I have a little time to kill standing in line for the first position on the roller coaster Volcano at Kings Dominion. The crowds are light, Its 70 degrees and sunny.
Things look up!
Literally. The coaster shoots straight up and out the top into a corkscrew flip.
We weren’t feeling so optimistic last night. Our plans to go camping were thwarted twice. Once because the Lake Anna State Park was full. I must have misunderstood the website reservation ‘system’. Twice because we were referred to a ‘campsite’ three miles down the road that was in fact someones’ boat launch with a few picnic tables.
We crawled around the grounds in the dark looking for signs of life besides the sillouhette of a smoking man near the outhouse. There was a sign to check-in at the office, but the windows were shuttered. It crossed our minds to just pitch the tent and see what happens in the morning. But we got spooked and left. Creepy campgrounds are creepy.
Back toward I-95 it was 30 minutes before we saw signs of life in Thornburg, Virginia. Thornburg is a a highway ‘town’ with 3 gas stations, 2 kwik e marts and a selection of dining and hotels. We selected McDonalds and Holiday inn express.
It could have been way worse. The McDonalds had an indoor playground and the hotel was newly refurbished. It smelled like a new car and the kids were quickly over the disappointment of the camping failure. Our trunk of camping gear, carefully inventoried and packed will remain unused for another weekend.
Seriously, where can you do decent camping in the DC area? We know there must be a lot, but we’ve struck out so many times.