Where I've been and what I've done

[spedbug]

Monday, we woke up at an obscene hour (I can't even say it, it's that obscene) to prepare to go to Great Adventure (New Jersey). As we drove through driving rain, I could see MrBug's disappointment level rising. He'd decided Monday was the best day for us to go and he thought he'd chosen poorly. By the time we arrived at G.A., however, the rain was a light sprinkle, nothing more. I was happy to do the park while being sprinkled on; I was in a bathing suit with shorts over it, after all. We drove through the safari, first, which was interesting but not enthralling until we came to the giraffe area. When we drove up, the giraffes had stopped traffic by walking out into the road and drinking from the tops of the cars. It was amazing and something we wouldn't have experienced had it not been raining.

A bit further into the safari, we came across a roadblock. He was stopping traffic to inspect pica-nick baskets, no doubt.

I'm going to try to keep this brief. I could wax poetic on each part of our day but this would quickly become a novella if I did.
From the Safari, we went to the main theme park to ride the rides, eat deep-fried foods and see the sights. Because it was a weekday, perhaps, or because it had been raining (it stopped as we were leaving the safari) the park was practically empty. We waited no longer than fifteen minutes in any ride.
At about five o'clock, we left the main theme park and went to Hurricane Harbor, the water park. It had just started sprinkling, again, when we parked and as we entered the park there was a mass exodus out. As we were going in to get wet we didn't mind the rain. It lasted all of ten minutes before giving way to steel-gray but rain-free skies. We didn't wait in line for anything. Every slide, every ride was open. The wave pool was practically empty. The park was ours. All in all, an incredible experience and a very, very good call on MrBug's part. He needn't have worried! :)
We drove home and fell into bed. We woke on Tuesday to more rainy skies and decided to hold off on our beach day and go to

Baltimore's Inner Harbor
Tuesday was rainy and overcast when we woke up. We had planned on going to the beach but decided it would be better to either go to Philadelphia or Baltimore. The girls (Savagefuzzball, Mingo and SFB's other close friend, "Alluna") voted for Baltimore.
It never did more than spit a little rain at us but it wouldn't have mattered, anyway. We went to The National Aquarium and, despite the crowds, enjoyed all the different sites. We had a harrowing moment
but we managed to escape before anyone was hurt or too traumatized.
From the Aquarium, we went to The Maryland Science Center and walked through the Titanic exhibit. As you go in, they give you a card with the information of the passenger you represent. At the end of the exhibit (which is heart-wrenching), you find out whether "you" lived or perished in the sinking of the ship.
In the Science Center, we also enjoyed a few of their exhibits such as "Your Body" and "Outer Space Place". There was so much to see and not enough time to see it, unfortunately. :(
From the Science Center, we went to The Hard Rock Cafe and had a lovely dinner.

I'll admit to being surprised. I had grumbled a bit about going there as I figured they'd "ride" on their name, alone, and their food would be crap. I gave in figuring that while the food would be mediocre, at best, at least we could say "We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe". To my surprise, the food was marvelous and the atmosphere was lots of fun.
After dinner we were all tired and ready to go home but couldn't resist stopping at the enormous two-story Barnes and Noble book store. :)

Wednesday we woke to another gray day. I was exhausted from the non-stop go-go-going of the previous two days and could have, happily, stayed in bed but MrBug was insistent we go to the beach. I'm glad he insisted. By the time we arrived in Dewey beach, the sun had come out and the day was warm and inviting. Since Savagefuzzball's friend, Alluna, is so fair-skinned, we rented an umbrella and found our spot on the sand. Sorry to say there are no photos; we didn't want to risk our digital on the beach. Suffice it to say we had loads of fun. Sun-bathing, reading, swimming and people-watching for six hours to the music of crashing surf...what more could we ask for? At about four o'clock, gray clouds rolled in. It began to sprinkle so we gathered our things and showered off before heading to Rehoboth's boardwalk for a bit of fun. The sudden shower passed as quickly as it came in and by the time we parked in Rehoboth, the sun was out again. We strolled the boardwalk, ate more yummy but unhealthy food and went into the Fun Park. Savagefuzzball and Alluna rode a bunch of rides designed to make a person vomit but only made them giddy then off they went to have their "Old Time" photograph taken. There weren't two more lovely, hard-edged, smoking, drinking Western saloon girls photographed that day, I'm sure.
We left the beach around seven, dropped Alluna to her house and arrived home a little after nine.
All I wanted to do was unwind with a mindless movie so we purchased "Be Cool" from Comcast's On Demand channel. I think I watched about twenty minutes before I dozed off. When I awakened, it was still on and I apologized to MrBug and dragged myself upstairs to bed.
And slept in, today.
Savagefuzzball has a dinner engagement, tonight, to celebrate Mingo's birthday. Tomorrow night we are taking her, Mingo and Alluna out to a local Morrocan restaurant to celebrate her birthday (early) and the, hopefully, we'll go to Philadelphia on Saturday. I'll be sad, indeed, if we don't get to the Art Museum and Italian Market before this vacation is over.