A surprise trip can be a joy. There is no time to agonize over plans or things you might be skipping. It is fun to drop everything and go off on an adventure at the last moment.

On Monday, my son said, “I would like to take Jack and Tom to Williamsburg and Busch Gardens. Would you like to come?” At first, I thought, “No.” The amount of walking was daunting, and I am still only walking 1.6 miles at the most. Though my hip replacement is basically all healed, I am still cautious. But I wanted to spend time with my grandsons, and it seemed like a good way to do it. If they were having fun together, I would be able to watch and be a part of their fun without being foisted on them. We decided to go on Tuesday afternoon.  

We left about 2:30 pm. The drive was shorter than I thought it would be, less than 2 hours. We arrived in Williamsburg and went to sign in at the Williamsburg Inn (though we were actually staying at the Griffon, which is part of their group). It took forever to check in. The worst part was that the rooms were not available yet. The man at the desk said he would text us when they were ready for us.  We went to the Mellow Mushroom for pizza. The pizzas were delicious, and we had lots of extra to take back with us. It was spitting rain and not looking at all good for the rest of the evening.

The hotel did not text us until we were halfway through with our dinner. Outrageous delay, in my opinion, but we did not worry about it. We went to our rooms quickly, and I unpacked in anticipation of sleep later.  Then we went to Busch Gardens for late-evening rides. As we arrived, we heard thunder, and out of the corner of our eyes we saw distant lightning. We walked down the walkway to the entrance; it was all downhill, but a long walk just to enter. It was evident to me that the way back would be difficult going up the steep hill. But I was not going to complain, because I figured I could do it. We got to the entrance, where there was a sign saying, “The park is closed due to weather.” Our hearts sank, but the thunder was definitely louder and closer now. My son, Robert, said, “It is about to pour rain. Go back to the car before you get soaked.” And that is what we did. Walking fast up that hill winded me, and we had to sit under a roofed area at the edge of the parking lot so I could catch my breath. We no sooner got into the car than the sky opened up and rain drenched everything. Robert was soaked when he got back to the car. But, he was able to discover that our “2-day” tickets for that day and the next were still good since they never got “Scanned”, so we can use them some other day.

We drove back to Williamsburg in the rainstorm. We looked for an ice cream store, and we found one. We had to run from the car to the entrance through a serious shower of rain, which briefly soaked us. Kilwins is a super ice cream store. The variety of sweet treats in that store was amazing. It was like a treasure chest of good things to eat. Caramel apples, fudge and toffee, all sorts of things in pretty packages for gifts. It smelled delicious. We all had ice cream and enjoyed every bite. I was still damp from the rain when we returned to the hotel.

We only had two rooms at the Griffin, and Robert was originally planning to stay with his son and his nephew. However, he could see that the boys were having so much fun together; he knew they would rather have the room to themselves. He said, “I am going to sleep on the pull out sofa in your room.” I shuddered and said, “I hope I won’t disturb you getting up in the night.” He got the message that sharing a room was not a great idea. So he came down to my room and spent almost an hour trying to find a room for me at a different hotel. Finally he succeeded and found a room at the Williamsburg Lodge. He drove me over there and left me. I was much more comfortable there. In fact, it is a rather nice place to stay and half the price of the very expensive Williamsburg Inn. I recommend it.

I moved over there after repacking my things, which I had laid out around the room. This was a great decision. I was more comfortable and slept well. The next morning, the boys and Robert picked me up and drove us to a parking lot nearby. We continued on foot to the Colonial Williamsburg restored house where tickets are sold. We had to wait for it to open, but we were near the front of the line. We discovered that we were entitled to 4 free tickets because of that room at the Williamsburg Lodge. That was a lucky chance and a welcome surprise. The whole experience that day was fun. Everything seemed to go our way. The mood was jubilant and high spirited.

So we began our walking tour of the colonial town in great spirits. The temperature remained perfect. The sun shone on us, but there was a cool breeze that felt exactly like light air conditioning if you stepped into the shade. There are many mature trees along Duke of Gloucester Street, so it was easy to avoid too much sun. We explored the village for three solid hours. I have no idea how far I walked, but it was more than I am used to. It is charming and neat, tidy and welcoming in Colonial Williamsburg. The boys began to be hungry after a while, and so we bought drinks and snacks. We participated in a legal proceeding in the courthouse. That was instructive and quite a good thing for the boys to experience. We continued to walk along the sidewalks and immerse ourselves in the feeling of the place. Later we watched a gunsmith work in his shop, which he shared with a blacksmith. It was fascinating to see all the things the blacksmith was making. And the intricate pieces necessary for the guns were impressive. I took photos of the boys with a long rifle, which was heavy and unwieldy. We bought hats in a store that sold costumes as well as hats. My hat was an old-fashioned one that tied under my chin, while Jack’s was a tri-corner one that fit right into the spirit of the place. We went to the silversmith and listened to his description of how the silver was tooled and how they engraved things. We watched a cannon being fired. It was loud. And crowds clapping made it seem even more exciting. Along the streets, there, we encountered sheep, a wagon drawn by two horses, two girls guiding young heifers with a stick, and a horse-drawn carriage that guests can buy tickets to ride in. All of these added to the illusion of being in the historic village in the 18th century.

At 12:30, we left the town and stopped at a barbecue restaurant for lunch. Then we headed to Busch Gardens, where Robert insisted that I should rent an electric chair/scooter. I resisted but gave in after thinking it over. Thank Goodness for that chair. The park is amazing in its size. I had no idea what a huge place it was. I took it easy and just watched most of the action. It is so well kept and attractive, it was fun just to watch people having a good time. The families were respectful and well-behaved. The atmosphere was positive and jovial. I also ate some very unhealthy food, caramel corn, fresh pretzels, and soft serve ice cream, which was fun only for a moment or two. I threw a lot of it away before finishing the whole portion.

The day was so pleasant and the surroundings so well cared for; it was a pleasure. The experience went on and on with ride after ride and junk food after junk food. The boys rode the Loch Ness Monster and many others I cannot name. The rides are much different than those of my youth at Glen Echo Park outside of Washington DC. They are designed to terrify and thrill those who ride them. And they do their job. Each ride had a digital display telling how long the wait was for those in line. The times were crazy long, in my opinion. But people waited patiently for their turn. Then many of them exited the ride and ran back to the entrance once more to ride it again. The crowd was not especially large. It was midweek and the very end of the month of July, so maybe that is normal. We were grateful because some of the rides had short wait times, while others had a 45 minute wait. Jack won a huge prize, a ‘teddy bear’ playing a game where he had to throw a ring around a bottle. He was successful on the third throw. We all congratulated him, and I carried that huge thing on top of the awning over my electric scooter chair for hours.

The sun set and the day became evening. Lights came on, and the park looked different. Very romantic and lovely the way the trees were lit. We no longer wore our hats to keep off the sun, as we enjoyed the warm evening air. After a ride on the train where I was able to drive my chair onto the caboose and sit in the back row of the cars, we waited for the boys to finish their last ride. We finally met at the car at 9:00 pm. We got into the car, with the large stuffed bear that Jack won. It just barely fit in the trunk of my car when we got in to go home.

Robert set the Tesla on “self-driving” with Home as the destination. It is very restful to be driven by the car. On the ride home, I asked the boys what they thought about the trip. They were enthusiastic and happy. Jack said, “It was the Best Day Ever!” We arrived without incident, to let off Tom at his home and continued to mine. We were all very tired and went right to bed when we got home. But the memory will remain “one of the best,” which is always a nice way to end a trip.

Copyright©. 2026 Bonnie B. Matheson