Our
Journey:
Journey:
Avalon's Army of Angels
| October 5, 2008 First day of vacation! |
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The saying is, "Getting there is half the fun..."
I'm here to report ~ liars! Getting to Williamsburg
was most assuredly, most definitely, and
unequivocally as far from "fun" as I can figure out
how to type.
First of all, because of going to our friend's Good
Bye party - we were too tired to get up and
leave at the crack of dawn like we had planned.
OK, let's be honest. Nick was too tired to get up
and drive 11 hours. I would have been
perfectly fine to move my sleeping from the bed
to the car. After all, snoring is about all I
contribute to the family vacation in a car. I'm
rather worthless...
Anyway, while we are certainly glad we went to
hug on our friends one more time, it did monkey
wrench my wonderful plans. The plan had been
to leave at 3 or 4 am - and have sleeping,
peaceful, idyllic little beauties for 5 or 6 hours of
the trip. The reality was, leaving at 7:30 - and
having wide awake, impatient mongrels for the
entire trip. Yep, that alone would have
manufactured new gray hairs. Problem is, it was
the least of our worries.
The real adventure started in the early
mountains of West Virginia. Suddenly, our oil
pressure dropped to nothing. We immediately
pulled over - and the escapades began. Over
the next several hours we made a zillion cell
phone calls to my dad and Kevin - asking if
they'd had cars lose oil pressure, and what it
should sound like. "Dad, do you think we can
limp it to a dealer?" "Kevin, we're so sorry -
we're going to be seriously delayed." Blah blah
blah.
Then, there were the mind-numbingly pointless
phone calls to AAA. "I'm sorry ma'am, I don't
know. I can't find that. I'll pass you on to
Whoosie-whatzit." "Ma'am - that dealer isn't
open either." "Ma-am, it could be hours for a
tow. People don't work around here on
Sundays..." I was sooooo NOT a fan of West
Virginia at that point.
Eventually, my brilliant and ever-so-resourceful
sister saved the day. She went online and
researched our make and model of car - and the
symptoms of what we were experiencing. She
learned that the oil sensors in our engine very
often go bad. She also found that Auto Zones
can do a simple engine diagnostic - to help us
know if we were imminently going to blow up our
engine, or if it was simply a wonky sensor. She
even searched, found a store close to where we
were, and stayed on the phone with me
navigating until we got there. Wahooooo!!!
Super sister to the rescue!!!!
Hours of panic later, the machine at Auto Zone
found no internal problems. We headed back
down the highway toward Williamsburg - and only
had to pull over one more time for the car to cool
off when the pressure dropped to zero again.
While we firmly believe its simply the sensor, we
figured better safe than sorry.
We were tired, over-wraught, and several hours
later than we had anticipated...but we finally
made it to Williamsburg, and to the welcoming
arms of some of the dearest friends on the
planet.
As I said before, we were on the phone with
Marnita and Kevin several times during the trip.
We kept them constantly updated about where
we were, what was going on with the car, and
about our growing levels of frustration and
insanity. In the last moments of the trip, they
helped navigate us to the actual condo complex -
so they knew as we were pulling into the parking
lot. Our stressful, sometimes rotten, travel day
ended by being greeted with the most gigantic
smiles and warmest hugs you could ever imagine
- all before we got 2 steps outside of the car.
Yep, the day suddenly didn't seem so bad.
What happened next was nothing short of
amazing. Marnita and Kevin led us into our
home-away-from-home. We had the downstairs
unit of their Williamsburg timeshare. The
upstairs and downstairs units look exactly alike.
They are each self-contained condos with every
amenity you could imagine. These are not
"hotels" - these are like walking into someone's
luxury condo for a week. We spent several
minutes just oohing and aaahing - and several
more minutes actively pinching ourselves to
make sure it was all real. My bruises testify to
the reality - but WOW - my head had a hard time
believing we were actually going to stay
somewhere so beautiful...
OK, so Avalon's website may seem a weird place
to post pictures of our vacation condo. Well, rats
on that. We appreciated, and admired, every
square inch of our rooms. Its truly only fair we
share them with you. Besides, if this site is to
someday be a gift to Avalon - then I suppose its
OK to chronicle even the silliest details. And
believe me, these details weren't remotely silly -
they were downright lush.
