jenseib

Hello all! Welcome to my newest trip report! This time I totally went out of my comfort zone and took a trip to Disneyland! Who am I? Well I am Jen. Why did it take me 45 years to get to California? Well that is a good question. One reason was airfare. Every time I priced it….. I cringed. Secondly, the length of the flight also scared me a l’il bit! I tend to get anxiety when I sit for long periods. I have the same issues with car trips too. And of course I have a husband who always talks of going, but then just can’t quite get up the nerve to go so far away and out of HIS comfort zone. Finally my real chance came this year. We have talked of going off and on many times, but I kind of knew that unless I went first and gave it the official OK, there would not be much of a chance to go as a family in the future. A work conference came up…. I jumped on it! ….This was my chance!!!!! I told Skip about it, he said yes, I fainted…picked myself back up, and immediately booked airfare. And you are not even going to believe this! Air was the same (actually a L’il bit cheaper) than flying to Florida. This was meant to be, as in the past, air was always super high. The next thing I did was contact my best friend since 3rd grade, Stacy. She lives in the LA area and I wanted to let her know I would be coming out and possibly, if it worked for her, we could get together. She jumped at the chance too and soon we had a few small plans set in place, with her picking me up from the airport and giving me a tour of the area. Another thing about these conferences…they make you room with other people in most cases. Luckily I knew a few people who had signed up. When it came down to who being able to go, only one of my co-workers could make it work. Cass! She posts on the Disboards and she is actually the one I contacted when I was looking into this career choice. We had never met, but I knew I liked what she wrote and from talking to her online, she seemed to be a pretty fun person and I figured I would get along OK with her. Boy! Little did I know how well we would hit it off! Cass I talked via facebook and decided we wanted to come in early and stay an extra night. We also needed hotels for those nights and I went with her suggestions. We ended up getting the Disneyland Hotel for the first 2 nights for a pretty decent rate and then the Grand Californian for our last night. The conference was putting us up at the GC as well and we figured it would be nice not to move to another hotel that last night. Then there was life at home. I had to make arrangements for Claire, my 9 year old. My husband shocked me once again and said he would do most of it and just have his mom help out when he was working. He is a dairy farmer and works right here at home and his mother also lives next door, so it would work out nicely. I was completely shocked at how well everything was falling into place. Plans were in place and we just had a very short time to wait till we were both on our way to Sunny California!

I have a secret...I use a bigger font because I can't see. LOL. I really do enjoy writing them, but it does take time. I will have 2 coming up this year. I will do the DL one first and then work on the WDW one. I have learned writing 2 at the same time is really hard, so I will try to get the DL one done fast...(notice the word "try") and then get the WDW/DCL one going.

I had a blast at Disneyland..even with a few meetings thrown in there. I will do a report, but not till after I get back from my next trip because I just have too much to do yet to even think about starting it now. Hopefully in free time I can get some pictures edited so I will have a good amount to start with.

I understand being busy! I have heard that Christmas time is beautiful there. I use photoshop to resize and add borders. I have an older version, but it suits me just fine for what I use it for. Things are coming along for the March trip. We fly down the 21 and stay 1 night at Port Orleans French Quarter, then move to Marriott Grand Vista for several nights. On the 27, Skip will fly down to meet us and on the 28th we will drive over to the port and cruise for 3 nights on the Magic. Once we get off, we will do a day at Legoland and a night at Old Key West, and fly home on April 1. We are pretty excited. And I was able to also work in a conference in California at Disneyland. I will be leaving for that on Feb 23 (this sunday). I am super excited about that as well since I have never been to California in my life yet. my best friend growing up lives out there too and we plan to spend Sunday together.

I could go for some of it right now!

My thoughts on the trip…. Sadly, my memory is fading fast on this trip. It has been a long hectic year and I couldn’t wait to get rid of 2013. This however was one of the highlights of the year. I will say I constantly compared this to a Disney trip in my mind while there and honestly this is just not the same. I enjoyed this trip, but it’s just not Disney. I am happy to finally have gotten there and would like to go back someday, but not for several years when Claire can enjoy it more. I will say I am very proud of her because I know parts of this had to have been boring for her and she didn’t complain much and seemed interested in a lot of things. We got to try new things and experience many different things and it was a lot of fun doing so. And it was on my bucket list, so I am happy to be able to check it off now. I would like to go at Christmas time, as I heard it is really neat then too. Our plan is to go to my parents timeshare in March over Spring break and go to Disney and Legoland. My husband is feeling left out and he wants to do something as a family, which I am all for as well. The thing is, he finds it’s “sin” to go twice in the same year. So he has decided to join us at the end of the trip and the plan is to go on the Magic for a 3 day cruise and he’ll be joining us for Legoland after the cruise. It’s not officially booked yet, but that is the plan we have talked about as of today and …I will be writing another trip report! Thanks so much for following along and helping me relive our trip!

