UnHolyCoast Trip Day 8

Here's all nine trip posts: Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Final Day

This will probably be the shortest post of the trip. We started the day at the complimentary breakfast which is well worth getting up for. We debated about going over to Busch Gardens early, but decided to spend a little time in the rec room instead playing pool, ping pong and air hockey. The kids also tried their hand at a few video games. The sports center is very well stocked with all kinds of activities, including an indoor and outdoor pool, spa, handball/racquetball courts, weight room, and all kinds of other stuff that we didn't use.

The resort also has a complete tennis center, and two championship golf courses in addition to the little 3-par course we played yesterday. If you want to see more, you can click here.

If you're going to go to a theme park, I've really become convinced that the only way to do it is to stay in a hotel directly associated with the park. Although you may pay a little more, the convenience is worth every dollar. The shuttle, which we took a couple of times a day, took us to a parking lot right off the main entrance without any parking fees or traffic hassles. It made getting in and out very easy.

We finally headed over to the park at 11am and wandered around for a couple of hours while the kids headed off to rides. It got hotter and hotter, so we jumped on the 1:15 back to the suite and spent the afternoon in the cool air. HolyCoast daughter decided to go back to the park at 5, but the boy was tired and decided to spend the evening crashed on the air mattress watching TV. He needs more down time than the rest of us.

Mom and Dad headed back into the park at 6 and had a terrific barbeque chicken dinner at the Smokehouse, easily the best restaurant in the park. We did a little shopping while the girl headed off on her own to hit some of the big rides one more time. We like those nice sedate rides, like this one:

We left the park for the final time on the 8:15 shuttle and returned to one last look at the James River outside our back door and watched the fireflies come out (we don't have those in Southern California).

I finally got the boy off the air mattress and he and I headed back to the rec room for some final games around 8:30. The girl came home on the 9:15 bus after riding her favorite ride one more time.

Tomorrow we head back north to Dulles Airport with a stop at the new branch of the Air and Space Museum before we turn the car in and fight the airport battle to get back home. Because we won't be arriving back home until 11pm or so California time, the final post from this trip won't be up until sometime on Sunday. I'll wrap everything up then and post the final pictures.