If I haven't explained this before, Marnita and
Kevin invited us to come with them on this
vacation - for free. No amount of griping, or
complaining worked - they wouldn't let us help
pay for our accommodations. I was told on no
uncertain terms that they don't make their
daughter or mother pay - why on earth would
they ask any other family member for money?!
Can you even believe it? You're right - no better
friends exist in the world. We are the most
blessed people alive.
Not only did they welcome us to share their
"home" - but Marnita and Kevin had gone
shopping the night before, and assembled an
enormous fruit basket for us too! We ate like
kings for the entire stay!!
The one thing they would agree to - was allowing
us to take them out to dinner one night. We all
agreed the first night was the best idea. So after
unpacking, we headed off to a Chinese Buffet
they both love. If this restaurant existed in
Columbus, I would never be tempted to step foot
into any other establishment - for the rest of my
live-long life. The restaurant was actually only
1/3 "Chinese Buffet". It was also 1/3 Mongolian
Barbecue, and 1/3 Japanese steakhouse. This
was not a restaurant...this was mecca for a fat
person!
We all ate like it was our job, and laughed that
way too. By the end of dinner, the insanity of the
travel day had completely melted out of our
brains. Of course, some of that may have had to
do with the quantity of food we ate. There wasn't
much space left in any molecule of our
gluttonous beings.
All things considered, we went to bed that first
night utterly exhausted, and entirely thrilled.
Who wouldn't be? We were in paradise with
amazing friends and all four of our kids. I never
take it lightly that we still have four. And I can
promise you - I never will.
I'm here to report ~ liars! Getting to Williamsburg
was most assuredly, most definitely, and
unequivocally as far from "fun" as I can figure out
how to type.
First of all, because of going to our friend's Good
Bye party - we were too tired to get up and
leave at the crack of dawn like we had planned.
OK, let's be honest. Nick was too tired to get up
and drive 11 hours. I would have been
perfectly fine to move my sleeping from the bed
to the car. After all, snoring is about all I
contribute to the family vacation in a car. I'm
rather worthless...
Anyway, while we are certainly glad we went to
hug on our friends one more time, it did monkey
wrench my wonderful plans. The plan had been
to leave at 3 or 4 am - and have sleeping,
peaceful, idyllic little beauties for 5 or 6 hours of
the trip. The reality was, leaving at 7:30 - and
having wide awake, impatient mongrels for the
entire trip. Yep, that alone would have
manufactured new gray hairs. Problem is, it was
the least of our worries.
The real adventure started in the early
mountains of West Virginia. Suddenly, our oil
pressure dropped to nothing. We immediately
pulled over - and the escapades began. Over
the next several hours we made a zillion cell
phone calls to my dad and Kevin - asking if
they'd had cars lose oil pressure, and what it
should sound like. "Dad, do you think we can
limp it to a dealer?" "Kevin, we're so sorry -
we're going to be seriously delayed." Blah blah
blah.
Then, there were the mind-numbingly pointless
phone calls to AAA. "I'm sorry ma'am, I don't
know. I can't find that. I'll pass you on to
Whoosie-whatzit." "Ma'am - that dealer isn't
open either." "Ma-am, it could be hours for a
tow. People don't work around here on
Sundays..." I was sooooo NOT a fan of West
Virginia at that point.
Eventually, my brilliant and ever-so-resourceful
sister saved the day. She went online and
researched our make and model of car - and the
symptoms of what we were experiencing. She
learned that the oil sensors in our engine very
often go bad. She also found that Auto Zones
can do a simple engine diagnostic - to help us
know if we were imminently going to blow up our
engine, or if it was simply a wonky sensor. She
even searched, found a store close to where we
were, and stayed on the phone with me
navigating until we got there. Wahooooo!!!
Super sister to the rescue!!!!
Hours of panic later, the machine at Auto Zone
found no internal problems. We headed back
down the highway toward Williamsburg - and only
had to pull over one more time for the car to cool
off when the pressure dropped to zero again.
While we firmly believe its simply the sensor, we
figured better safe than sorry.
We were tired, over-wraught, and several hours
later than we had anticipated...but we finally
made it to Williamsburg, and to the welcoming
arms of some of the dearest friends on the
planet.
