Day 29: Williamsburg, VA

Stop 24 / State 13:  Williamsburg, VA

Today's trip was a mere 118 miles so we found ourselves reaching Williamsburg fairly early. 

Along the way We had one more opportunity to take a picture of some of those North Carolina day lilies:

Of course, we got a shot of the Virginia sign:

Kristen took this picture of the Appomattox River as we crossed:

Once we got set up we took off for some sightseeing. The big 3 in this area are Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg. We decided to tackle the in that order since we were thinking that we might be able to grab dinner in Williamsburg.

We set off for the Jamestown Settlement. We realized, after a brief discussion with the woman at the ticket office, that we didn't want the Jamestown Settlement, we wanted Historic Jamestowne. The settlement is a Disneylike recreation of the settlement with actors, ships, the works. Historic Jamestowne is part of the Colonial National Historic Park and is the real deal. Here are some pictures of Historic Jamestowne:

The Tercentenial Monument:

Archeologists at work (they were working in several locations):

A model of Jamestowne:

John Smith Monument:

Pocahontas Monument:

 

 

The Barracks:

Queen visiting the Barracks (looks like she was a sore loser):

Next stop was Yorktown (also a part of the Colonial National Historical Park). Yorktown was the sight of a revolutionary war sea battle, where the French Navy ended the British Navy's blockade of the Chesapeake. In very short order, the British army's loss of Naval support led to their surrender at
Yorktown.

The battle site (we must be looking over the top of a British cannon since that's an

American flag in the distance):

The Victory Monument:

Then we were off to the Colonial Williamsburg Historic Area. Guess we should have researched that one more in advance.  We got there at 2:30 PM, they closed at 4:00 PM and they wanted $41 per person to get in. Apparently, the $41 is good for 2-3 days but, as much as we were looking forward to Williamsburg, we just couldn't see paying that much for 90 minutes.

Instead, we looked for (and found) the non-theme park part of Williamsburg and had an early dinner. The most exciting (nerve-wracking) part of the day followed. We were in one of those lots where you get a ticket when you go in. Before you leave, you go to a central machine, insert your ticket, pay for your parking and get the ticket back. To leave the lot, you insert the ticket and the gate (should) open.
Briar had called us during dinner to warn us that there were tornedo warnings in the area. Kristen asked me how we would know if a tornedo was coming. I told here that I've always heard that a tornedo sounds like a freight train. We both realized at the same time "Oh no! We've gotten used to freight trains". Not surprisingly, most RV Parks are near train tracks. We've heard trains almost every night since we started.

As we returned to the car, we hurried because the sky was incredibly black to the North of us and the blackness seemed very close.  We paid for our parking, got in the car headed for the exit.  Suddenly, the wind was strong and coming from all directions at once. It was almost impossible to see because all of the dirt and leaves were going straight up into the air.  Suddenly there was rain in the mix. A whole lot of really hard rain (like zero visibility).  We managed to make it to the gate and, naturally, the machine ate our ticket and didn't let us out of the lot.  We weren't alone.  Some people had their credit cards eaten. Eventually, after we were both completely soaked from our varied attempts to escape, someone showed up to let us out. On our way back to the trailer, we saw many trees that looked like they had just been snapped off.

The storm seems to have passed.  We just went for a walk and it's dry outside and the sunset is beautiful. Also the temperature has dropped from 95 before the storm to about 70 now.

Here's today's trailer picture. It was raining outside when I took it so it's an out the door trailer picture.

Here's a couple of pictures that Briar sent (Thanks Briar!)

A map of our trip:

 

 

Maya, pointing to our current location on the map that they are marking each day:

-J-

PS: Colonial Williamsburg looked fascinating and we were very unhappy to have missed it. As a part of our October trip back for Nikos' birthday, we flew into Richmond and spent 3 days at Colonial Williamsburg before driving up to Rutland. That trip is summarized at the end of this blog.