive action against the British offensive. We all know how that turned out. The palace was built atop the original foundation and the redevelopment of the area was made possible by the involvement of Rockefeller. Careful excavation, use of authentic artifacts and record
searches ensures that the palace was as faithful to the original as possible. Similar to the show at DeWitt Wallace Museum, the Governor's palace has a "Public Audience" feature, this time, you can listen to Patrick Henry, in the Palace Garden.

Right after that, we got to view the French General Marquis de Lafayette review the troops in a reenactment of the generals review of the troops. No tickets required.

Market Place

While there are other historical places that you could visit to make the price of admission worth it, at the end, after half a day of walking, nothing beats a cool drink and some food and shopping at the market place. There isn't much that is walking distance of the place. At least, nothing that my weary feet would allow me to find. We had lunch at 5:00 pm at the Cheese shop where they do sell more than cheese. At this point, rather than continue on to the next museum, some of us, notably the latest, felt that the call of the Prime Outlets store was much more stronger than any of the museum could ever match.

July 7, 2013

Did I mention that there were 9 of us in the group? Oh yes, 3 adults, 1 minor and the rest are teenagers. That means that there are going to be days were we will not agree on our agenda for the day, and this is one of those. So we basically broke up into 3 groups. Those who prefer the thrills of Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Adult females enamoured by The Prime Outlets and 1 baby sitter, that was me. I addition to my primary responsibility, I also had to chauffeur people around so I did get to do a little sight seeing.

I did get to do some reading, which I have not been able to do for sometime now. Also had time to do some thinking about life, and what the future holds. A little too abstract to be discussing here, maybe in some not-to-distant future.

July 8, 2013

We are off to visit Virginia Beach and the outlying sights. The day has not started out as well as I had hoped. It is raining and scattered thunderstorms are forecast for the afternoon. And of course, it is almost 8:00 am and I am the only one who is up and ready to go. We can only hope that the weather cooperates enough so as not to make this a wash out.

We were eventually able to start our trip, a little earlier than we have been accustomed to this past couple of days. I expected to cover the whole trip in about an hour. Traffic delayed that to around 1-1/2. Still not too bad. On the way,the weather was turning nasty and we all hoped and prayed that things would get better. And it did. By about 1:30 pm, the sun was out and so was the sunscreen, SPF 50.

SpringHill Suites

We were to stay at the SpringHill Suites by Marriott which was located next to our old friend, The Hampton Inn. From the looks, SpringHill Suites looks a lot more modern, maybe newer. I certainly liked the room layout and the friendliness of the folks who helped make our stay delightful. Of course, such service also comes with a price. The daily rate was pretty steep, even for just a one day stay.

The Beach

We had planned for only a over night stay so we had to make use of as much time tanning and/or burning (depending on the case) so as soon as we could, we were all out with the crowed.

The sun was baking hot but, surprisingly, the water was almost ice cold. Was this really July? Could global warming have caused an iceberg to break loose and was now floating nearby, cooling the waters of Virginia? Who knew? I could not stay long so I was out by about 4:30 pm.

Mahi-Mah's

We wanted dinner to be different from the usual burgers and fries, or chinese fast foods, or pizza's, or... you know what I mean. So we decided to take a stroll at night to see what was available, with our trusty discount coupon book. We settled for seafood and choose Mahi-Mah's.

From my point of view, the ambiance was pretty good. The restaurant is dimly lit, with the hostess station to the left of the entrance, a large fish tank to the right and the restrooms down the hallway, also to the right. we were given a 7 seat table situated next to the fireplace, next to a large picture window with a direct view of the beach. The restaurant was air conditioned, with some assistance from ceiling fans linked together by drive belts. At this time of the night, the beach was still very busy with bikers, skateboarders and promenaders.
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The seafood was bad, but definitely not as good as I expected. Not only was nearly burnt food the order of the day (everything we ordered that was supposed to be grilled), but the pasta was clearly plain and regular. Although I did mention that I did not want a burger, I gave their Angus burger a try. I dare say I could have gotten a better and cheaper one from Five Guy's. Well, you learn.