As I said before, we were on the phone with
Marnita and Kevin several times during the trip.
We kept them constantly updated about where
we were, what was going on with the car, and
about our growing levels of frustration and
insanity. In the last moments of the trip, they
helped navigate us to the actual condo complex -
so they knew as we were pulling into the parking
lot. Our stressful, sometimes rotten, travel day
ended by being greeted with the most gigantic
smiles and warmest hugs you could ever imagine
- all before we got 2 steps outside of the car.
Yep, the day suddenly didn't seem so bad.
What happened next was nothing short of
amazing. Marnita and Kevin led us into our
home-away-from-home. We had the downstairs
unit of their Williamsburg timeshare. The
upstairs and downstairs units look exactly alike.
They are each self-contained condos with every
amenity you could imagine. These are not
"hotels" - these are like walking into someone's
luxury condo for a week. We spent several
minutes just oohing and aaahing - and several
more minutes actively pinching ourselves to
make sure it was all real. My bruises testify to
the reality - but WOW - my head had a hard time
believing we were actually going to stay
somewhere so beautiful...
OK, so Avalon's website may seem a weird place
to post pictures of our vacation condo. Well, rats
on that. We appreciated, and admired, every
square inch of our rooms. Its truly only fair we
share them with you. Besides, if this site is to
someday be a gift to Avalon - then I suppose its
OK to chronicle even the silliest details. And
believe me, these details weren't remotely silly -
they were downright lush.
If I haven't explained this before, Marnita and
Kevin invited us to come with them on this
vacation - for free. No amount of griping, or
complaining worked - they wouldn't let us help
pay for our accommodations. I was told on no
uncertain terms that they don't make their
daughter or mother pay - why on earth would
they ask any other family member for money?!
Can you even believe it? You're right - no better
friends exist in the world. We are the most
blessed people alive.
Not only did they welcome us to share their
"home" - but Marnita and Kevin had gone
shopping the night before, and assembled an
enormous fruit basket for us too! We ate like
kings for the entire stay!!
The one thing they would agree to - was allowing
us to take them out to dinner one night. We all
agreed the first night was the best idea. So after
unpacking, we headed off to a Chinese Buffet
they both love. If this restaurant existed in
Columbus, I would never be tempted to step foot
into any other establishment - for the rest of my
live-long life. The restaurant was actually only
1/3 "Chinese Buffet". It was also 1/3 Mongolian
Barbecue, and 1/3 Japanese steakhouse. This
was not a restaurant...this was mecca for a fat
person!
We all ate like it was our job, and laughed that
way too. By the end of dinner, the insanity of the
travel day had completely melted out of our
brains. Of course, some of that may have had to
do with the quantity of food we ate. There wasn't
much space left in any molecule of our
gluttonous beings.
All things considered, we went to bed that first
night utterly exhausted, and entirely thrilled.
Who wouldn't be? We were in paradise with
amazing friends and all four of our kids. I never
take it lightly that we still have four. And I can
promise you - I never will.
| The following pictures of the condo were actually taken the morning we left. We were so thrilled the night we got there - it didn't occur to us to take pictures. Marnita says she took pictures of everything before we got there, so I'll substitute those in some day. For now, just ignore the coolers and things you see. The place was magnificent! |
| As you entered the front door, you came into a hallway. The hallway had doors on the left that opened into the master bedroom, linen closet, master bath, and finally the door to the second bedroom is off the great room. This view is from next to the linen closet - looking toward the great room. |
| Marnita and Kevin own two exact units - the stairs in front of Nick went up to theirs. We were in the downstairs one. |
| Looking to the right was the dining table and kitchen. You see two microwaves, because the built in one broke while we were there. Here's the fun thing...so did the replacement countertop one! |
| Next to the TV on the Left wall, was a beautiful gas fireplace. |
| Coming into the great room. On the back wall are patio doors out to a common grassy knoll with grills and picnic tables. Each unit has a small patio/balcony. |
| The girls' bedroom. They had their own bathroom too. The three of them piled into bed together, and giggled themselves to sleep. |
| Master bedroom, with Anam passed out in the middle of the bed. |
| Master bath with a big corner tub. |
| Don't you just love these towels?! I felt like we were in a five star resort! |
