I don’t even remember how I stumbled across the idea last spring, but somehow I learned that Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia, offers summer camp.
Summer camp at a theme park?
Sure, the campers ride rides. But they also spend the week learning about things like animal conservation, engineering, and even getting to go behind the scenes of the roller coasters to learn how they're designed.
Fourteen-year-old Amanda, who spent an unreasonable amount of time playing RollerCoaster Tycoon, was immediately hooked. Since there was no adult version of camp (rude), I instantly fell in love with the idea of sending my daughters so I could live vicariously through them. Besides, I knew they’d both love it.
The only problem?
We don’t live in Williamsburg.
We live in Northern Virginia, about three and a half hours away, not counting the sometimes horrific traffic on I-95.
But my husband and I started toying with the idea anyway. It was too late for last summer (you know how early you have to lock in those camp registrations!), so we made a mental note to see if we could make it work this year.
The plan was simple: rent an Airbnb for the week, work remotely while the girls were at camp, and meet them in the park in the evenings. We wouldn’t have to take vacation time, but we’d still get a change of scenery and make a few family memories along the way.
It wasn’t really a vacation. It was more like taking an ordinary workweek and seeing how much more memorable we could make it.
Besides, Williamsburg has a special place in our family’s origin story. It’s where my husband and I met as students at the College of William & Mary, and we still find ourselves back there at least once a year—usually as an overnight stop on the way to somewhere else.
Spending an entire week in Williamsburg so we could work remotely while our kids went to summer camp?
It made almost no sense.
Which is probably why I loved the idea so much.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped asking, “Is this the easiest option?” and started asking, “Will we be glad we did it?”
I’ve realized that a lot of our favorite family memories start exactly this way—with an idea that makes us smile... followed almost immediately by, “But how would we actually pull that off?”
So... we pulled it off.
It was definitely a little inconvenient. Packing up your life for a week is a lot less glamorous than it sounds.
We ordered groceries, only to realize we’d forgotten Ziploc bags—a camp lunch essential—and had to make a second trip to the store. It turns out our kitchen at home is full of things we never think about until they’re missing.
My husband and I also had to play calendar Tetris, rearranging meetings around camp drop-off and pick-up, while hoping the Airbnb Wi-Fi would cooperate. (It did... until it didn’t.)
And then there was the Airbnb itself. It was... fine. A little dated. A little worn. But the real surprise came on the first night, when we discovered the dishwasher wasn’t actually installed. It was just... sitting there. Like kitchen décor.
You know where the dishwasher works exactly as intended? Our house.
At any point, we could have decided it wasn’t worth the hassle.
But I don’t regret it for a second.
Because I’m not going to remember the forgotten Ziploc bags or the Wi-Fi issues.
The decorative dishwasher, however, is absolutely making the highlight reel.
Everything else? Here’s what I’ll actually remember.
I’ll remember meeting the girls in the park after their first full day of camp, and my 7-year-old telling me all about the “loop de loop” roller coasters she’s now tall enough (and brave enough) to ride. I’ll remember my 11-year-old explaining what it was like to ride one of the indoor coasters with the lights on, an experience reserved just for campers.
I’ll remember my daughters holding hands with my parents, who joined us for a few days so they could have a little change of scenery too. And I’ll especially remember how they convinced my father to ride a roller coaster... and maybe how they fibbed just a little about how intense it was. (He survived, but had absolutely no interest in riding it again.)
And when my husband had to leave two days early for a work trip, I made the executive decision to stay one more night so the girls and I could have our own little Busch Gardens adventure. We had “snacks for dinner,” and they experienced that theme park delicacy known as funnel cake for the very first time.
None of those memories would exist without a little inconvenience.
A little extra planning.
A willingness to figure out how to make it all work.
Maybe that’s the trick. When an idea makes you smile, don’t spend your energy figuring out why it won’t work.
Spend it figuring out how it could.
Because someday, the story won’t start with the forgotten Ziploc bags or even the decorative dishwasher.
It’ll start with, “Remember that summer we rented a house in Williamsburg so you girls could go to camp at Busch Gardens?”
The decorative dishwasher made me laugh out loud. "Spend your energy figuring out how it could work" instead of why it won't — that's a genuinely great reframe. Sounds like a wonderful week, forgotten Ziploc bags and all. Carried with care!
Love it! What a gift to them! I'm in VA too, and Williamsburg holds a special place in my heart 💖