July 9, 2013

Time's up and it is time to depart from that nice beach front hotel. But not until we have had breakfast. The usual, continental breakfast. After that the kids wanted to walk along the boardwalk for a little more, buy stuff for themselves. I went o take a look of a small, almost forgotten museum, the "Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum",  and then we were off to visit the local Red Ribbon Bakeshop for some palabok. The ideas was to visit Jamestown today, if we had enough time. But, between eating and doing grocery shopping at an oriental store, it didn't seem to be worth it. We eventually settled to just go straight back to Williamsburg, rent a DVD (Alex Cross with Tyler Perry) and call it a night.

July 10, 2013

Yorktown

This area of Virginia is called the historic triangle because of 3 very close areas that have very significant to the founding and eventual independence of the United States. It has been said that " Williamsburg is Jamestown continued, and Yorktown is Williamsburg vindicated" James having been an earlier capital of Virginia before being moved to Williamsburg, then finally to Richmond during the revolutionary war.

The Visitor Center

The visitor is always the first stop when you are visiting a new location. It gives you the chance to plan your day ahead. But Yorktown is not really that big a place so during the drive to the visitor center, we got lost and found that we had practically toured the whole place by the time we located the center. We had already been to the banks of the York river and had viewed the Yorktown Monument to "The Alliance and Victory". Not to fear, there are still plenty of things to do.

The Visitors center had plenty of information of where to visit, and a paid walking tour. The theater had a show that pretty much summarized what happened during the Siege of Yorktown. Interesting knowledge for people not to well versed in American history. I do wonder though why the U.S.seems a lot closer to the British than the French, given that with out French assistance we would probably never had won?

To visit the other places in Yorktown, it would be very convenient to park your vehicle at the Visitors Center and just take the free trolley ride. We again visited areas we had earlier driven through, but got off at the Yorktown Victory Center.

Yorktown Victory Center

The Yorktown Victory Center is a still evolving center easily visited  by car or, the preferable way, by trolley. It is a much more interactive place to visit than the visitors center, or what we experienced in Williamsburg. To be fair, we were given a guided tour of palaces and hospitals in Williamsburg, and we did not have enough time to visit the place in its entirety. The Victory center has a typical village farm of the time, growing tobacco. A continental army encampment with tents manned by soldiers who were more that happy to describe how they lived, cooked, received treatment (there were tools you could touch) as well as live musket and cannon fires, with no ammunition of course. And the food they cooked? well, these were real edible food that, if we stayed long enough, we could probably taste. the center also had a short 18 minute movie, a souvenir center.

July 11, 2013

Water Country USA

Water Country USA is another go to place near Williamsburg. Like Busch Garden, it is owned by the Seaworld Parks and Entertainment. It is a place that my kids, and frankly, myself have been waiting to visit since our vacation started. In particular, I was waiting to try out the wave pool, reportedly the biggest on the east coast.

Unfortunately, mother nature does not always cooperate.Before the day even started, there was already a lot of rain, so we weren't even sure going would be worth it. You figure that it rains, you're in the pool, you're wet either way so what is the big deal. Well, it does matter when thunderstorms and lightning are in the forecast since rides tend to get shut down, for safety reasons.

Things did not turn out too bad, the young ones were able to go on a couple of rides like the Huba-Huba Highway and, of course, the wave pool. We also got to watch the Aquabatics.  I must admit, I have seen a lot of these antics on TV, but when you watch a guy dive from 75 feet up unto a rather small looking pool, your heart jumps just a little bit. After all, it is possible for him to miss. As a hedge I suppose, he starts the dive head first but goes into the water feet first.

