Busch Gardens Williamsburg April 2025

On our spring break trip, we went to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. The kids were excited to ride rides, my wife wanted to watch shows, and Grandpa wanted to take it easy. The entrance has an old-world field that fits the European theme of the park.

Is this Busch Gardens or Historic Williamsburg?

Walking through the obligatory sales area

Grandpa, Mom, and our youngest went off to try the tamer rides that he wanted to go on. That left my daughter with me as her ride companion. We went on the more serious rides. Our first was Finnegan's Flyer. The line was short (the park had just opened) and we got right on before I saw what the ride does. 

Finnegan's Flyer

The riders swing back and forth, eventually reaching heights where riders pass a ninety-degree angle with the ground below. It doesn't loop but there is some hang time at the top of each swing. And passengers are on the front and the back of each swing, so one group is looking up into the sky while another is looking down at the ground. It was a bit terrifying.

Meanwhile the other group was riding Prince Elmo's Spire, a ride that lifts passengers maybe a story and a half high before gentle returning to the ground. They also rode the Worms ride, a gentle coaster in the Sesame Street section.

Elmo's ride

Stolen from my wife's phone

My daughter and I found a more terrifying ride than Finnegan's Flyer. The Griffon is a steel coaster that whips around in all sorts of directions. We got in the front row (again the lines were very short), which turned out to be more intense than we thought it would be. At the first drop (a ninety-degree descent), the car hangs at the edge, leaving the front row facing down for three seconds that felt like thirty minutes. 

Walking to the coaster

Later view of the hang time

We walked over to the Invadr, part of the border between the French area and the German area. The Viking-themed ride is a wooden rollercoaster that was fun and thrilling. And not really terrifying.

Invadr entrance

We walked over to Alpengeist, one of the best coasters, but it was closed for annual maintenance. 

No luck in riding here

Another unlucky guy on the roof

We went next to Darkoaster, where the other group had gone after the Elmo rides. They were in line about an hour ahead of us (the park wasn't that empty), so we waited and exchanged cell phone photos.

Darkoaster entrance

By some thematic decor

More decor

Getting on the ride

Trying to copy my son's photo

We planned to meet up for lunch. While my daughter and I still waited in line, the others went on the bumper cars (called "Der Autobahn"). 

Happy to bump into you

They had extra time, so they visited some of the nearby shops before heading to Das Festhaus to meet us for lunch when we were finally done with Darkoaster.

Patron saint!

Clock shop

Grandpa in his element

I think this was in the Germany part?

Festhaus!

The show was not running at the Festhaus (too early in the year) and the food selection was not to everyone's liking, so we went over to Italy (only a short walk!) for lunch.

A lot of room at the Festhaus

With a full meal, we stuck together for a while riding some nearby rides. 

Okay for after eating

Escape from Pompeii, a water ride, not open in sub-70 degree weather

The park has some wildlife exhibits. We saw some bald eagles near the France/New France (i.e. Canada) area. 

Bald eagles

New French food

It started raining while we were in line for Le Catapult. The kids and I stayed in line while Mom and Grandpa sought shelter (and hot coffee).

Le Catapult

Mom was close enough to get this picture

Daughter on her own

He re-rode it later

For a relaxing change, we took the train around to the Italy section. The sky riders were closed because of windy conditions (which came with the rain). 

The mildest coaster ever!

A nice family shot (almost)

My daughter and I broke off and rode Tempesto, a thrill coaster that has a short run and a long line. It was worth the wait.

Tempesto entrance

Tempesto tracks

We tried to ride Apollo's Chariot, but the line was shut down for high winds just as we got to the front. After waiting a while, my daughter checked a weather app and saw the winds wouldn't die down for another hour or two. We went to join the rest of our crew at the Celtic Fyre, the Irish dance show.

No chariot for us

Stage at Celtic Fyre

Some of the dancing

Our last coaster was Loch Ness Monster, which was a lot of fun.

Thematic stuff to look at on line

The final ride was the swings. My daughter and I managed to ride Nessie fast enough that she replaced Mom as a rider on the swings.

Final go around, not the merry-go-round

Just to be clear, Busch Gardens does in fact have gardens in it!

The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la!

We had a fun visit. The Summer-long pass was only five dollars more expensive, so we bought it. Hopefully when we come back, rides like Alpengeist, Verbolten, and the water rides will be open!

