The Trip, Part 2

Well... I didn't exactly intend to wait that long for part two. Life's been a bit on the crazy side lately...

So. The trip.

On Monday, we went to Colonial Williamsburg. It was pretty cool. Of course, the things I liked the most were probably... a little weird. There's an old church there with a really, really old cemetery that was very cool. I've always had a thing for old cemeteries (I guess that's a little morbid, but oh well), and this one was about 200 years older than any I'd been to in and around Kansas. Thankfully, my husband shares my fascination with old cemeteries, so he didn't think I was too crazy when I started bouncing up and down when I first saw it. There were also these really, really awesome old brick walls. I have cool pictures of the walls, which, of course, are at home, but maybe I'll post one later. The day would have been better except for two things. One, we'd both walked and walked and walked and walked and walked the previous two days... so we were kinda wiped out. Two, it was really, really, really, really humid and warm. In Kansas, when we have that kind of weather, it almost always means we're going to have big thunderstorms later in the day. In Virginia, apparently this kind of weather means... it's going to be really, really, really, really, really humid and warm all day.

Tuesday, we headed out for the Jamestown experience. This was by far my favorite of the historical sites we visited. First, we went to Historic Jamestowne, the site of the original settlement that began in 1607. Until a little over 10 years ago, they thought all the original settlement had washed away in the river... then they started digging and found that 90% of it was still there. There were archeologists digging at the sight, and a new museum that just opened this year for the 400th anniversary with a bunch of artifacts they've found. There's also an old church that was built in 1907 on the original footings of the church that was built there in 1617, and the church tower that was built in the 1630s is still mostly standing. (And there was another really old cemetery.)

In the afternoon, we headed over to Jamestown Settlement. They have a recreated Powhatan Indian village, the Jamestown Fort, and replicas of the three ships the original colonists came over on, the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. After going on the ships, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have wanted to a colonist. A sailor, maybe, but not a colonist. No way would I want to be cooped up for months in an area smaller than my living room with 12-30 other passengers, unable to bathe, changed clothes... not my idea of a good time. I think I would have stayed in England.

Wednesday, we went to the Yorktown Victory Center and Yorktown Battlefield. The Victory Center had a recreated Continental Army encampment and a 1780s farm. We saw the field where the British troops laid down their arms when Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington. We ended the afternoon by eating a super healthy lunch... at Ben and Jerry's. Mmmmmm...

Wednesday was also our 2nd anniversary, so we went to The Whaling Company that night and had really fresh seafood, something we definitely don't have a lot of in Kansas.

Yikes... I guess I'll finish up the trip on another day.