July 12, 2013

Jamestown

Jamestown, first capital of Virginia, is the first permanent English settlement in what was going to be the United States. It is not the first permanent settlement by a European power. If I remember correctly, that belongs to the Spaniard. One of the presenters had made an interesting point, he said that the Kings of Spain and Portugal drew a vertical line on the map and agreed, that everything to the left was to be Spain’s, and to the right would be Portugal's. Kinda explains why Brazil is Portuguese. Unfortunately for them, they did not ask for the opinion of the King of England.

When you visit Jamestown, you have a choice of visiting the Jamestown Settlement, or Historic Jamestown. The difference? The first is under the Virginia Department of Education. It consists of replicas of the Fort, Ships and Indian villages. It is quite educational. Historic Jamestown consists of archaeological sites of the original settlement, a few demonstrations on glass blowing, but the main emphasis is on preserving and learning from the original site.

There is a lot of history in Virginia. Someone had mentioned that, in the beginning, the whole United States was Virginia. How true. Visiting this area has made me more interested in learning more about the civil, the revolution, Gettysburg. Well, at least visiting these areas. It seemed to me that, without French help, the United States might still be British. Without the revolution, France might still be ruled by the French Royal family.

There are plenty of countries around the world that has owed their inspiration to the ideals espoused by the founding fathers, we might do well to go back and try to understand what it is they truly fought and died for.
 



 

Myrtle Beach Adventure 2012

Like the past few years, where we would spend vacation seems to be decided almost at the spur of the moment. Up until a month ago the choices where Massachusetts, Tennessee or Williamsburg in Virginia. Then it was Hilton Head in South Carolina. Finally, we ended up in Myrtle Beach. Why Myrtle Beach? Well, other than not having ever been to Myrtle Beach, the fact it was closer than Hilton Head played a role. Maybe we'll end up in Hilton Head eventually in the next few years.

July 9, 2012

The trip started on a rather dreary note. We were supposed to be on the road by 4am but that turned out to be wakeup call for most of the party. More the norm than an exception to be honest. The plan also called for putting our stuff in the car the night before, a that also did not happen. Weather-wise, it wasn't very good either. We know the weather wasn't going to cooperate. I wish weather forecasting was already good enough to allow us to plan a month ahead but it is not. So the day starts with very strong rain at 4:00 in the morning and it was still raining by the time we left at 6:00 am. The weather did improve during the course of the day and we were soon seeing temperatures above 90. As far as the rest of the week is concerned, the forecast for Myrtle beach is for on and off rain the whole week. We expected the trip to last at least 8 hours. Depending on your source, it was either 8 hours (Google maps) or 8.5 hours (Tomtom GPS). Of course we would not be able to handle any detours using Google maps so, 8.5 hours it was, 10 hours including the inevitable stops for a variety of reasons, including a picnic at a North Carolina rest area. It is good that the economic situation has not closed down these rest areas. These are clean and conveniently located.

Hampton Inn


This is the third year that we have not been able to get a timeshare reservation for Myrtle Beach. The reasons have ranched from not enough time, no space available to renovation being performed at the Westgate resort. A friend of my wife got a very good deal using Expedia in finding their vacation package so we thought we would give that a try. We initially decided on a place on the beach that was reasonably priced but the reviews caused me to pause. One stated that "It was not a place for single women to be staying in", and I thought of the kids. We finally settled on the Hampton Inn near the business district. Had very good reviews (4.8 out of 5.0 as of this writing) and it was not as expensive as I had thought. Having just decided on Myrtle Beach and vacation time fast approaching, I decided to book the place. Note to self, in the future, shop around a little more. Check the hotel website, you may find cheaper rates, better discounts and deals. The hotel is located in the business district, which may explain the apparent lack of party goers, which was fine for us. I was hoping that it would be on, or very near the beach. At about two and a half blocks away from the beach, it was far enough to wear you out if you are not used to walking that distance, and too near for the hotel to be offering shuttles. One thing I did not like during the check-in process, which was fast and easy, was the fact that the lady at the front desk never smiled although she was friendly. We did check-in late in the afternoon so she may just be tired, so I will give her that.