April 20, 2013, Saturday We got up early. We wanted Dad on the road early so he wouldn’t get lost. The plus to driving back though was that when it got dark, he would be in more familiar territory and shouldn’t get lost. Most of the latter part of the drive was on the turnpike, which was pretty much a straight shot. He got some breakfast in him and we packed a few snacks for the trip. We also emptied the fridge and anything that could make a safe return without refrigeration was packed in a garbage bag and put in the back of his truck as well. We actually had quite a bit of food left, so it was nice to not waste it. I did try a Greek yogurt that needed to be eaten or thrown away. Let’s just say YUCK. I won’t be eating Greek yogurt again. I did not like the texture at all and it had a funky after taste to it. I guess I am the odd one out as I hear many people love this stuff…but not for me! We helped Dad load the truck and sent him on his way. We emptied trash and made a 2nd round of the place to be sure we had everything. Once we were all ready we loaded up our car and got ready to leave as well. I made the call to the desk to let them know we were leaving and were heading out as well. And we’re off! We took off towards the airport, which was a bit over an hour away. Of course we can’t be on the road too long before someone has to use the bathroom. We made a stop and everyone used it so there wouldn’t be any more stops and I think I topped off the rental cars gas then too. Not long after we got on the highway we came to a complete stop. UGH. We had been making pretty good time, but now I worried that we would be late and miss the flight. We all got in a bit of a panic, but there was nothing we could do. Luckily, the stopped traffic didn’t last too long and we were soon cruising again. I have no clue what the holdup had been. On our drive, we discussed the trip and Amanda brought up this question. “Do you think our family would’ve owned slaves if we lived back then?” Good question. Of course we want to say no, but really knowing our family, and our grandparents and great grandparents ….I think that we would have. I don’t want you to think bad of us……but I think if we had grown up not knowing different, we probably wouldn’t have known better. Yes it’s so wrong and I can’t imagine doing what those people did to the slaves, but if you grew up thinking that was OK, it would be hard to be one to say no to it. We discussed this for quite a while too. Trying to think we would be good enough to know it was wrong, but times were so different back then and really who knows how what we would’ve done back then. It was kind of a squirming with your morals moment. We made it to the airport on time and dropped off the car. We got checked in and made it to the gate with plenty of time to spare. We figured we better get some lunch before heading off so we picked up some burgers! (I do have a few crappy phone pictures yet.) (And I do think they had coke, along with pepsi) It was a good burger and filled us up. Claire doesn’t eat burgers, so maybe they had hotdogs there too? Or she just ate fries…I don’t remember anymore. We had a later boarding number for this flight and I really have no clue how Delta assigns them. Someone told me it had to do with where your seats were, but our seats were virtually in the same spot each flight. They kept announcing that those in our boarding group would not have room for carry ons and we could gate check them for free. Um nope. All my camera equipment was in there, so I would take my chances. It was such a mess boarding too. People all over trying to push their way in. Amanda got nervous and decided she better make one last bathroom stop and told us just to board and she would catch up. But the line was so slow she was back before we even moved at all. We finally got on the plane and there was plenty of room for all of our carry ons. We got seated and soon we were off in the clouds, on our way to Atlanta. The flight wasn’t too long at all (maybe just an hour) and we were landed. We got off to check for our connecting flight. This time we were not as lucky and our flight was not at the gate next door. We had to take the tram to get to it. We followed the masses of people and we had to head to the A T area. Amanda started cracking jokes on how we were on our way to the T & A area. Yes we have childish sense of humors. We got on the fake monorail and just barely made it before it was to leave and a few even crammed on behind us. We barely were on and it started to move with a huge jerk. The people behind me fell on top of me and I was on top of Claire. I tried getting up, but the 2 on top of me would not move. Come on people, get off of me! Finally they did get up and acted all weird about it. I know it wasn’t their fault, but it was like they were looking to blame someone. Claire was ok, even after having 3 people on top of her and she laughed about it …thank goodness! We made it to the next gate and got seated. We had an earlier boarding time on this flight…YAY! I think this is where I found the cupcake shop and bought a few to snack on later….and they were darn good. I think Mom called Dad to see how he was doing and he had taken a wrong turn at one point and ended up in Washington, DC for a bit, but was back on the right track now and making good time. Soon it was time to board this flight as well. Again the flight wasn’t too long and uneventful. I kind of worried when our plane parked here though …. It was nice to be back in Columbus once again. We texted Aunt Laura and Jan to let them know we were on the ground and waiting for our bags. I think Claire and I ran to the bathroom and when we came out our bags had already arrived. We did have good bag mojo this trip. We lugged them outside and Jan and Aunt Laura were pulling up in seconds. We loaded up the cars and took off. They wanted to go to dinner together that night, but we had promised Claire that we would go to the Cheesecake Factory on this night and there was no way we could back out now. This was a highlight for her (and me too). Since they don’t take reservations, Aunt Laura and Jan declined to join us as they didn’t want to wait. We made it back to Amanda’s and unloaded everything and headed off for dinner not long after. And sure enough, there was a HUGE wait. We actually went out to the mall and looked around since we had so much time. I stopped at the apple store to ask them why my phone randomly wouldn’t send emails. Let’s just say they are dumber than a box of rocks there. They had no clue why and were blaming it on the carrier. Then they were saying it was the service signal…but that wasn’t correct either as it worked from the same location one minute and not the next. Basically they told me to take a screen shot next time and bring it in. Which I then proceeded to tell them I don’t live anywhere near an Apple store. I pretty much left disgusted with them. Out of the 3 people I talked to there, not one seemed knowledgeable at all. Mom found a pair of jeans at Coldwater Creek that she thought would fit me well. I didn’t like the price tag, but I tried them on to humor her. They did fit well and she bought them for me. Thanks Mom! We headed back to the Cheesecake Factory and got drinks at the bar while we waited. We still had a bit of a wait and finally we were seated. I don’t remember what others ate, but Claire probably got the pizza because she gets it every time. I got the Chicken Parmesan which has now become a new favorite of mine. It was darn good! But it is a huge portion and I ended up taking half of it home. Service was very slow though, but they were extremely busy. But it seems that they haven’t gotten the knack yet to handle busy times as we have gone since during a busy day and again service was very slow. Of course we ordered cheesecake to go too and had that for a snack later in the evening. We headed back to Amanda’s and settled in for the night. I think we worked on homework for Claire and called it a night then. I don’t really remember much of the next morning, but I think we just slept till we woke and then packed up and headed home. I believe we stopped at Bob Evans for lunch before getting too far on the highway. We were tired when we got home, and Skip was happy to see us once again! Of course unpacking and laundry were started and we got back to everyday life right away. Oh how I hate coming home to reality!

