Yesterday was Aaron's bachelor trip. I say trip, because if I say party, people immediately start getting the wrong impressions. (Well, at least the people I work with do.) We had a great time.
We started out at Aaron's house at 5:30a.m., but didn't actually leave until about 6:00a.m. We drove down to VA Beach and arrived at the jetski rental place at 8:50a.m. We all got individual jetskis for 30min. I've been on jetskis a few times when I was younger, but this was the first time I've been able to go out into the ocean. It was so sweet. There are waves in the ocean (duh), making riding the jetski and full throttle rather bumpy. You can do jumps much easier than you can in lakes or other bodies of freshwater. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of this. This wore me out something fierce. When you have a desk job and don't do many physically strenuous thing, when you DO do them, it wipes you out. I didn't really how tired I was getting until I tried to get off the jetski and almost couldn't. Well, moving on from Kevin's wimpiness...
We ate at Subway (mmm...) at the beach. We sat there for a little while and re-cooped from jetskiing. (By the way, VA Beach public parking is cheaper than parking in DC or northern VA. It was $5 for an entire day.)
After this, we hit up the beach. God provided a tropical depression of the coast the past few days, so we had
great waves for boogie boarding and body surfing. The weather was great all around, even though it was hot. Thankfully Aaron and Mac brought their flippers, because the lifeguard won't let people go out in the water very far at all. (In fact, Harlan and I got in trouble for going out to far without flippers, after which I promptly apologized to the lifeguard.) His reasoning was that children would see us go out that far, then they would want to. As a sidenote, this reasoning doesn't make sense to me for two reasons: 1. The kids can't see and don't care whether or not we're wearing flippers, and 2. they couldn't go out very far if they wanted to, because the waves would beat them back. It was hard enough for us to get far enough out. I was quite happy that I remembered to bring my boogie board, even though body surfing was WAY more fun -- especially when I did a faceplant into Aaron's ankle, then my chin in the surface of the sand under the water, to which my reaction was to laugh at it all while I was still under water wondering what was happening. I even arose out of the water laughing, yet hurting. (I'm weird.) Near the end, while we were drying off, we noticed a Miniature Pinshcer linked to a chair on the beach. Harlan tried to make friends with it and almost succeeded. However, I believe Kris was nipped at twice. Yeah, somehow that doesn't surpise me.
Josh
Harlan
Mac
Oh, and during all this I was getting a steady sunburn, despite the 4 SPF lotion that provided significantly less than a stone wall against sunburning.
After this, we went to Bruster's and got some ice cream. There was no place to sit inside, so we just stood there and ate. The employees didn't seem to mind.
We then went to the aquarium (in a weird roundabout way, thanks to my dad's crazy GPS (but hey, it DOES work great)). However, instead of going to see fish, otters, sharks, whales, and whatever else they have there, we went to see a larger than life "man of steel" whose colors include red, blue, and a little yellow. His name was "Superman," and we saw his "returning." IMAX theaters are amazing -- the best picture quality I've ever seen, some scenes are in 3D, and probably the best theater sound I've ever heard. Oh, and the screen is
six stories high. We had all seen the movie before, but Aaron hadn't yet. And technically, Harlan and Chris have now seen it 1.5 times, considering they were sleeping, with Harlan lightly snoring next to me. I personally throroughly enjoy this movie, despite reviews giving it a merely above average rating. The messianic overtones in it are simply amazing and beautiful. Aaron, Mac, and myself and a very good conversation about it on the way home.
Once the movie got out, I went up and asked one of the aquarium's employees about good restaurants around there. She asked me what type of food I was looking for, to which I promply replied authoritatively, "Seafood." She said, "Well, there's a
Captain George's..." to which I shot back, "Are you serious?!" For those of you who haven't been to Captain George's, it is the best (in my opinion) all you can eat seafood buffet. We all had a great time and great food. After a while, when the effects of the day started making us extremely tired, Josh and myself, being the drivers, were eager to leave and
hopefully make it back to Aaron's house at midnight. They gave us complimentary coffee which I speedily drank.
We hit the road and made it back to Aaron's house at around midnight or 12:30a.m. -- I don't really remember which one, because it's by the grace of God that He kept me from falling asleep.
Needless to say, as I'm typing this at work, I'm exhausted, sore, tired, sunburned, and rejoicing for such a great time yesterday!
Here's to you, Aaron!