Room and Amenities

So far so good. The humidity in the room was a little high, nothing that the air conditioner can't take care of, and there wasn't an area you could claim as a kitchenette. One thing the bathroom has that I have not observed very often, an exhaust fan! The room does not have a safe but there was an iron and board. Laundry, anyone?

There is an indoor pool for those who prefer, a Jacuzzi, sauna and a small gym. Continental breakfast was free from 6:00 am to 10:00 am and was the standard fare of cereals, scrambles egg, yogurt, waffles, bread, etc. No bacon or fried eggs! You are on your own for lunch and dinner. There are plenty of restaurants to choose from, with a TGIF just next door.

July 10, 2012


First day on the Beach

Got up early expecting rain, and thankfully there was none in sight.So the plan was to quickly eat breakfast, go to the beach and be back before the rain started. We left at 9:00am, 2 hours later than anticipated. The walk wasn't bad, a mere 2.5 blocks down 75th street.Watch out for cars when crossing 75th and King Ave as there is not stoplight, crossing light or a cross walk. The beach itself wasn't bad. There isn't anything to cause you to pause, unlike Sarasota beach. The sand wasn't overly fine,and there was a lot of shells. Gives me the impression that the beach was rebuilt a number of times due to succeeding hurricanes. The waves were nice and strong, almost made me want to attempt surf boarding. There were plenty of beach umbrellas for rent and a place to wash-off the sand after your time in the beach. Soon, around 11:00 am, the clouds were starting to gather and it was time to go. We got back to the hotel just in time as the severe weather conditions had arrived. We were going to be stuck indoors for a while! The forecast for the week makes it pretty clear that we will not be able to try anything that couldn't be canceled quickly enough due to severe weather. No sailing, para sailing or boating. Maybe not even mini-golf!

And it rained, and it rained for a good three hours. By the time the rain had ended, it was 7:00pm and it was time for dinner, which we took at TGIF located at 7515 N Kings Highway. We dropped by just in time as the evening crowd had just started to grow. After a delicious meal we took the opportunity to visit CVS, Rite-Aid and Food Lion at the end to buy much needed supplies like wine, bottle opener, lotion and gum.


July 11, 2012

Deciding how to spend the day was a lot easier yesterday. Everybody just had to go to the beach. Today, different opinions have started to come out. After a short negotiation we decided on the following sequence. Mini golf (before the rains come), visit Westgate then on to the boardwalk. For mini-golf we would go a visit "The Jungle Safari). Depending on the availability of time, we would also drop by one of the outlet stores. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the Safari, nobody actually wanted to go. So much for negotiating!

Westgate

We visited Westgate to find out the location and to see for ourselves how it actually look. Better than we expected but not as close to the boardwalk as we expected. Parking wasn't easy to locate so we used the metered parking at $0.25/10 mins and we took 3 hours. It does seem to be a vary popular Westgate destination, typically you would need to reserve an exchange about a year in advance as "the owners usually do show up", at least according to the front desk.

The Boardwalk

Wasn't what I expected.Most of those we had visited had stores along the boardwalk on one side, the beach on the other. In this case, it seemed like miles winding,scenic walk next to the beach, and the back of hotels. Most of the stores could be found on Ocean blvd. Parking was still expensive, we paid $10/day but, as we were to find out later, parking along King blvd can be cheaper and more reasonable, $5/6 hours of stay.

We did have the opportunity to visit Riply's Mirror Maze, and were entertained by the actor out front at Ripley's Haunted House of Horror.

2nd Pier

We walked a lot to make it from the Westgate to 2nd ave. which was the actual beginning of the boardwalk. We were able to walk 5 blocks before we had to return lest we run the parking meter out. We had lunch at the 2ND AVE PIER fishing and restaurant.Yes, that is really what the place is called.  It was comfortable, offered adequate free parking, fishing, open pier view and good food. It also had a very nice view of the beach.For the most part, the waiters were friendly and so were the patrons we interacted with. The price was also very reasonable and I found their Carolina burger to be especially good.

