Judson and Sarah had invited me to go down with them to Williamsburg and Busch Gardens as part of my birthday celebration. We settled on a date and they drove down from Boston in the middle of the week with a bunch of stuff that they were going to store at the house of Sarah's parents and our house. They wanted to visit some friends in Williamsburg, so we decided to go down and visit Busch Gardens on one day and then stay overnight so that there would be extra time for visiting other people. Sarah called the hotel where she used to work in Williamsburg and got a good rate for our overnight stay.

We considered whether to take one car or two on the trip. I thought that having two cars might make the arrangements for driving around down in Williamsburg easier, but the big downside was that way we could not really talk with each other on the trip. In the end Sarah arranged to borrow her parent' s minivan for the trip and that had plenty of room for all four of us, so it only made sense to take one car. They came with the minivan Thursday night and we unloaded Judson's boxes into our basement for storage. That way we got an early start for the drive down to Busch Gardens on Friday morning.

We left about 7 a.m. and the drive down was very uneventful, which for I-95 was pretty unusual. The Virginia State Police had started to try saturation enforcement of the speed limit, so all the drivers were behaving themselves and there was far less crazy driving then normal. The van was quiet and we were seated in the bench right behind the driver's seat, so we could easily carry on a conversation. We talked at length about Judson's situation in graduate school and Sarah's research job. Having a lot of time to talk was great because we could be filled in with all the details about their situation.

We arrived at Busch Gardens around 10:00, which was just when they opened for the day, so the timing was perfect. Because we came the weekend before the high schools let out for the summer, we were one of the first people there and got to park in the near-in parking lot. That meant we could simply lock up the car and walk in the gates. Judson and Sarah had a goal of trying out the new roller coaster there, the Alpengeist, so we hustled our way across the park to the old Germany section where it was located. Since the crowds were so sparse, we got into a very short line directly in front of the gate. This roller coaster was an absolutely new, suspended steel-rail type of coaster. Everyone sat in a small seat, but had their legs dangling in the open air. The cars were suspended from the top and whirled around curves, loops, and corkscrews. We saw some go by with people screaming and it looked ferocious, but Judson reassured us that it was "very smooth". Monika decided to go with, but I bailed out. In retrospect, even Monika doesn't understand how they talked her into it.

I waited at the exit gate and watched the operation. I was very impressed with the throughput of the number of people they could accommodate on the ride in a given time. They did this by boarding large groups of people at one time. Everyone would walk out onto a platform and sit on one of these chairs. Each person pulled down the two curved bars that fit over their shoulders and held them in the seat. An attendant would quickly check that everyone had their bars in place, and then the floor would drop out from under the carriage and it would roll off downhill while being suspended on the steel rails. It was a quick ride, but a hair-raising one. Judson and Sarah looked refreshed, but Monika looked like she was a mild state of shock and she later told me that she felt pretty queasy.

We moved along toward the next roller coaster in the park, but paused to take a very mild ride on the "Wirbelwind" (whirlwind), which I joined in. That ride help settle Monika's stomach, and we proceeded on to the "Big Bad Wolf" roller coaster. Having just enjoyed the deceptively calm "Wirbelwind" and seeing that Monika looked okay, I let myself be talked into joining the other three for the Big Bad Wolf. This was a slightly older steel roller coaster that used separate little cars suspended from the overhead steel rail. But at least it had a floor under your feet and I felt that made it a lot more secure than the Alpengeist, so I was willing to give it a whirl. Again we had almost no line to get on the roller coaster, and it was, in fact, a lot of fun. It did not have a lot of up-and-down motion, but it did bang you around seriously from side to side. I made the mistake of trying to hold my head forward off the cushions during the first part of the ride, which made the banging much worse. Somewhere in the middle of the ride as we flew down near the surface of the lake, I remembered that Judson had said to keep my head back. That really helped lessen the effects of the banging and was less strain on the back. I felt pretty good afterwards with the exception of a slight low-grade headache.

That experience reassured me as we made our way to yet another brand-spanking-new roller coaster, " Apollo's Chariot" in the Little Italy section. This roller coaster specialized in the up-and-down motion and more than made up for any lack of that that I might have had. In fact, this roller coaster was advertised to give a lot of "negative G. forces", and after having taken the ride I fully believe the advertisements! Again I talkedl myself into going on the ride as it had a solid carriage with a floor underneath your feet, which seems to me to be the minimum that you can expect in a roller coaster. Although this was also a steel roller coaster, this one was riding on a steel rail underneath the carriage so that you had a clear view all the way around you. That was not such a reassuring view, however, when the negative G. forces were trying to throw you up out of the coaster carriage. I found myself clamping onto the security bar with my legs to keep myself from floating up off the seat. This worked, but I had pretty stiff legs at the end of the ride. We bought a picture of all four of us on Apollo's Chariot, and if you look closely you will see that I'm the one who was concentrating very hard on holding myself in the seat! Judson and Sarah were still raring to go for more coaster rides, but Monika and I decided to go called it quits after Apollo's Chariot.