Book Review: The Hound of Distributism ed. Richard Aleman

The Hound of Distributism edited by Richard Aleman

In the early twentieth century, Catholic thinkers G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc advocated for social and political reform guided by Christian principles. They called it "Distributism" and based it on the Catholic idea of subsidiarity. Subsidiarity, in its most basic form, has social or community problems dealt with at the lowest level of society that can solve the problem. A local doctor can and does deal with a variety of common maladies, there's no need to go to a larger institution to get basic care or prescription medicines. Such a system results in better and more personal care for people without a lot of bureaucracy, delay, and waste. In fact, if government agencies are not involved in the solution, so much the better. Locally-run food banks are better than federally-run food stamps.

The other Distributist principle is identifying the basic unit of society. In Capitalism, the basic social unit is the individual, whose needs are paramount and whose prosperity is the focus of the system. Wealth and property can be concentrated in the hands of a few individuals if they are the most clever, hard working, or organized. In Socialism, the State is the basic social unit. Wealth and property are owned and managed by the central government for the benefit of citizens who are expected to contribute as they are able. For Distributists, the basic unit of society is the family. An individual cannot constitute a social unit and the state is not a necessary institution. Families can exist more or less independently, though groups of families create greater economic potential by allowing groups to focus on individual goods or services that they produce. The first society people experience is the family, a very formative and influential time that cultivates attitudes for life.

A great deal of admiration is held for the guilds of medieval Europe. Professionals would band together to help each other by providing resources and common standards and expectations, creating fine craftsmanship in medicine, arts, construction, etc. Decentralized authority and ownership is the ideal of Distributism. Also, the workers own their own tools and have care of their own products, giving those workers personal dignity and proper self-assurance. Such an ideal (owning the tools of labor) can be found today in co-operatives and in employee ownership through stock incentives. Remnants still remain and can be revived in modern society.

The authors of the various essays admit that a Distributivist system will not be perfect but claim it will be much better than either Socialism or Capitalism. Some essays are more persuasive than others especially as they are applied to specific situations like banking, farming, and education. The implementation is tricky since it requires a larger cultural shift in attitudes towards wealth and responsibility. This book winds up being a call for that shift.

Recommended--this provides a good overview of Distributism and a fine effort to pull it into contemporary society.

Bits of Virginia Beach

We drove over to the beach at Virginia Beach to have some fun in the sand and sun. The water was cold (like in the 60s Fahrenheit) so we did not do any swimming. We did some exploring instead.

By the shore

The original photo of above!

Looking south

Looking north

The beach has a boardwalk that goes for a couple of miles along the oceanfront. It has the typical mixture of high-rise hotels, restaurants, snack shops, and merchandizers. 

Northern end of the boardwalk

We looked for nice shells and rocks but had a hard time making good finds.

Found on shore, not brought to shore by us

A claw without an owner

Daughter and bird on the wing

The personal houses along the beach are large and amazing. I wonder how much they cost. Probably in the millions?

Large and cozy

A large statue of King Neptune sits along the boardwalk. Created by Paul DiPasquale, it was built between 2003 and 2005 and is 34 feet tall. The statue is impressive and a park across from the king has a stage for entertainers to perform.

King Neptune

More beach

Fun sign showing how far it is to other places

Further down the beach is the Naval Aviation Monument, whose entrance (from the ocean-side) is dominated by the Norwegian Lady statue. A sister statue is located in Moss, Norway. Both statues commemorate the wreck of the Norwegian ship Dictator off Virginia Beach in 1891. Many locals helped save the passengers and crew of the ship as it sank.

Map of memorial

Norwegian Lady

Story about the wreck

The memorial has several spots dedicated to flight, so 20th century accomplishments.

Naval Aviation Monument

Information about the Doolittle Raid is on the World War II section.

Doolittle photos

Preparing to deploy sculpture

Pre-WWI--the beginning of military aviation

Homecoming

Modern era with cleaning crew

We went to lunch at a pizza place called Dough Boys then tried to get dessert at Sugar Planet. The planet was closed! The sign directed us to other locations north and south.

Disappointing!

We left from our parking garage, which had a geocache on the top floor. I took a photo looking down on the beach with Neptune on the far right.

One last view

Book Review: Usagi Yojimbo Book 15 by Stan Sakai

Usagi Yojimbo Book 15: Grasscutter II: Journey to Atsuta Shrine by Stan Sakai

Usagi, Gen, and Sanshobo head out from Sanshobo's temple to return the legendary sword Grasscutter to a temple that is home to a replica of the sword. Their journey is fraught with peril as two ninja clans vie for possession of the sword, which will grant a lot of political sway to whomever owns it. The travels, battles, and intrigue are exciting and well-executed by Sakai. It's a fun read and a worthy finale to the Grasscutter storyline.

