The Boswell crest: a hooded hawk, with the motto Vraye Foy

HoodedHawk

Kings Dominion

·Entertainment, Family, Kids, Travel

kingsdominionOn Saturday (June 16), I took the boys (Brandon and Dylan) to Kings Dominion Theme park, in Virginia (about 85 miles south of Washington, DC and about 120 miles from our house). We got off to a late start, and hit major traffic on 95 in northern Virginia; it took us about an hour to travel 10 miles. Thus total time to get there was about 3.5 hours vs. the normal 2.25 it should take. The return trip didn’t have a lot of traffic, so we made it back in a little over 2 hours.

The park itself had a lot of people, but I don’t think it was as packed as it “normally” is. The parking lot was not full, and none of the lines were more than 15 minutes. However, the boys didn’t want to try any of the roller coasters after the Rebel Yell, and we ended up doing the bumper cars. We then spent 1.5 hours at the Tidal Wave pool. They liked that, though I was glad I had brought a book (and managed to find a chaise lounge under an umbrella -they were scarce). The tix I had purchased (package from work) also included dinner, so we had all you (care to) eat hamburgers, hotdogs and soda. I didn’t realize until 10 minutes before the food pavilion was to close that it also included beer. Oh well – I managed to grab a couple.

The park is quite large, and there was no way we could find anything without a map. Finding a map was also a trek, but we got one in one of the gift shops (free). Brandon wanted to navigate, so he used the map to take us (the really, really long way) to the Wave pool. He then decided navigation was not his specialty and gave the map to Dylan. Dylan didn’t even try and handed it to me.

After dinner I convinced both boys to ride the Grizzly roller coaster as well as the Anaconda. We also did the go-karts (I drove with Dylan and Brandon drove his own kart). Brandon got a spray-on tattoo (a purple dragon). I don’t think he plans on bathing for awhile so it won’t wash off. The Eiffel tower clone in the middle of the park was closed, so we didn’t get a chance to go up in it – I imagine that is a great way to get your bearings as you can see the whole park from the top.

I wanted to go on a few of the other rides, but was not up for leaving the boys to themselves while I did so. Oh well – probably a good thing that they didn’t get to see Dad lose his dinner. :)

I had to constantly steer the boys away from the midway games, but relented at the end on the way out. The ride home was uneventful. All in all, I’m not going back any time soon, as a 5+ hour round-trip is not worth it unless you actually ride the coasters! I asked the boys what they liked best and they both said the pool and the free sodas. I guess I can replicate that this summer with the local pool and a six-pack of Sprite.

Last Days of the Incas

·Books, History

MacQuarrie The boys and I went to see Kim MacQuarrie give a talk Thursday night about his new book, “The Last Days of the Incas” at Olsson’s Bookstore in Arlington, VA. MacQuarrie is a documentary filmmaker, and he spent some 4+ years in Peru. While there he spent some time living among a “newly discovered” Amazonian Indian tribe. His interest in the Inca was piqued, and he subsequently spent 3 years researching and writing this book. He goes over the story of how ~160 Spanish were able to “conquer” some 30,000 Incas (and eventually the entire Inca civilization of some 10 million). The Spanish killed the Inca ruler Atahualpa in a despicable double-cross (the Inca had filled a room with gold as a ransom; the Spanish took the gold and killed Atahualpa anyway). That story is well known. Turns out the Inca didn’t just lay down their arms quietly after that. The book goes on to tell about the ~40 year “guerrilla” war the Inca waged against the Spanish after the execution of the Inca ruler. He touched on the “discovery” in 1911 of Machu Picchu by Hiram Bingham, and also for the modern search for the lost Inca city of Vilcabamba ( the search is still underway).

Enjoyable talk, and the author inscribed a copy of the book to me afterwards. I believe he currently lives in the DC area. Interestingly, I saw him on the subway on the way home later in the evening (he was in another car); I wonder if he saw me reading his book. :)

The audio recording of the talk is available (from my Canon Powershot S3 IS).

Tastes like chicken

·Archaeology, Science

t.rext. rex leg bone

A recent paper in Science [Science 13 April 2007: Vol. 316. no. 5822, pp. 277 – 280] reports that fossil proteins have been found in a leg bone of a Tyrannosaurus rex. In fact, intact collagen proteins have been found in this 68 million-year old specimen. Most fossils of this age contain no soft tissue, since soft tissue would have long ago been replaced by minerals during the fossilization process. Further testing of the fossil protein reveals it is very similar to that found modern-day chickens. This is further evidence favoring the theory that birds are actually living descendants of dinosaurs. Interesting!

A readable account is at The Economist website.

Walter Isaacson, Arthur Phillips recent events

·Books·1 comment

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On Saturday I attended a discussion by Walter Isaacson for his new biography, “Einstein: His Life and Universe”. Very interesting discussion; I’m quite eager to read the biography. I recorded the lecture for those interested in hearing it. I did read the author’s previous biography on Benjamin Franklin, and enjoyed it.

In addition, last night I went to a signing by Arthur Phillips, for his new book: “Angelica“.


This is the second time I’ve attended a reading by this author (a couple of years ago I went to his “The Egyptologist” reading).

I really enjoyed Arthur Phillip’s reading/talk (which I also recorded). I didn’t expect the boys to be interested (I took them to Comet Ping Pong prior as a sort of “pre-reward”), but both asked pointed questions about ghost stories and why the author liked/disliked them.
Angelica is written in 4 parts, with 4 different points of view. One of the parts involves ghosts and/or the supernatural. The book has received good reviews, but I need to find time to read The Egyptologist first. My stack of “to be read” books seems to increase by 2-3 each time I read one. Oh well – one can never have too many books; and I’ll never run out of new material to transport me out of a mundane world. :)