Waterpark, Richmond, and Random (car and other) notes

Well, I'm back up north (that is, Northern Virginia) from my journey down south. What a fun weekend! Last night, Tony was getting all depressed/stressed (part of it was probably fatigue) about having to return to work today after such fun. Part of his issue was probably that Laura, a music teacher for Durham School of the Arts, is officially off for the summer and could just hang out with me for an additional morning, but I understand his pain. I am just trying to live it up and sleep a lot to "save up" for what I fear will be an incredibly intense and tiring intern year. I'm currently pushing any depressing thoughts about that out of my mind.

In any case, we had an awesome time at Emerald Pointe on Sunday! The weather was great, and the lines weren't too bad at all so we were able to hit up every single ride (some twice). I have to agree with Laura that the rides with rafts were the best-- I think we both really enjoyed the Raging Rapids one (where you could go down in a three-person raft!). Tony really enjoyed one called The Edge, a half-pipe where you slid down and then up the other side, down, up, etc., until you stopped (more weight made for better height on this one!). We went on a few with tunnels, which I discovered I really don't like. One, called the Twin Twisters, was entirely black, and you were sliding down a totally dark and curvy tunnel for what seemed like an eternity. It was the closest I have ever come to a full-blown panic-attack-- my chest got all tight and I just kept thinking, "Where is the light?! Where is the light?!". Surprisingly, I was talked into going down this one slide called the Daredevil Drop, which is a near-vertical drop (76 feet) down a big white slide. Okay, okay, it isn't Bloukrans Bridge or bungy jumping, but I feel like I was pretty daring to go on this one! Here's a picture that Laura (the sane one who abstained) took of me going down (Twin Twisters are on the sides). Truthfully, it wasn't too scary. The drop was so fast that you really couldn't be scared for very long.

The happy Delauneys

Laura (looking cute) and me (looking very squinty and strange, without a headband)
Tony (goofing off as usual) and me in the wave pool

I would only allow the hair to be dunked
Perhaps I should not have included this one on the blog, but I thought it was funny.... this is Tony's leg peeling after a previous sunburn at the NC beach, which he was picking at all afternoon.

For dinner, we had yummy pasta and made homemade cookies-and-cream ice cream with oreos (I LOVE double stuff and no, they did not all end up on my chest!!!) with the ice-cream maker I had sent these guys last Christmas. You put ice and rock salt in the outer ball, the half-and-half, sugar, vanilla, etc. in the inner container, and then play with it (with intermittent stirring) for a while until it turns to ice cream. It was EXCELLENT! Forget that store-bought stuff! This is the way to go :)

Here is Tony on the deck, demonstrating his mad ball-handling skills

Stir, stir, stirring

This morning, while Tony had to go to work, Laura and I finished the movie (White Chicks-- hilarious, I might add) that we both fell asleep to last night. We then went biking on the nearby Tobacco Trail and, after lunch, I headed back up north while she (very dedicated teacher that she is) went back to school for a few hours. It was so fun to hang out with her (and Tony). I love how alike we are, in so many ways, and how well we get along-- we are big coupon-cutters (found $5 off ones to the Waterpark at Burger King, which we were thrilled about!), like to be active, love music, love books, and are very organized-- it's been very easy to keep in touch with her. I also really like being around Tony and Laura as a couple-- they complement eachother beautifully. Let's just say Laura is quite down to earth and Tony... well, Tony would be great friends with Erin. In any case, I am hoping (Tony still owes me the wager of another bet I won) that they will soon come visit me in California, as Laura has some family in the Sacramento area.

I sadly left the Delauney residence in NC for Richmond and puttered for a little while in the Short Pump area just west of UR before meeting Eva, a friend I met when we played flute in the orchestra at Richmond, for dinner. We had decided on Tara Thai, both because of our love of Thai food and its name. I'm not sure what the connection is between Tara and Thai, as there are numerous restaurants with this name in various cities I have visited (and, in fact, my 8th or 9th birthday celebrated right after we moved to Bangkok was in the Tara hotel). But if you figure it out, please let me know.

The carpet outside
Even though I'm sure everyone is sick of pics with me with whatever-friend-I'm-visiting-that-meal, here is one of Eva and me (here, in Laura's old shirt) :).

Eva and I wandered a bit around the Short Pump mall, into enticing stores like H & M (very reasonable clothing) and Bath and Body Works (I needed a replacement scent-- Eva led me to Jasmine), and Eva clued me into important subtleties of credit histories (she works for Capitol One) and dirt-cheap airlines (Skybus-- $10 flights-- check it out!) before I had to head back home.

Some other points I must make before I go to sleep for the night:

• Tony asked me to put a plug in for him. So here it is. He is an excellent Financial Advisor with Ameriprise Financial and is working on building his client base. If anyone in the mid-atlantic (North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland) area needs advice with his/her finances, please get in touch with Tony (or me for Tony). I have promised him free medical advice for his free financial consulting, as I am retarded with money. But he does actually need paying clients.
• The Prius is awesome. I borrowed my parents' car for this trip, and loved it! It gets amazing gas mileage-- i.e. 50 miles per gallon on the highway, and it used not quite one full tank of gas for the 500-600 or so miles I drove this weekend. Being the competitive person I am, I turned the "fuel consumption" into a game where I tried to see [this is all displayed on a bar graph above the stereo system), using cruise control, coasting on declines, coasting to stops, etc., how many mpg I could get (and "green cars" representing energy that I could regenerate). It was fun.
• The Prius is fully ipod-adapted so, with the appropriate charging and auxiliary cord, you can play songs right through the stereo system. This is much better than what I, radio-less-because-it-was-stolen-in-Rochester, did in my old car, which was put one earbud in and play the ipod on battery, so I'd at least have some music during road trips!
• It takes some getting used to pressing a button to turn the car on (no ignition!), to use the mini half-an-H-shaped gear lever, to press a button to park (and to power the car off), and to remember where the keys are, as they never are in the ignition, but it's totally worth it!
• (Most random point of all) The dodgies got their teeth cleaned today, which apparently cost a fortune. My parents think that being a dog anesthesiologist would be a great way to make money (maybe, Hans, knowing how much you like dogs, you could do that on the side for some extra cash... :))