Category: Travel

Yesterday, J and I spent nearly 12 hours at Kings Dominion, about 20 miles from Richmond. It had been a long time since I had been to an amusement park, probably about 3-4 years and it was fun to re-live teenage days of spending all day goind down water slides and waiting in lines for the coasters.

We got to Kings Dominion around 10 am to realize that we had forgotten sunblock, so we took a detour to a gas station  to buy some when J expressed an interest in some alcohol to get a little tipsy before we got on a ride. We tried one of those caffeinated malt beverages, which really didn’t get us tipsy but did make us hyper and made our way into the park.

The first ride we did was the Beserker, followed by a kiddie ride called Space Cruzer. We then went on our first Stand Up Roller Coaster Ride- The Shockwave. It was the first time I did a stand up roller coaster and it was one of the more memorable coasters.  We also did the Grizzly, a huge old wooden coaster, White Water Rapids and Flying Eagles (Jeff’s fave kiddie ride) and Wave Swingers (my fave kiddie ride).

We spent the afternoon at the waterpark where we did the Tornado– one of the funnel style water rides. This was definitely one of favorite rides because it was something I had never done before. We rounded off our time in the waterpark by doing all the regular waterpark rides, like the Flume rides and the water slides and of course finished it off at the lazy river.

By the time we made our way back to the main part of the park, most of the crowds had thinned out and we were able to do the big rollercoasters without waiting for too long. We did the

Anaconda– a rollercoaster with an underwater tunnel and awesome loops.

Volcano– one where your feet are hanging and you get shot out of a volcano, the speed in that was amazing;

 Tomb Raider– which isn’t a coaster, but its a high in the air, upside down , spinning rides, it also had fire effects which was amazing;

The Italian Job coaster- the movie themed coaster that is really tight and fast, also the cars are little mini coopers.;

The Rebel Yell– An old wooden roller coaster on which you get to go backwards and do all the drops with your back on it;

The Hurler– A standard wooden roller coaster that has more loops than drops.

The Drop Zone– Vertical plunge of 305 feet.

We finished the day happy and sore. My feet were killing me and I think my burnt my soles walking barefoot on the concrete of the water park, but it was well worth it.

Note: All pics of the rides, except for the shockwave are from other resources. These were not taken by  me. I did not want to risk my camera falling out 🙂

The second place we visited yesterday was Somerset Plantation. Somerset Plantation is one of the oldest and most prosperous Plantations of North Carolina. It is always weird to visit a plantation and to view the contrast of beautiful and stately contrasted very starkly with something grim and sad. This is the third plantation that I have visited and it was still a very unnerving feeling. Although it is funny to note that although Somerset Plantation was the most prosperous in NC , it definitely does not compare in size or scale to the Plantatins I visited around New Orleans some years ago. The Somerset Plantation is situtated on the shore of Lake Phelps and we were lucky enough to be able to join a free tour.  I learned about plantation life both from the point of view of the enslaved community and the owners.  Somerset is also well known because throughout its lifetime the Plantation had 800 slaves and now once a year their descendants gather at Somerset to reunite and learn about their roots. It was a huge learning experience for me and I was transported back to the Antebellum days for the afternoon.

The Main Entrance

J looking at the Stocks and detail. Our tour guide informed us that the stocks were used when members of the enslaved community were sold and that was the punishment that was most feared.  I took this photo to remind myself that the past is not always rosy and we that there have been some grim and gruesome incidents in our history.

Slave quarters and a view of the Slave hospital.

Bottles of Medicines at the Slave Hospital and a view of an old inventory list from the old Plantation ledgers.

This a view of the formal gardens of the plantation from the third story of the owners house. This is one of my favorite pics in a while. I love the contrast of the imperfections in the pane and the formal planned “perfect” gardens.

Me on the front porch of the owners house with a view of the support buildings in the back. The little cabin like structures in the back are the dairy and the laundry room.

Pocosin Wildlife Refuge is located in Columbia NC and the surrounding Tyrell county. It is the only place in the whole world that is home to the uncommon Red Wolf. The Red wolf is an endangered species and researchers are currently looking for more areas to rehabilitate them. Anyway, I really didn’t get to see one, but you can see from the stock image below how cool they are.

The Poconos Wildlife Refuge is situated around Scuppernong River and some other lakes, but since we didn’t have a lot of time we decided to take a walk along the interpretive boardwalk around the lake. It was a beautiful day with sunny skies and an awesome river breeze which contrasted really well with the dark, black waters of the Scuppernong.

The River from a distance.

Its called Black water because of the Algae and the Bacteria.

Once you get into the blackwaters

Me on the boardwalk

Flowers along the river

…Make Lemonade. This old proverb was very true for J and I yesterday. A while back J and I took a trip to the Outer Banks and got a very nasty traffic ticket on the way back. Well yesterday was the court date for that ticket and J and I decided to take a little day trip out to Columbia NC.

We left around 7:30 in the morning and got into Tyrell County around 10:30. The courthouse was on Main street and it was obvious that that the town was very old. I was eager to get the paperwork done and get to exploring because I had read that there were some neat things around Columbia. The DA reduced the ticket to a “unsafe movement” charge and that reduced the amount of the ticket by $200. We were so happy and relieved. We spent the rest of the day exploring Poconos Wildlife Refuge and Somerset Plantation. I did seperate posts of those because I had a lot of photos that I wanted to put up.

Cute Sign on one of the old brick buildings on Columbia’s Main Street.

A view of Main Street.

J in front of the courthouse.

Zambezi National Park I just set up a configuration to post flickr photos on my blog. This is my first picture on seeing the Zambezi river, I thought it would be good for a test post