Since we both felt like not moving for a while, Judson and Sarah took a ride on "DaVinci's Cradle", which was a basically up, down, and around type of ride, while we watched and took pictures. Then we all tried the "Escape from Pompeii" ride, which was kind of like a super log flume ride but with a much larger boat and really great special effects. I was particularly impressed with how they got the flames to appear in such a real and controlled fashion. We felt the heat from the flames and it was hot enough to help dry out our clothes, so the flames were quite real. But they were also carefully controlled so as to not to singe the customers (bad publicity) -- I think they used natural gas but they must have regulated the pressure and direction of the nozzles very carefully. The special effects included falling columns and collapsing walls and the things you would expect from a mountain' s eruption or an earthquake, and it ended in a quick wet dive down a big flume. So all in all it was a lot of fun. We debated about whether or not to take the "Roman Rapids" water ride, but decided against it as we knew from previous experience that we would all end up completely drenched, and we didn't want to be wet for the rest in the day. We were all getting hungry so we decided that lunch was the next stop on our itinerary.

Walking back across the park, we had lunch at the German Festhaus restaurant. I was happy to see that it had not changed since I was last there with Judson and Martin about 10 years ago. In fact, the same old guy that had been the master of ceremonies in all of our previous visits was still working there and doing his thing. His voice was somewhat rougher, but I estimated that he had to be at least in his late '70s if not early '80s. The dancers dance pretty much the same routines that they had our previous visits, but of course they were all different young people than we had previously seen. Sara told us that they were recruited from the local community and William and Mary college students. We had a " taste of Germany" special that had potato salad and several different kinds of German wurst, which we enjoy very much. Judson and Sarah played it safe with food from the American side of the restaurant (which was probably the only time that day they played it safe!), and we all watched the performance and occasionally sang along with the German folk songs while we ate.

After lunch, we tried to find the brewery tour, but were disappointed to learn that they were no longer offered. Bummer. While the others were asking about the brewery tours, I got sucked into a street show with a couple of the strolling performers of the park. I made good background motions while they carried on their slapstick routine. The rest of the family was looking for T-shirts saying “We don’t know that guy!” On our way back to the Alpengeist, we took a ride on the old log flume ride, which was one of the rides that had not changed since we were there many years before with our kids. That type of low-key ride Monika and I were willing to do. After the razzle-dazzle roller coasters, of course, it seemed downright tame but we got a nice picture of all of us coming down the flume.

Judson and Sarah went on the Alpengeist again, which we admired but did not wish to emulate. Instead, Monika and I arranged a tag team for taking pictures of Judson Sarah as they whizzed by different points on the Alpengeist. We tried to take a picture of them departing, a picture of their carriage while it was going around the loops, and a picture of them arriving back at the finish. I was taller so I was taking the start and finish pictures, wall Monika had positioned herself at a bridge to take the picture of the carriage coming around loop. After taking the departing picture, I ran down and gave her the camera for her shot, and then she ran back up to the finish to give it back to me. What we won't do for picture! The start and finish pictures turned out reasonably well, but the picture of the carriage in the loops was blurred due to the high speed of the Alpengeist at that point -- higher speed film might have done the trick but I don't know.

Judson and Sarah wanted to try Apollo's Chariot once more, but Monika and I were really ready for something very low-key. So they went off to wait in the line for that coaster, which was somewhat longer now that it was mid-afternoon, while we walked down to the lake to take a "river cruise". The river cruise was a very quiet boat ride a short distance along the lake that lies in the middle of Busch Gardens. We just sat and watched the scenery move by in slow motion, which was very restful. The cruise lasted a lot longer than did the roller coaster ride, but Judson Sarah had to wait longer in the line for the role coaster so the times came out about the same. We met back on top and ate some ice cream before visiting some of the midway attractions. We all tried roller ball, but none of us were having much luck on that day. Judson also tried throwing the ball to break some dishes and didn't have any luck. He did, however, have some luck at a tossing game and won a prize for Sarah. They chose a small mechanical creature that seems to want to talk and play games with you, but fortunately it did not come with batteries included.

I feel that no visit to an amusement park is complete without a ride on the bumper cars, so for the end of the day we headed back across Busch Gardens to the bumper cars. Judson, Sarah, and I rode on the bumper cars while Monika took pictures. I had a whale of time crashing into Judson and Sarah and anyone else who came in my path, and I think they did also. In any case, Monika got some good pictures of us in the cars including one of me colliding with Judson. To save our weary feet, after the bumper cars we took the steam train back around the park. Just for fun, we stayed on the train for a full circuit and then disembarked at a station near the entrance. Along the way we saw the discontinued roller coaster called "Dragon Fire" or something like that. Apparently there had been some kind of incident with that roller coaster and it was closed for a redesign. Judson and Sarah said that it had been too rough and was being redesigned for a smoother ride.

Since we had parked so near the entrance, getting back to the car was a snap. We all piled in and Sarah drove us back the short hop to Williamsburg to the hotel where she had worked while she studied at William and Mary. We were given room No. 14, and they had the room next door. We were very surprised to find their room was really a two-room suite with a kitchen and dining area in the front room. That would make it a lot easier for us to have a low-fat breakfast of skim milk and cereal like we usually do. After unpacking, we drove a few blocks away for dinner. It was lively place and had a traditional American menu with lots of burgers and other types of fried food. I chose what I hoped would be a relatively low-fat meal, and we all had a nice dinner while talking about various things. After dinner, Monika's bravado with the roller coasters finally had its revenge and she became quite queasy. We decided to walk the short distance home while Judson and Sarah drove the car and also picked up some skim milk and cereal for our breakfast. After the walk back, Monika felt better and we went to bed.

The next morning we all had breakfast together in our kitchenette. Sarah and Judson were going to visit one of her old college friends, while we took the 15 km Volksmarch walk at Yorktown, which we had taken a pass on during a previous Ausflug. We drove the Colonial Parkway from Williamsburg to Yorktown, which is this really great scenic highway linking Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. I like being able to drive at a very slow rate of speed so that I can really see the scenery. In this case, Sarah was driving so I could see everything which was even better. They dropped us off around nine and we told them that we would be done around 12, counting on our normal rate of five kilometers per hour. We then walked over to the small town of Yorktown and further out and around the battlefield where Washington and the French had defeated the British force under Cornwallis. It was really nice walk, but for some reason we felt tired and were much slower than normal. We dragged ourselves back to the visitor center about 1245, only to find that Judson and Sarah had been waiting for us for over half an hour. But they forgave us and we had a quick lunch at Taco Bell before we stopped in at the Reebok shoe outlet on our way out of Williamsburg.

Normally, shopping for shoes doesn't take us that long. But the Reebok store had a really good selection of walking shoes and good prices. We each ended up buying at least one pair of shoes after trying on many different pairs over the span of a couple of hours. I bought an 80 dollar (gulp) pair of sneakers that had air bubble cushioning on the bottom of the soles. However, in using the shoes in the week since I have found that they are the absolute best shoes I've ever had for walking on pavement. The air bubble cushions really take the shock out of my foot hitting the concrete and my feet are much less sore after a Volksmarch than they used to be. I also bought nine pairs of thin white socks for the shoes that I wear for exercising on the treadmill, which are slightly small for my feet. Monika bought a nice pair of walking shorts and several sports bras.

From the Reebok store, we loaded up the minivan and Judson drove us back home. This gave us a nice couple of hours to talk about a wide range of topics, and since Sarah was not driving we could talk more with her. We also played some CDs, as I recall, including a hilarious one by a Japanese group that was singing an old Carpenter' s (I think) hit song, "I'm on top of the world". They had, of course, a strange accent and intonation to the song which was understandable considering that they did not know English and had no idea what they were singing.

After we got home, we set up for my birthday party celebration. Sarah and I went out to find an angel food cake, no fat Cool Whip, and strawberries, while Judson and Monika cooked dinner and set up the table with the gifts. Fortunately, Sarah had sharp eyes and found the angel food cake in the deli section at Giant. When we returned, we all had dinner and then cleared the table for the birthday celebration. The angel food cake, strawberries, and Cool Whip was a nice light dessert. We all sang happy birthday and Judson and Sarah gave me two very nice presents. First, I got an alligator. Not a real alligator, of course, but rather a series of three metal sections that look like the head, body, and tail of an alligator just above the surface of the water. When correctly arranged on a flat surface, these pieces give the visual impression of an alligator swimming just beneath the surface. I was "begeistert" with this gift (impressed in a positive manner), an immediately thought of a great place for it. Martin had previously given me a Zen rock garden, and turned out that the alligator pieces fit perfectly into this sand and rock garden. I have now arranged it so that it looks like I have a Zen rock garden with an alligator swimming underneath the sand!

My second gift was a blimp. I have always wanted a blimp and fully intend to build a blimp when I retire. As I always say, if you want to go from A to B take an airplane; if you want to see the country take a blimp! Well, this blimp was a yard long inflatable blimp with radio controlled electric motors. As soon as I get access to a large open room such as the GMU assembly hall, I'll get it filled with helium and try it out. I expect that flying a radio control blimp is the next best thing to flying a real one, and heaven knows I need blimp piloting practice (who doesn't?). It's not every man that gets a blimp from his son for his birthday! After our celebration, we all relaxed for the rest of evening before turning in. Judson and Sarah left the next morning to visit her folks in Washington D.C. for a few days before driving back to Boston. We found it very quiet, perhaps too quiet, when they left. In all, it was very nice having them visit us and being able to spend a couple of days with them. And as Alberto Santos Dumont might have said, " May The Blimp Be With You!".