As we came around the front of Kings Arm Tavern, I got a treat……something I had been looking for the whole trip! Red Coats!!!!! There was a special event going on across the street and several people who were dressed up were going in the restaurant over there (which I believe is only open for special events) and these guys were playing for them. I tried to get some pictures, but none were fantastic as to get around the front of them I had to stand next to some burning torches. It was windy and this fire was burning hot and all over. I was afraid I would catch on fire, it was that bad. I actually wondered how the people were getting in there without getting burned as you could really feel the heat coming off them in the distance that I stood from them. This guy was greeting the people. We got ourselves checked in and it didn’t take too long to get seated. Sadly, they didn’t have it noted that it was Mom and Dad’s anniversary, even though Amanda did tell them when she made the reservation and the guy even told her they may do something special for them. We reminded them at check in and it really seemed like they didn’t care, or note it again. Here is Mom and Dad at their special dinner. Our waitress was really nice and fun. She did a good job. She did tell us that the air-conditioning was not working and it was a little extra stuffy in there today. She said it was an ongoing thing lately and for some reason they couldn’t get it fixed right. And it did end up being a little stuffy in there. I can’t imagine what it would be like in the warmer months, as it was cool outside tonight with a breeze. Amanda said she would pay for Mom and Dad’s meal since it was their anniversary and I told her I was actually wondering if she wanted to split the cost and she said yes (which of course made it slightly cheaper for her too) and Mom and Dad were happy with that. We made our orders and this came out. It was some sort of relishes and none of us really liked them much. Just not to our taste. I actually thought it was disgusting tasting, but I am not always adventurous. Dad and I both ordered Amaretto Sours, which were pretty darn tasty. Amanda ordered the Mrs. Vobe’s Tavern Dinner. It was Half of Sage-rubbed game Hen with savory Herb dressing, Scuppernong-Chutney sauce, Herb-mashed Potatoes, and Cook’s Vegetable served withPeanut Soupe and a choice of Williamsburg Pecan Pie or Williamsburg Ice Cream for $35.75. She had had the peanut soup on her previous trip there many years ago and had loved it. This time around she said it was just OK. She could only eat a little bit before it became too much for her. I tried it and it was OK, but not something I would order. Claire went with the trusty chicken strips. I went with the Dueling Beef Collops. Twin petite filets of Beef Tenderloin, served with Herb-roasted Potatoes, Vegetable and a Red Wine Reduction for $34.25. And that’s the last picture I took on this trip. I no longer remember what Mom and Dad got, but I think Dad got pork chops. Not a clue at all what Mom had. We did enjoy our meal here, but we liked Christianas better. While we were eating the flute guy came out …it was the same guy who we had in our private concert the other day. We really liked him. He mentioned people with birthdays and anniversaries, but Mom and Dad were not mentioned, so we are guessing that it still was never noted anywhere. Oh well, they were fine with not being called out for everyone to look at. He played some tunes tonight, different from the other night and we had a good time. Because I am a glutton for punishment, when it came time for dessert, Claire and I decided to share an ice-cream. Our waitress asked if we wanted chocolate sauce on that. Well heck yeah!!!! I didn’t know that was an option! So once again, we stuffed ourselves beyond belief and were practically sick when we left. I did not do well with control in eating this trip at all! The bill came and Amanda and I split the cost. For the 5 of us it was around $250 with tip. Not cheap at all and sadly this meal was not as good as Christiana’s either. But we still enjoyed ourselves. We rolled out and I think this is when Amanda had to use the bathroom before heading out. There was one outside and Claire decided to go with her for some reason. They came out laughing so hard and we wondered what they did. I guess the bathroom was a 1 room stall and not very big. There was a chair near the toilet and Amanda had Claire sit there…..and it was so close that they were knee to knee. LOL. She said their faces were right on top of each other and they just giggled the whole time about it. Amanda said if you wanted any privacy; don’t bring anyone in that bathroom with you! We headed back to the car and went on our way again. It started raining and boy it was a hard rain. It was dark and we were in an area with no lights and I couldn’t see at all. I ended up pulling off into a subdivision to wait it out a bit. Of course I picked the most popular subdivision in Williamsburg. We were parked and people kept zooming in behind us and practically hitting us each time. I had my breaks on, so not sure why they couldn’t see us, but it was just as scary sitting there, so we turned around and took our chances on the road. Of course I had a side seat driver with my Dad telling me what to do. It was a little tense at times, but we made it back safely and the rain calmed down then. It was time to pack. Mom said that she was sending her suitcase back with Dad so she didn’t have to pay for it to fly back. She said I could too, but 1, I needed some of the things for the next day (we were staying another night at Amanda’s) and 2, Dad had a truck and I didn’t want my stuff getting wet sitting in the back of the truck. Mom said since Dad had brought such a big suitcase, she would put as much of her stuff in his and then wrap it in a garbage bag for the back of the truck. The rest would go in hers and then that would sit on the passenger seat inside and I could throw things in there. So that is what we did. I did get quite a bit of my stuff in her bag and then Amanda had overflowing things, so she put her extras in my bag with the rest of my stuff. Mom put anything she needed in my bag as well. I have no clue why we had so much more going home, as we didn’t seem to have bought that much, but it worked out and our suitcases were a little lighter. After all the packing it was time for bed. Dad had to get up early to set out driving. He still kept asking Mom to ride home with him, but she decided no, and I agree. She had a plane ticket and why waste it and drive all that time. I go batty in a car that long anymore and with the plane we had breaks between flights to get up and move around. We had all went to sleep then. Sadly our trip was over!

