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7/7/2004 07:01:05 PM
Vacation and the lessons learned
Wednesday, June 30: Williamsburg, VA
--I bought my first bikini at the urging of my fashion-forward sisters, Lisa and Christina. ("Yours is from the nineties," Christina said with disdain. "And it's a one-piece.") As a friend commented upon hearing this, I am now free to go on MTV Spring Break.
--My sisters and I remember all the words to old country songs our mother sang us when we were little. The lyrics and tunes are lodged somewhere still in our brains, amazingly enough. We sang what we remembered at the dinner table. My sister Christina and I later spent about an hour piecing together the lyrics of a sad Reba McEntire song.
--Christina plucked my eyebrows for me. That is love.
Thursday, July 1: Williamsburg to Virginia Beach and back
--Trips to Virginia beach should include more beach than travel time. You should not be there for 23 minutes before it begins to storm and everyone is called out of the water. You should also not begin tucking into your lunch 5 minutes before lifeguards close the beach entirely.
--After 23 minutes at Virginia Beach, the drive to Williamsburg should take 45 minutes. But it may in fact take 6 hours if there's a fire in the Harbor Bridge tunnel. Stop at Wendy's for a Frosty. My dad: "At least we're having a little fun."
--My sister Christina would here interject that she learned Frosties do not come in vanilla. In fact there is no vanilla anything at Wendy's, which genuinely shocked her.
Friday, July 2: Williamsburg, Water Country U.S.A. water park
--Water parks are like American versions of nudist colonies. You really get used to walking around in close proximity to other, sometimes sketchy or gross, people who are also wearing almost nothing.
Saturday, July 3: Williamsburg to D.C. to Poughkeepsie, NY to Buffalo, NY
--When you don't know the last name of your daughter's boyfriend's father, don't try to guess. As my father did. And guessed wrong. And in fact guessed the boyfriend's mom's first name.
--I am the best navigator in my family. Which is frightening.
--The apples in McDonald's Apple Dippers are actually tasty. Especially when you have been in a mini-van for 16 hours with Fresca and Hershey's Nuggets for sustenance.
Sunday, July 4: Buffalo
--An Ani DiFranco concert is better in a rain storm. You feel tough. Like you're proving something every minute you stand there. But don't go home to wring yourself out just because the concert pauses and you assume it will be cancelled. Because the show may go on. And you may not find that out until the evening news proclaims it the best show ever.
--Buffalo has a smaller version of the Washington monument. I sat near it during the concert and felt a bit tripped out, because I see the larger version every day in D.C.
--The Buffalo Metro system is the most useless piece of public transportation ever. It goes up and down Main street.
Sunday/Monday, July 4/5: Buffalo
--Ain't nothin' like peanut butter cup ice cream and vodka with ginger ale at 4am while playing Taboo with friends from high school.
Monday, July 5: Buffalo
--My grandfather recently asked a coffee vendor at the farmer's market if he had any marijuana. (Says my grandmother from across the room as he tells this story: "I need some of that.")
--Friends' parents, parents, grandparents, all getting old, older and closer to sicker and gone forever. (I had had this crazy thought that life got easier as you got older. That's a big no.)
--My sister Lisa is a damn good photographer. Christina is an awesome artist. When did everyone get so talented?
Tuesday, July 6: Buffalo to D.C.
--If you tell your Italian grandmother that you want some pie, she will bring you some pie. Even if it's 8:30am.
--Every one of the past 12 times I've been to the Buffalo airport, I've heard the same section of the Goo Goo Doll's "Slide" while riding the moving walkway. I used to think the airport folks were just being funny, repeating that clip over and over while you slid down the walkway. But now I realize it may just be a coincidence. When I got off this time, I stopped and waited to see what would happen. A totally new song came on. Weird.