A vacation from my problems

Robbie and I decided at the last minute to take a weekend trip down south to Williamsburg and the rest of the "historical triangle" (aka Yorktown and Jamestown). We've both been feeling a little bit of the winter doldrums lately and I think that being in a messy house combined with dashing from work to other engagements and whatnot was just wearing on us. Maybe it was just me, I don't know. I wanted to just get out of the house and have a weekend to ourselves. So we did! Because we are adults, and we can do stuff like that.

Anyway, we've been feeling a little bit guilty that we have lived in the DC area for almost a year and a half now, and we haven't really taken advantage of the history that the east (the East?) has to offer. And I don't really claim to know anything about colonial history so it was nice to go explore an area that we knew nothing about. (Actually, Robbie has been to Williamsburg because his sister and brother in-law were at William and Mary for a few years. But he needed a refresher course.)

So, first off, CW (as they call it). We didn't fork over the big bucks to go inside the houses, partly because we didn't want to spend the 22 bucks each and partly because we got into town a little later than we thought we would on Saturday. But the streets were really nice and quaint, and not super crowded because it was chilly outside.

(colonial soda!!!)

(I included this picture because you can see a bit of a colonial man walking behind us. It never got old seeing them on the streets.)

On Sunday, we went to church in the morning and enjoyed brunch together, and then took a Sunday drive along the James River to Jamestown. I also made Robbie stop along the way at all of the signs along the road so that I could read them all, which he tired of very quickly. Anyway, Jamestown (Jamestowne I guess) was an interesting contrast to CW because it is run by the National Park Service, so it's a little less like colonial Disneyland. More archaeology and ruins, which was really cool. And it's cheaper. In fact, I think it might be free on Sundays, or we just got lucky because we didn't have to pay. Hooray!

(The most ridiculous tour guide I have ever encountered. Robbie actually recorded 7 minutes of him talking because we could hear him shrieking across the whole freaking settlement. He was crazy.)

Finally, we decided at the last minute to go to Yorktown. I'm a little bummed that we didn't get to spend a little more time there but the visitor's center was closed when we finally drove up, and it was getting dark out. (Battlefields are not that exciting when it's dark.) We did decide to risk driving part of the battlefield tour before it got completely dark, and we ended up getting stranded somewhere near Surrender Field and Baron von Steuben's tent site (or something) with a bunch of deer darting in front of our car. Not fun. I guess I will have to rent The Patriot for a refresher course in Revolutionary War history instead.

We concluded our trip by staying the night at chez Johnson in Petersburg on our way home, which was a great close to a great weekend. Sometimes you just need a little vacation from your problems, you know what I'm saying?