Recommended, highly for Usagi fans.

Movie Review: Mission: Impossible Catch-Up Part I

Seeing that the (maybe) final installment of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible series is coming out this summer (2025 as I write), I thought I would rewatch the series. Frankly, after the third film my viewing (and memory) is spotty. I am sure I watched at least one of the subsequent films in its entirety and parts of the other films but it is all a jumble in my head. To unjumble things, I am doing this series. First up, the first three!

Mission: Impossible (1996) directed by Brian De Palma based on the television show

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is an agent of the Impossible Missions Force. He and the team, led by Jim Phelps (Jon Voigt), are deployed to Prague where they will catch a spy stealing and selling a list of secret agents operating in Eastern Europe. As soon as the theft happens, the situation falls apart. The entire team, except for Hunt, is wiped out in a matter of minutes. Hunt reports in to their next level supervisor, Kittridge (Henry Czerny), who reveals that the operation was a mole hunt for someone betraying IMF. Since Hunt is the only survivor, he must be the mole. Hunt knows he isn't, so he makes a daring escape and hunts down the real killer and the client who wants the list (who clearly was in contact with the actual mole).

The movie is a summer action thriller. The plot is a bit convoluted, structured in a way to highlight fantastic action sequences, of which there are many. Cruise is on top form as a charming and sincere hero caught in a messy situation. The rest of the cast is also good. The visual style has lots of dutch angles and pov shots, making it more visually appealing and intriguing. The story was high-tech in 1996, though the use of email and internet looks quaint 30 years later (do today's kids even know what a modem is?). Some of the twists and machinations are very hard to believe, but the action sequences are so exciting and well-executed that viewers have a hard time not being charmed by the whole package.

I remember fans of the TV show complaining about one of the plot twists though that did not bother me then (I had only seen occasional episodes in reruns) and the twists is cliched now. 

Recommended--this is great action fun.

Mission: Impossible II (2000) directed by John Woo

At the beginning of the movie, we see a scientist working in Australia who wants to take some medical thing to Atlanta, Georgia. He injects himself with it and only has twenty hours to make the delivery. His plane is hijacked by the bad guys who discover he only has the cure (called Belerophon) in vials, not the disease. They assumed one of the vials had the disease (called Chimera). A cure with no disease is not particularly lucrative.

Ethan Hunt has a new mission from a new supervisor (Anthony Hopkins). He's to recruit an exceptional thief, Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton), to help him find out what was stolen from Australia (they don't know about the disease/cure situation). After a sexy encounter with Hall, Ethan eventually recruits her only to find out that the supervisor wants her to get back in bed (literally) with Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), the rogue agent who stole the vials. Ethan also recruits old friend Luther (Ving Rhames, who was in the last movie in a minor role) and Billy (John Polson) as aids. They start worming their way into Ambrose's set up.

The movie's plot is a bit convoluted and lots of parts don't fit together. These holes are papered over with over-the-top action sequence and the high stylization of director John Woo. The movie looks great but you brain can't be in neutral, it's got to be in reverse. Even the fight sequences use all sorts of martial arts moves that look impressive (flip kicks and twists and such) and that also look very impractical for actual hand-to-hand combat. Cruise is always charming but I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters.

Not recommended--they tried too hard for style with no substance underneath to hold it up.

Mission: Impossible III (2006) co-written and directed by J. J. Abrams

Ethan Hunt has stepped back from field work and is training new recruits. He's also engaged to Julia (Michelle Monaghan), a nurse in the DC area who does not know about his real job (she thinks he works for the Department of Transportation). Ethan gets called back in by his buddy Musgrave (Billy Crudup), who wants Ethan to help extract one of the agents Ethan recommended for field work (Keri Russell). Ethan joins the team to extract her from the clutches of underworld ne'er-do-well Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). The plan goes awry. Now Ethan is in a struggle with Davian to stop him (1) from selling a horrible weapon and (2) from getting revenge by killing Julia.

This sequel takes a big twist with the story. Ethan is semi-retired and trying to go back to a normal life. Of course, that's not what fans want to see, so he gets drawn back in for action and intrigue. The plot does a good job balancing the two tensions and Cruise gives a much more vulnerable and identifiable performance as a more weary and love-motivated character. He's still Ethan Hunt, but he is much more human. Hoffman is good as the villain, more menacing in his attitude. The supporting cast is very good, with standout performances by Laurence Fishburn as the IMF director and Simon Pegg as an IMF tech (his role becomes recurring like Ving Rhames's Luther). 

Recommended--this is a fun jaunt with some heart to it.