Kickin' It In Williamsburg

(Stock photo from Google. Items shown are more visible than they appeared on our trip.)

Sorry that I haven't updated for a while but we've been in Colonial Williamsburg on a family vacation for the last five days.

You know, I read a reader submitted editorial to Newsweek a few years ago that lamented the demise of the long road trip with kids. This editorial claimed that, with the advent of all of the personal entertainment devices, we have become families of strangers. Now, I agree with that claim to a point, but the author argued that a prime victim of this technology was the road trip and all of the horrible parts of it. I will counter that cordless headphones and individual dvd players mounted in the backs of the front seat head rests of your father-in-law's brand new SUV make the nine hour trip bearable. I don't relish the arguments, tensions, complaints, and everything else that we all are guilty of when cooped up with one another in a car for extended periods. Not having to experience that one more time doesn't leave me feeling cheated. That's right, an extremely large "Thank You" to Larry.

Anyway, we stopped over in Charlotte on the way up and visited Keith and Helen for an hour or so. They were nice enough to drive over to our hotel and drink a milkshake with me while Paula rested with the kids.

Colonial Williamsburg was really nice. We apparently hit it a little off season. There were a smattering of people dressed up and giving visitors a view into the history and politics of the time period, but the boys didn't get to see some guys playing the fife and drums or some soldiers drilling with muskets. Unfortunately for the boys there was a little more history than entertainment.

But we did get to see blacksmiths, silversmiths, a basket weaver, a cloth weaver (?), a wig maker, saddle makers, and a wagon wheel maker while at work. The boys really liked the blacksmiths and I have to say they were one of my favorite parts of our visit. I love the smell of the coal and the work really appealed to me.

The title of this post is a little bit of an inside joke. You see, the whole time we were in Colonial Williamsburg the boys kicked the small pebbles that covered all of the walkways. I felt like I was telling them not to kick the rocks about once every ten minutes.

After two days in Colonial Williamsburg we spent our last day visiting the Jamestown Settlement where the boys got to visit an Indian village, a recreation of the Jamestown Fort, and recreations of the ships that carried the residents of Jamestown to the New World.

Enough talking, here are a bunch of the pictures from our trip.

This is the Governor's Palace with a few of the "locals" riding up to the gate.


Here we are visiting the wagon wheel maker. He makes all of the wheels for the carriages by hand. It was amazing to watch. The boys couldn't have cared less.


These are the gardens behind the Governor's Palace. There was a maze in a section of bushes that the boys really enjoyed.


Dinnertime in the kitchen of the Governor's Palace. We saw demonstrations of some of the foods that people ate at the time. We also learned that George Washington's favorite ice cream was "Oyster" flavored. Ick.


Luke in the foyer of the Palace. As explained by our tour guide, the foyer was about as far as most of us would have gotten past the door.


Here are the boys on Gloucester Street. You can see one of the carriages in the background. It's original to the time period (circa 1780). The horses aren't original.


The hats were expensive but worth it. The boys loved them.


As you can see, they rarely came off of their heads.


Here the boys learn about basket weaving.


Here, the boys and a couple other boys get to drill with one of the soldiers at the Magazine, where the British stole the colonists' black powder. Ben tried hard but Luke seemed distracted.


I finally had enough with the kicking of the rocks and resorted to the punishment of the times.


Standing guard over some of the colony's supplies. A wooden musket comes at a premium price like the hats but the boys loved them and had to be ordered to not carry them into restaurants or around the hotel.


This was taken at the Jamestown Settlement Museum. They had some stuff out for kids and adults to touch like the dead raccoon and the bandolier.


Luke wouldn't have anything to do with the dead raccoon.


Here the boys pose with a Jamestown Settler/Soldier who had just demonstrated his musket with an actual firing. Very loud. Very awesome.


We get to try on some armor circa 1607.


Paula and the boys get into a canoe that has been hollowed out with fire like the Powhatan indians did in the 17th century. Sweet.

Well, that's it. We had a lot of fun.