Sunday, May 18, 2008

Williamsburg Redux

Last week was so crazy busy that i never got a chance to share Rickki's pictures of our Williamsburg trip. Firstly, i think this picture captures the fact that there is nothing i love quite as much as i love a roadtrip (in many of the pics you will see a tiny dog named Scooter that is Zachary's; Rea took pics of Scooter everywhere we went so that he could tell Z all about our trip) The reason for our trip was the scrapbooking retreat. Rickki had matching shirts made for us and I made us matching nametags. Understand that neither of us told the other what we were doing; basically, we just share one brain. (i think she got the tall half of the brain) It was beautiful on Saturday, so we took a little break from the scrapbooking goodness and went to Colonial Williamsburg, starting at the Visitor Center fountain and flowers in front of the visitor center, with a mini metal model of the town There is a walkway to the town and on the bridge from the visitor center there are plaques that help put you in the colonial mood as you walk back in time The walk goes through an underpass, past a creek and winds through some lovely farm with split-rail fences. Did you know that i love split-rail fences? The walk is less than half of a mile and you know you're close when you spot the windmill; there's no more electricity, people. The Governor's Palace was once considered to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the colonies. All of the Royal Governors and the first 2 Commonwealth governors (Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson) lived here while Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia. It burnt down in 1781. The building that stands there now is a reproduction, opened in 1934. In Williamsburg you pay to tour the buildings or participate in various activities. Since we had limited time all i really wanted to do was walk around and see some dudes in tights. Mission accomplished, though technically i guess they are stockings, not tights. Here i am with the cobbler (why is the same word used for a guy who makes shoes and a bubbly fruit dessert?) and Rea is outside of a tavern. We had a lovely walk about and then ventured back to the 21st century Where, of course, there were gift shops. One of the featured items were colonial Hotch Potch cards that had drawings of "posture masters" making letters of the alphabet with their bodies. Along with the cards there were all manner of Hotch Potch items like magnets, keychains, mugs, puzzles and of course Hotch Potch dolls. The dolls themselves weren't so bad, but the GIGANTIC ones used for decoration were creepy It was a fast, but nice trip. I'd like to go back sometime and really DO all of the activities. You can even rent Colonial outfits and i think we all know that i want to do that.

2 comments:

Erin said...

I love willysburg...including Bush Gardens....I really want to see it during Christmas time!

Melanie said...

The funny thing is that we were in Richmond that weekend, and one of the things Adrian suggested was to go to Williamsburg. We didn't feel like driving that far, but wouldn't it have been crazy if we'd run into each other there!