If You Love Roller Coasters, Make Busch Gardens a Summer Destination

Almost everyone loves Disney World. I do, my wife does, and my children do. While my children and I still love the Disney experience, but we also love roller coasters, and there are no better assemblage of these rides in the South that are equal to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia. Busch Gardens is located on the south side US Hwy 60 North from Newport News where it is easily seen from the Highway as one drives toward Richmond or Norfolk. One cannot miss the Apollo's Chariot, which stands over 200 feet above the rolling Virginia Hills. One can easily see how one can see the James River, nearly two miles south, winding southeast toward the Norfolk Harbor.

Click on the map to reveal a much larger view of Tidewater Virginia.

Busch Gardens is certainly not the only reason to visit one of the United States oldest cities, and most definitely important in a Colonial sense, but, along with its first cousi... Read More

Time Share is Not for Everyone, But You Gotta Stay Somewhere

"Weekend getaway; two days and three nights, and a gift worth 100.00 in show tickets or food out. Of course, to hold your place, you need to send us a small fee of 99.00, and to just keep it exciting, you must sit for a short 45 minute presentation of our new project." You check in Friday evening, you meet for the presentation at 9:00 am, and by 12:00 pm, they've either signed you up, while preaching to you about the need to take extensive vacations, or you're frantically searching for the door. Sunday you check out by 11:00 am, and you've just had the weekend from hell. Sound familiar?

For many of us, who have sought the low hanging fruit of a weekend away with the young wife, we have fallen prey to the time share hard sell, and if you're like me, you never wanted to have anything to do with another one of these freebies, unless however; you have discovered the intestinal fortitude to effectively say no to the hard sel... Read More

Beginning in Spring, We Stroll Through Winter

In this second article, we will examine a more familiar world - the one within our everyday reach. The world where I step from sheltering abode, and explore the realm that exists upon my property, whether I am there to witness it or not, it wakes upon the optimism of the rising sun, and feeds upon what it needs to exist.

When I no longer exist within this this plane of my existence, this environment of revolving color and smaller living beings will continue. Hopefully someone else will be around to record it, because we all need to be reminded of God's bountiful beauty, and search within our own boundaries to discover it.

One of the earliest flowers to bloom in early spring is from the abundant wisteria vines that wraps around some of my camellia bushes, as this one did.

The lasting burst of color from a tall camellia bush in early spring reminds me that the azaleas will soon be blooming.

I love the hearty blossoms of this s... Read More

The "Redneck Riviera" is a Wonderful Respite in the Early Off Season

Myrtle Beach is a wonderful vacation destination, but somehow better, when most of the summer tourists have long left for home. Few adults, even less children, and still some nice days; some warm enough to swim in the ocean. That is why I will always love the off season, and will try to make Myrtle Beach a vacation destination during that time period.

On a lovely Saturday, with the temperature about 78 degrees, you see that there not too many folks on this beach: Above. I went swimming that Saturday, October 10, 2009. This seagull takes a break from breaking shells open on the beach to pose for his cameo: Below.

Not only is there a dearth of folks, there are some good bargains in housing and at the restaurants. I always use timeshare, and whether it is weeks or points, one can always respectively make a better trade or use less points this time of year. Hotel rooms are also less expensive, with some of... Read More

The Grand Lady of the Old South is Preserved for Posterity

The most enduring commentary on Savannah's citizen's commitment to preserving their past, and the legacy of their ancestors, is the preservation of the park squares and the architecturally significant structures that are prevalent throughout the downtown of one of the South's busiest seaports. Savannah is located atop a bluff, along the southern banks of the Savannah River, in the low country along the northeastern shore of Georgia's abutment to the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1733, James Oglethorpe, a British General and philanthropic debtor prison activist, left his native land and sailed with 120 folks in the good ship Anne to Georgia, the last chartered colony in the colonial United States of America. The land was given by the British Government to the Georgia Trustees to establish a land where those prisoners of debtor prisons, as well as other misfortunate folks could live, without oppression, and hopefully thrive as good cit... Read More

Williamsburg is a Renovated Reminder of our Colonial Past

The Commonwealth of Virginia, along with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, are the cradles of English civilization in the New World. Jamestown, Virginia was established in 1607, Plymouth Rock was established in 1620.

Jamestown served as the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia until the 1676, when the State House was burned during Bacon's Rebellion. The Commonwealth's government was temporarily relocated to Middle Plantation, which would later become the location of the College of William and Mary in 1694, and later the town of Williamsburg would be formed in 1699 here, adjacent to the college, to become the permanent capital after the capitol, located in Jamestown, burned a second time in 1698.

The Virginia House of Burgesses would use Williamsburg until 1780, when the Capital would move to Richmond 55 miles further north and west up the James River for security reasons during the American Revolutionary War. Leading ... Read More