Tanger Outlet Mall

The Tanger Outlet Mall is pretty much the  same to the one we had visited earlier in Florida. Similar layout and stores. Only thing that would make you pause is the higher sales tax they had in South Carolina when compared to Maryland. There isn't really too much to choose from if you get hungry. There is a small foodcourt that had only three open stores.

July 12, 2012

As the week progresses the habit of a little wine before sleeping late and waking early is beginning to take it's toll. We get to the beach at around 10:20 am, much later than we would like.The weather though, is cooperating better than feared. Other than the 10th, most rain have occurred very early in the morning, or late at night. Today is a beautiful beach weather and my kids enjoyed the boogie board, even making the occasional 40ft surf. By the time we were ready for lunch it was 3:00pm and we were looking for a place to have both lunch and dinner. The New China Hibachi restaurant was not particularly impressive in what it had to offer, mostly what you would expect at any Chinese fast food restaurant, but at $6.95 lunch buffet we were not going to complain. After a quick rest, we went to visit The Market Common, a well recommended mall with shops, dining and cinema.

The Market Common

Located at 1120 Farrow Oarkway, The Market Common was not what I had expected. I envisioned a huge enclosed mall based on the brochures we got, but it was actually more of a mixed use facility with stand alone stores, residential area and cinema. A nice place to go for leisurely stroll or if you would like to attend free concerts or cooking shows. My kids did get to view an actual marriage proposal that was held in the Barnes and Noble store.

July 13, 2012

Our vacation ended much to soon. Why is it that you always feel that the vacation time you take is just never enough? Myrtle beach is interesting enough that we will schedule another time to visit, perhaps a little wiser in planning destinations to make the most out a week. For today we planned to take it easy, basically shop for souvenirs and spend a few hours on the beach, and do some mini-golf. There are a lot of choices for mini-golf, so we simply drove down 17th business and stopped at the most interesting one we could find, at least as interesting as a roadside view would present. In this case, "Captain Hook". It takes about an hour to go through the entire course and was certainly much more interesting that the courses we tried in Ocean City, Maryland.

After a golf game (Wonder if you could make a career out of playing mini-golf), we went on the beach. As with each day this week, we were expecting thunderstorms in the afternoon. It had not started yet but the weather was causing (in my opinion) pretty good waves for boogie boarding. My kids took full advantage of this, as did most beach goers. By 2pm, we were tiered and ready to get on with the business of preparing for the long trip tomorrow.

Till the next vacation, maybe a cruise to the Bahamas?

Spring Break 2012, Day 3

April 5, 2012

Expecting a non-eventful trip home. After all, we really did not have much planned any more. As with yesterday, most of our group weren't ready to go until it was "Brunch" time, which was fine. I for one did not want to end up eating at the same place we had lunch on April 4, 2012. I had nothing against Chinese food but you just can't have that everyday. We decided on IHOP, but the GPS was not much help. When we got to the place indicated, it was empty. IHOP must have either closed or moved. So we just started the drive home for we knew that we would find something along the way. And we actually did, a small Italian diner that was situated next to an Asian Grocery and Food Mart (That was a close call).

Other than the heavy traffic along I-95, the rest of the trip went by without a hitch. It was a good thing my wife had very good direction memory (most women seem to be) and we were able to take short-cuts to avoid most of the heavy traffic.

Is there a lesson to all this? I would say, you need to decide whose direction to follow. Either you depend on human direction, or GPS. I really believe we missed most of the turns, and extended our travel time simply because we were depending on both at the same time. It is no different than having a backseat driver.

Spring Break 2012, Day 2

April 5, 2012

This is the day! This was planned to be a very short vacation of sorts. Just drop by Atlantic City yesterday ( Which we did that is why we are here), go around the city, pools for the kids, casino for the adults. Tomorrow, April 5, we would make the short trip back home and hopefully have experiences worth remembering.

