In Which Hitty Rachel Visits Caswell Beach

Our person's family vacation was approaching, and all the Hittys were in a tither, trying to decide who would get to go traveling.  Finally, the person's darling husband was asked for his suggestion, and he suggested Hitty Rachel Raikes.  Of course, that makes perfect sense, since she is the Hitty who has lived here the longest, and has traveled the most.  An experienced traveler makes sense!

Hitty Rachel got to see the Atlantic Ocean from way up high, on the balcony of the condo that was rented for the week.



She got to see the more tropical landscaping down below, in the front yard of the condo.



She got to see the dunes on her way to the beach.



She got to take many trips to the beach.  Here is one photo of her on her final trip to the beach.



Hitty Rachel had a marvelous time at Caswell Beach on Oak Island, NC!  She loved the Ocean, breezes, sea shells, gulls, sandpipers, pelicans and the quiet solitude of the beach.

In Which Hitty Rachel finds a daffodil in the sunshine

Hitty Rachel Raikes had heard from some of the others that the daffodils were blooming.  She had to go outside to see for herself.  She was quite pleased to hear the birds singing, see a very cheery daffodil dancing in the cool spring breezes.

An Apology and A False Start

The other Hittys have reminded me that their blog has been neglected for a very, very, very long time.  I am sincerely apologetic to have not posted for over a year!  What a shame!  I must confess that my duties in supporting my person throughout 2011 took precedence over everything else.  However, this year, she is striving to maintain her blogs more diligently, and I will do the same.  Please accept my apology, from all of the Chesapeake Bay Hittys.

The Mid-Atlantic has had an unseasonably warm autumn and winter, and as recently as last Wednesday, we were often able to go out and about with just a light jacket.  It was on that last warm day, that I noticed that the daffodils have already peaked out of the ground!  Maryland does not normally see such a sight in January!  I had to take Hitty Ginny out with me today to show her, but as you can see, it is much, much colder today, and we had to bundle up as best we could.  Let us hope that the daffodils are the only ones making false starts this month, and that they will not miss Spring entirely because of their error!



Respectully yours,
Hitty Grace Sycamore Brown

In Which Hitty Rachel Goes to Busch Gardens Williamsburg

On Wednesday morning, I was woken up at 4:30 in the morning and told that I would be the Hitty chosen to go with the family on a day trip!  Can you imagine the excitement I felt when our car left 95 South for 64 East, heading towards Williamsburg, Virginia?!  I love early American history.  We stopped at a rest stop on 64, and I loved the architecture of the buildings there.

   

But then, they told me that we were not going to Colonial Williamsburg, as I had hoped.  While my person loves to visit Colonial Williamsburg, the rest of her family has been there several times and would rather do something more exciting.  We were going to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg.  Well, I do like gardens, and I've heard that it has a European feeling to it.  The adventurous spirit of Ancestor Hitty in me made me believe that I could enjoy this destination, too!  Here I am, waiting to get admittance to the park:

 

This amusement park is not just about thrilling rides!  They also have some very interesting animals.  We got to speak to a man about his peregrine falcon:

Did you know that these birds are the fastest animal on earth?  They can fly faster than a cheetah can run!  This one is living at Busch Gardens because it was struck by a car in Ohio.  We also saw several of our national bird, the Bald Eagle.  This one was sunning himself so that his feathers would dry:

They also had wolves, lorikeets and other birds, border collies, sheep and clydesdale horses!  My person and her family got their picture taken with a clydesdale horse.  My, they have large feet!  Their shoes are much bigger than those of a normal horse!

Busch Gardens has some excellent entertainment, too.  We ate lunch in the German Festhaus, and saw the Oktoberfest show.  Our table was right next to the stage, and a dancer came to our table several times.  We didn't take pictures because we were too busy enjoying an excellent meal!  We also saw the Celtic Fyre show in Ireland.  It was great to see, too, but we didn't take pictures.  There are pictures on their website. 

We did go on many rides!  My person's family went on a few that we did not dare go on:  the Griffon, and Apollo's Chariot. I did ride on The Alpengeist,  the Curse of DarKastle, Da Vinci's Cradle, Escape from Pompeii, Europe in the Air, the Battering Ram, and the Loch Ness Monster!  Here are some photos near the Loch Ness Monster:

We did not leave the park until almost 6 PM.  I believe it is the first time that my person has ever been to an amusement park from the time it opened until nearly closing time.  While the park had shorter hours than later in the summer, we found that going early in the season meant very, very short waits for all the rides, and we were able to do everything that we wanted to do.
On our way home, we grabbed a quick dinner at a Scottish restaurant with the golden arches.

The trip home was eventful, too!  We had an 18 wheeler truck almost pull over on us 3 times near Washington, DC! It was near a major split of highways, and our person's husband was boxed in by other cars and had no where to go!  It was as if the truckdriver thought we should move out of his way so he could move left, but we couldn't do that.  He was carrying a full load of wood, and my person was very fearful of the truck dumping his load on us as we swerved back and forth!
Then, since the GPS app on the husband's phone had taken us on such a good route around DC, we followed it again on the way home.  This time it took us through the city, and while we were stopped at a red light, we were rear ended!  We don't think there was any damage because the other driver was going so slow, but husband will be looking underneath the car today in better light to be sure.
We pulled into our driveway just before 10 PM.  We were so glad to be home!

- Reported by Hitty Rachel Raikes