On the road with Mike and Tina: Colonial Williamsburg

Friday the 17th

Up at 6:30 AM to a bright blue sky and sunshine!! Oh yeah, it was about 29 degrees out and everything was frosted white. I took the dogs for their walk, gave them breakfast, made coffee, had breakfast, did the dishes and went back outside to take the car in for brake service. But before I could go I had to find the windshield scraper and scrape ice off all the windows. With the heater up full blast on defrost and the windows cleared, I headed for Hopewell and the local Firestone store. After getting a work ticket started Cameron got there to pick me up and take us back home.

A lazy morning with a little vacuuming, dusting and working on the blog. Most of the day was spent waiting to get the car back. We had planned to go and see another plantation but bgave up that idea when 3:00 PM came and went. At 4:15 the tire place called so Cameron and I went and picked it up.

When Zelon and Laura got home we headed out with Brandon, Dakota and Noah for a Mexican dinner. It was very good. Spent the evening watching movies and reading.

Saturday the 18th

Today promises to be a really nice day with temperatures in the mid 70’s. After everyone got up and had breakfast Zelon suggested taking his car and going to “Colonial Williamsburg”. Since we wanted to go there anyway it was a very good idea. Cameron and Angel had to work and Brandon was nowhere in sight so Dakota, Noah, Laura, Zelon, Tina and I jumped in the car and made the 45 mile journey to Williamsburg.

When we arrived a parking space magically appeared right in front of the Visitor Information Center. Once inside we learned that what we were going to explore was a significant re-creation and restoration of the original town of Williamsburg during colonial times. Several options were presented where tickets were available for any number of guided tours. Carriage rides through town, busses from the parking area to the edge of town, tickets for individual shows such as weaving, blacksmithing, etc.

Since we only had four hours we chose to walk up to town and walk around on our own. There were a lot of people but it wasn’t crowded. With map in hand we explored about 60 percent of the site with a break for lunch at the “Kings Arms Tavern” where we ate in the garden under vine covered trellises. It was pricey but we enjoyed it anyway. After lunch we continued our walkabout exploring the rest of the site before heading back to the car. We all had a great time. For anyone going without any time constraints I would recommend going for the comprehensive tour package so you can go into more of the buildings to see old time life activities being performed and have a person explain the history of the building.

Once in the car Laura recommended a short detour to view the Revolutionary War Victory Monument located in the heart of Yorktown, in a beautiful park setting along the York River. The monument itself was commissioned by the Continental Congress in 1781 to celebrate and honor the great victory at Yorktown in the American Revolutionary War. Although authorized in 1781 actual construction didn’t start for another 100 years. The monument was built between 1881 and 1884 and remains a lasting monument to Independence and victory.