We started the day with an early stroll on the boardwalk, mainly to get the blood warmed up and ready for the days challenges. When I mean we, it was me and kids . 6 a.m. is much too early for everybody else. When we got back to the"Taj" and everybody had finally gotten out of their and ready, it was already close to noon. To late for breakfast but good enough for Brunch. (a tip for some penny pinching money savers). We decided that the in-house restaurants are much too expensive so we would check the boardwalk for a place.

After brunch we continued to explore the boardwalk. We expected to get through this pretty quickly, I mean, how long can this place be? ( You can tell we have never really tried walking on one end-to-end). Between the window shopping, actual shopping for hoodies (A daughters obsession), Lacrosse practice catch and throw, we finally made it to Ceasar's Palace. I have no idea if this is even halfway across or not but we were tired, it was close to 2pm and the kids had to be at the pool by 4pm. So after resting for a few minutes we split the group into two. Those who wanted to continue to the Outlet mall, and those who were in favor of going back. I went with those going back.

Apparently all of us, kids included, needed more exercise. Back at the Hotel we just had to lie in bed for a good 1 hour before anybody had the strength to do anything else. The kids headed for the pool, adults to the casino. Kids left the pool early , adults lost their money earlier. I guess it is time for bed.

Spring Break 2012, Day 1

April 4, 2012

The first surprise of the day was when we realized it was going to be a 4 hour trip to Atlantic City rather than 2-1/2. That meant that we had a need to hurry up if we were to take advantage of this being the warmest day of the week. Then there was the issue of toll.

It has been a while since we have traveled 95 to New Jersey, all in the name of avoiding those very expensive toll charges. We tried but unless you are willing to accept an unreasonably long traveler time, you have to at least accept a partial toll on the Maryland side of the trip.

The trip itself was uneventful. We of course started the trip after morning rush hour and tried to make as little stop a long the way. We had Chinese food, the find-it-everywhere international cuisine for both lunch and dinner. This is not something you want to have on a daily basis.

THE TRUMP TAJ MAHAL

We are to stay at the Taj Mahal. Heard a lot about it from the news and had great expectations. It was the closest to Las Vegas I have ever been. The lobby and reception area did not disappoint me. The ballrooms, shops, restaurants and casinos were as I was expecting. Of course I had nothing to compare to, I did hint that I have never been to Las Vegas. The room has a nice view of the beach but the room itself was average for a hotel. In some ways, it was actually a little disappointing. Why? Well for one thing, there was no soap and not enough towels, had creamer and sugar but no coffee, and the pillows stank with the stench of cigarette smoke. A nice bonus for the day occurred in one of the shops, while I was busy loosing money in the casino. My daughter, who is really petite, had been finding it hard to find a decent prom dress her size. Of all places, she finds one in one of the shops, in Cache. A little expensive I think but you only, hopefully, go to prom only once.

THE BOARDWALK

This was to be the highlight of the kid friendly portion of the trip. It was....ok. Situated next to the beach, there was the usual fare of arcade, food stands and weirdo stores like Ripley's. No skating is allowed which disappointed my budding long-boarding daughter. There was a ride wherein a person pushed a cart that the passenger took a ride on, like a rickshaw in reverse. Personally, can't find anything exciting about that. So, how about the beach. The beach. We know it was going to be too cold to actually get into the water unless you were a surfer, and there a number of them out and about. But it was a dirty beach, not one you would take a family to a picnic to, at least in my opinion. There were too many shells (probably from reconstructing the beach after a hurricane), and worse, trash. There was more construction material than I cared for, bottles, plastic utensils, styrofoam and more waste than there should be. I had to ask my kids to walk around with their sandals on for fear of what they may step on...needles perhaps? I guess it was good there was a 'no swimming' sign posted along the beach.