Dad, Mötley Crüe and the End of Summer

It’s been a long two weeks, but time has just flown by. Last week Dad was in town, and it was our only time off for summer vacation this year. We had planned on taking him out of town for a day trip or two, but he had plans of his own. Chris managed to capture some it with his new camera. I'm going to be citing his blog entries because he's already posted the pictures.

Chris got us all (me, dad and Margie) on the guest list for a tour of NASA Langley Research Center. We got to see planes up close, planes taking off and other planes landing. It was great to meet all of Chris’ superiors at his internship on what was to be his last day. They really like him there and were very vocal about their desire to see him back next year. Fingers crossed.

We hated our oak built-in book case and entertainment center. Dad encouraged the project (to remove, sand, prime, paint and re-install) and was a great foreman. After all the dust, smoke and sweat we put all of ourselves into it and after three days we were very pleased with the results. Turns out that the biggest pain was sanding the doors, and at the end of it all we decided it looked better without them. Good to know.

We hit up a couple of really cool restaurants in Williamsburg. Shackelfords, Pierce’s, the Marina at Kingsmill, Nawab and the Fat Canary. Turns out Dad is a simple dinner kind of guy. He didn’t like his meal at the Fat Canary, but loved his burger from Shackleford’s and his pulled pork barbecue sandwich at Pierce’s. Also good to know.

We dropped Dad off at 6:15 am on Wednesday at Richmond International Airport and drove back home to sleep in on what would be our last day of summer. Chris started school again on Thursday and I went back to work.

Come Friday we were exhausted from the week but managed to muster up some energy to accompany Amber, Breeze and Dennis to Crüe Fest 2. I loved Mötley Crüe growing up, but managed to never see them. Turns out they’re not that good. I was excited to fulfill a childhood concert though. I think it would have been better if Tommy Lee wasn’t injured because he didn't play (and they usually have elaborate moving drumset displays), but his fill-in was good, technically. Turns out TL holds all of the on-stage charisma. He got on the mic and addressed the crowd with his obnoxious banter, and that was the most reaction the band ever got from the crowd. The biggest laugh came when he said, “What’s up,Vagina Beach?!” Haha, get it? Virginia Beach/Vagina Beach? Yes, and although he is kind of douchey, he is not nearly as bad as Vince Neil. I have never seen anyone kill (in a bad way) awesome songs as VN did. "Shout at the Devil", my favorite, was unrecognizable and quite terrible. Surprisingly, we left early and I was disappointed. I wanted to witness the entire train wreck from start to finish, but we needed a ride out of there. In all, it was fun because we were in good company sans the sweaty meatheads with neck tattoos. Next stop was Red Rock Lounge to watch Jason’s band, and we were out of there after last call.

Saturday was really our day to recover. We ran some errands and had Christopher and Corbett over for drinks. Yesterday Chris and I rode our bikes again out to Chickahominy State Park and back, then went to the Ford’s Colony pool and went home. Now it’s time to start another week. I need a vacation.