For the first time since Christmas, I have finally gotten a break. No classes, no research, no hard labor, no nothing. Naturally, I did keep up with some of my organizations and other business matters, but I was on vacation this week for the most part. My family came to visit and we spent six days relaxing in the Outer Banks, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, and Richmond. I’m back to work now, but it was nice to finally get to see my family again. Yes, there were plenty of moments of frustration and me suddenly remembering why family vacations are stressful, but I got away from campus and a chance to relax. Sure, my entire healthy living lifestyle that I was on for the summer went out the window on this trip (and it definitely showed when I went to the gym today) but I don’t know how many more family vacations I’ll get to go on. So, because I love photography and there was so much that we did on the trip, I’ll use pictures to convey the past week.
The week began with….
my parents and younger brother and sister flying from Wisconsin to visit me…
which was my younger siblings’ first plane trip.
Upon arrival, they picked me up from my apartment,
I showed them a bit of campus, and then off we went
The first step in showing my family Richmond was to
bring them to Nacho Mama’s…
and then Maymont Park…
after which we met with my friend, Andrew, (thus proving I do have friends here at UR) and ate at “Comfort” which is a very Southern restaurant in Richmond.
Then it was off to the Outer Banks to visit the Wright Brother’s Monument at Kitty Hawk…
and Roanoke Island, the site of the vanishing colony…
and ending up at the ocean…
where my family played in the ocean and I soaked up the sun and relaxed on the beach.
Then we went to Jockey’s Ridge, which is an enormous sand dune…
that had a 100 foot high sand dune that was fun to run down…
but a huge pain to come back up since it was really steep…
but it was still an incredible place to visit.
Moving on to Virginia Beach, we had fun at the ocean for a day…
then moved on to Williamsburg, having our first ever Chick-fil-A in the process.
In Williamsburg, we visited an amazing shop in
Market Square called “The Cheese Shop”…
then I showed my family how to play disc golf at a local course…
followed by celebrating the 4th of July in Yorktown.
Returning to Williamsburg, I couldn’t get enough of Market Square with
its Farmer’s Market and awesome shops…
yet still saw some reenactments in Colonial Williamsburg…
and glassblowing in Jamestown.
Finally, the week came to an end by hanging out in Richmond with mini-golf, shopping at Short Pump, a movie at “The Byrd”, and going out to eat. In all, the week was pretty fun and I did a lot of new things. One of the highlights of my trip was visiting Jockey’s Ridge. The sand dunes went on forever and looked like a desert. They were a lot of fun to walk and run on, but some of them were huge. I thought I was in shape, but walking up some of those dunes made me really think otherwise. The sunset was amazing as well. I think that it was the highlight for my entire family as well.
Jockey’s Ridge was enormous
The sunset was amazing
I also loved The Cheese Shop in Colonial Williamsburg. All of the shops in Market Square are very quaint and fun. One, The Cheese Shop, had great sandwiches, as well as tons of kinds of breads, cheeses, jams, and lots more. My family and I had got three meals out of this place. We bought fresh bread and had it with gouda cheese and vanilla pear jam and other delicious things we found here.
Eating at The Cheese Shop with the family
Finally, Maymont Park was really cool. I was able to finally able to get to some of Richmond’s famous landmarks with my family. The gardens are beautiful and it was a perfect day to stroll around and take it all in.
The Japanese Garden at Maymont Park
That’s all for now. Life rudely awakened me as I went back to math research. I have to quickly learn what the rest of the group spent all last week learning, so I’m rather behind. Hope that everyone’s summer is going well still. Over and out.
Quote of the Week: “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” -Mother Teresa
Thought to Ponder: Are eyebrows considered facial hair?
Shout Outs: My family for coming to visit me
YouTube Video of the Week:
