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Day 7: I Virginia Dare ya!
Jun. 21st, 2005 11:37 pmI find I'm already forgetting things: my stumper of a Zendo koan, which had a table of experts and novices alike scratching their noggins until ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
superbacana wandered by and said, "Oh, is it this?" Watching the first episode of the new Doctor Who on jdh92's laptop. My first encounter with the peculiar and addicting Katamari Damacy. Alas. But, onward!
Roanoke, site of the famed Lost Colony of 1587, was basically across the street from us, where "street" is defined as "narrow bit of salt water," andcreed_of_hubris was along; there was no way to avoid an expedition. First stop: the Roanoke Adventure Museum, which I explored with sinsofthedove (and, after a bit, showergrrl) while the remainder of our party noshed on hot dogs and root beer floats in the Disney-music-playing snack bar. Such a garden of wonders and delights. Fin dressed up in period clothing! I put a dead animal on my head! Lisa and I shot plastic ducks with lasers! I found two shark teeth in the fossil bed out front! We learned absolutely nothing! ( See the pix. )
Lovely paths led back through the woods behind the museum, and we followed them to the slip where the Elizabeth II was berthed.uncleamos went into a veritable spasm of happy nauticalia; my unbound hair went into another kind of spasm, but was "fixed" by Finlay. *sigh* The Elizabeth II is a faithful, functioning reproduction of the square-rigged ship that brought the colonists to the New World, staffed with helpful reenactors and open to be clambered over. We investigated the lower decks, turned the anchor-capstan, poked through the captain's things. ( Ahoy! )
Beyond the ship was the colony itself, with a smith and a woodworker hard at work. While we watched, the smith actually made a nail for Fin, bang bang hiss, which I had to admit was damn impressive. (Insert puns here.) And he knew his stuff; Fin had a slew of questions for him concerning chain mail, and he was able to answer them handily. The colony was tiny, but charmingly hands-on; we were able to fondle and try on nearly everything there. ( Colony pix. )
From the museum, we piled into cars again to visit the aquarium, which was small but enjoyable; we were able to pet skates and pick up sea urchins, which is really the key thing. More unusually, there were electrodes that simulated an electric eel attack on your fingers when you turned a handy crank; what could be more fun than that? ( Just one pic here. )
Our final destination was the Elizabethan gardens, which were fairly dingy and overgrown, but pretty enough to wander through. We saw a frog, and a goldfish, and a statue of a surprisingly hot Virginia Dare ("This is what the artist thought she would have looked like, had she lived to adulthood!"). Sadly, my camera's battery decided to die upon arrival, so I was unable to document the prettiness. It was cool and quiet and soothing, a bit romantic, a bit past its prime.
Some of us went on to the musical (called Roanoke! or somesuch); others went home to have the finest meal ever concocted by man. $150 of barbecue, spread out over our kitchen: 10 lbs. of pulled pork, 4 lbs. of sides, 24 pieces of fried chicken, several racks of ribs. And, nestled among the sides, just waiting to be discovered by the delicate palate of me: mac bites. O mac bites! O heavenly foodstuff! Imagine, if you will, bites of macaroni and cheese, lovingly dipped in batter, then fried. Then imagine putting gravy on them. They are proof that God exists, and that He wants us all to die of congestive heart failure.
There was some gaming in Above It All (Ticket to Ride, which I lost). I stayed up too late, doing nothing that was fun; I was tired, should've gone to bed, but foolishly stayed awake far far too long, waiting for something to happen. This had Repercussions on Thursday.
( On the other hand, I saw a big ol' wolf spider. )
superbacana wandered by and said, "Oh, is it this?" Watching the first episode of the new Doctor Who on jdh92's laptop. My first encounter with the peculiar and addicting Katamari Damacy. Alas. But, onward!Roanoke, site of the famed Lost Colony of 1587, was basically across the street from us, where "street" is defined as "narrow bit of salt water," and
creed_of_hubris was along; there was no way to avoid an expedition. First stop: the Roanoke Adventure Museum, which I explored with sinsofthedove (and, after a bit, showergrrl) while the remainder of our party noshed on hot dogs and root beer floats in the Disney-music-playing snack bar. Such a garden of wonders and delights. Fin dressed up in period clothing! I put a dead animal on my head! Lisa and I shot plastic ducks with lasers! I found two shark teeth in the fossil bed out front! We learned absolutely nothing! ( See the pix. )Lovely paths led back through the woods behind the museum, and we followed them to the slip where the Elizabeth II was berthed.
uncleamos went into a veritable spasm of happy nauticalia; my unbound hair went into another kind of spasm, but was "fixed" by Finlay. *sigh* The Elizabeth II is a faithful, functioning reproduction of the square-rigged ship that brought the colonists to the New World, staffed with helpful reenactors and open to be clambered over. We investigated the lower decks, turned the anchor-capstan, poked through the captain's things. ( Ahoy! )Beyond the ship was the colony itself, with a smith and a woodworker hard at work. While we watched, the smith actually made a nail for Fin, bang bang hiss, which I had to admit was damn impressive. (Insert puns here.) And he knew his stuff; Fin had a slew of questions for him concerning chain mail, and he was able to answer them handily. The colony was tiny, but charmingly hands-on; we were able to fondle and try on nearly everything there. ( Colony pix. )
From the museum, we piled into cars again to visit the aquarium, which was small but enjoyable; we were able to pet skates and pick up sea urchins, which is really the key thing. More unusually, there were electrodes that simulated an electric eel attack on your fingers when you turned a handy crank; what could be more fun than that? ( Just one pic here. )
Our final destination was the Elizabethan gardens, which were fairly dingy and overgrown, but pretty enough to wander through. We saw a frog, and a goldfish, and a statue of a surprisingly hot Virginia Dare ("This is what the artist thought she would have looked like, had she lived to adulthood!"). Sadly, my camera's battery decided to die upon arrival, so I was unable to document the prettiness. It was cool and quiet and soothing, a bit romantic, a bit past its prime.
Some of us went on to the musical (called Roanoke! or somesuch); others went home to have the finest meal ever concocted by man. $150 of barbecue, spread out over our kitchen: 10 lbs. of pulled pork, 4 lbs. of sides, 24 pieces of fried chicken, several racks of ribs. And, nestled among the sides, just waiting to be discovered by the delicate palate of me: mac bites. O mac bites! O heavenly foodstuff! Imagine, if you will, bites of macaroni and cheese, lovingly dipped in batter, then fried. Then imagine putting gravy on them. They are proof that God exists, and that He wants us all to die of congestive heart failure.
There was some gaming in Above It All (Ticket to Ride, which I lost). I stayed up too late, doing nothing that was fun; I was tired, should've gone to bed, but foolishly stayed awake far far too long, waiting for something to happen. This had Repercussions on Thursday.
( On the other hand, I saw a big ol' wolf spider. )
