Colonial Williamsburg
This month has been almost too busy for words. All heading up to two things - first a mini-vacation in Williamsburg; second, moving at the end of the month. Stress, packing, car fixing, waiting for severance stuff, kid stuff, more stress, more packing.
And then a breath of fresh air.
The drive down to Williamsburg was very nice. I have to admit that I prefer the roadsigns in Virginia to those here in Maryland. Why? I've gone on many a detour in MD where the detour signs simply stop. Were they stolen? Were they forgotten? I have no clue. I just know that suddenly they ceased to lead me in the desired direction. So then I have to dig out a map, hope it's current, and find where I am and figure my own way back home.
Virginia gave me lots and lots of lovely notice. As in, I needed a left side exit. So, five miles out it gave me the first warning. The road signs reminded me again at 3, 2 and 1 mile that my exit was on the left side of the multi-lane interstate. Compare that to Baltimore's left exit onto I-83 with the in-town warning 1500 feet before the exit and there are five lanes of wonderful traffic to cross. Or Baltimore's warning for I-83 when on 695, with all the construction, the left exit warning gives you a mere 3/4 mile. Nowhere before that is it mentioned that the darned exit is on the left! And every construction area had lots of easy to see signs for silly people like me who had no clue. I loved it.
We got checked in at our very, extremely nice condo. And yes, the condo was almost worth the ensuing three hour hard sell on Friday. I was tempted to agree to purchase a time share up to the point where, after I had said 'No', they went to hard sell - if you don't say yes we'll just waste your time and keep you here forever mode. That ticked me off. Put me off on the idea of going back later AFTER I had time to think and pray over matters. Period. Full stop. Ain't happening, even if they are the best known group.
The vacation itself was great.
We got to Colonial Williamsburg at close to 3:30pm Thursday and bought two day tickets for Friday and Saturday. We were then told to go ahead and ride into Colonial Williamsburg on the free bus since we had tickets for next two days. We got to see a bunch of beautiful houses right at end of day - sunset was gorgeous but I didn't get any pics due to sheer enjoyment of the show being done by the historic volunteers.
Friday it was 11am before we got there, because as I said before the so called 90 minute sales pitch got blown to 3hours. Sheesh.
Still we got to see a bunch of stuff. Lots of pictures which still need to be uploaded. We've decided we love the fife band. The people there, by the way, are marvelous. The food is very good even if dinner is a bit expensive at the Taverns. We still liked it and it was worth the one time expense. The bakeshop is beyond good - best store bought pecan pie I've ever had and some of the best gingerbread. Yes, we got the recipe book! And the big mug that gets free refills is well worth the cost 'cause hot tea, hot cider are necessities in this weather.
Markets at Colonial Williamsburg are lovely. The Cheese Shop and the Peanut Place are awesome and very much affordable.
We hit Jamestown Settlement on Saturday. Another chilly day but clear and bright. The ships are amazing. The permanent Indian village is awesome and the volunteers were happy to explain and instruct. The fort was fascinating and the people inside very knowledgeable and happy to answer questions. By the way, Saturday is the perfect day as it was not crowded, even with two different Boy Scout troops there. While it did not take long (three hours) to explore it all, it was a great experience.
We then had a choice between going on to Jamestown Historic site or going back to Colonial Williamsburg. While the former sounded good, we decided that crossing to the island and where the winds would be even colder than they were did not sound great. We headed back to the condo to eat and get warm. Then we were back to Colonial Williamsburg for the evening shows.
Liz took 8 rolls of film pictures. My last film camera died after all of two shots. But, I took over 400 digital pictures. I don't think I'll have time to upload them before we move, but I'm going to try.
If you haven't been but can go, I would say do it! We wish we had been able to stay longer and see more. If we can ever afford it, we plan on going again. Well worth the time and money.
And then a breath of fresh air.
The drive down to Williamsburg was very nice. I have to admit that I prefer the roadsigns in Virginia to those here in Maryland. Why? I've gone on many a detour in MD where the detour signs simply stop. Were they stolen? Were they forgotten? I have no clue. I just know that suddenly they ceased to lead me in the desired direction. So then I have to dig out a map, hope it's current, and find where I am and figure my own way back home.
Virginia gave me lots and lots of lovely notice. As in, I needed a left side exit. So, five miles out it gave me the first warning. The road signs reminded me again at 3, 2 and 1 mile that my exit was on the left side of the multi-lane interstate. Compare that to Baltimore's left exit onto I-83 with the in-town warning 1500 feet before the exit and there are five lanes of wonderful traffic to cross. Or Baltimore's warning for I-83 when on 695, with all the construction, the left exit warning gives you a mere 3/4 mile. Nowhere before that is it mentioned that the darned exit is on the left! And every construction area had lots of easy to see signs for silly people like me who had no clue. I loved it.
We got checked in at our very, extremely nice condo. And yes, the condo was almost worth the ensuing three hour hard sell on Friday. I was tempted to agree to purchase a time share up to the point where, after I had said 'No', they went to hard sell - if you don't say yes we'll just waste your time and keep you here forever mode. That ticked me off. Put me off on the idea of going back later AFTER I had time to think and pray over matters. Period. Full stop. Ain't happening, even if they are the best known group.
The vacation itself was great.
We got to Colonial Williamsburg at close to 3:30pm Thursday and bought two day tickets for Friday and Saturday. We were then told to go ahead and ride into Colonial Williamsburg on the free bus since we had tickets for next two days. We got to see a bunch of beautiful houses right at end of day - sunset was gorgeous but I didn't get any pics due to sheer enjoyment of the show being done by the historic volunteers.
Friday it was 11am before we got there, because as I said before the so called 90 minute sales pitch got blown to 3hours. Sheesh.
Still we got to see a bunch of stuff. Lots of pictures which still need to be uploaded. We've decided we love the fife band. The people there, by the way, are marvelous. The food is very good even if dinner is a bit expensive at the Taverns. We still liked it and it was worth the one time expense. The bakeshop is beyond good - best store bought pecan pie I've ever had and some of the best gingerbread. Yes, we got the recipe book! And the big mug that gets free refills is well worth the cost 'cause hot tea, hot cider are necessities in this weather.
Markets at Colonial Williamsburg are lovely. The Cheese Shop and the Peanut Place are awesome and very much affordable.
We hit Jamestown Settlement on Saturday. Another chilly day but clear and bright. The ships are amazing. The permanent Indian village is awesome and the volunteers were happy to explain and instruct. The fort was fascinating and the people inside very knowledgeable and happy to answer questions. By the way, Saturday is the perfect day as it was not crowded, even with two different Boy Scout troops there. While it did not take long (three hours) to explore it all, it was a great experience.
We then had a choice between going on to Jamestown Historic site or going back to Colonial Williamsburg. While the former sounded good, we decided that crossing to the island and where the winds would be even colder than they were did not sound great. We headed back to the condo to eat and get warm. Then we were back to Colonial Williamsburg for the evening shows.
Liz took 8 rolls of film pictures. My last film camera died after all of two shots. But, I took over 400 digital pictures. I don't think I'll have time to upload them before we move, but I'm going to try.
If you haven't been but can go, I would say do it! We wish we had been able to stay longer and see more. If we can ever afford it, we plan on going again. Well worth the time and money.