I did not see a restaurant there nor did I see one listed on it's site, so my guess it was gone, but that would've been a perfect spot for a lunch that day. And of course since we weren't familiar with the area at all we weren't too keen to go exploring on side roads to see if we could find anything either. You would've driven by the Charles City Tavern on your way to the plantations (it's right on Rt. 5). It used to be the Indian Fields Tavern years ago, and the food was great back then (no idea about it now). It's in a big farmhouse. Wa it kind of dumpy looking? We did see something kind of in the middle of no where that looked like a truck stop type place and the outside kind of looked scary so we didn't even consider it. Nope--it's this place. Ok...I don't remember seeing that one at all.

I just love this house. This fence was in front of the house. I knew I was taking too much time and I figured Dad was getting impatient in the car, so I made my way to the garden, where I could walk through and then exit. Even the wheel barrow looks old fashion. This is William Byrd II's tombstone. The garden was gorgeous! I then headed back to the car and we took off once again. I believe I called Mom then and told her that we were running later than we had planned and we didn’t think we would have time to pick her up and come back to look at Sherwood. She was fine with that, but Dad was not. He hates when we change a plan and he griped about it, but there was just no way to do it all in one day. We made our way towards Sherwood next. We were both hungry and there was nothing around we could see. I had grabbed a granola bar in the morning and threw it in my bag for that just in case I am starving moment. Well it was here and I fished it out. I wasn’t sure I would even like it, but at this point I was going to eat it anyways. I asked Dad if he wanted half of it and he looked at it and scowled. I knew he didn’t like granola, but he surprised me by saying yes! Yep, we were both so hungry we would eat anything at this point. It didn’t fill us up, but it sure did help with the hunger pains. Soon we arrived at Sherwood Forest and all I wanted to do was take a few quick pictures and be on our way. I believe there is a fee to tour the grounds and if you want to tour the house, you have to make an appointment. My plan was to just walk up and shoot a few pictures and be off, so I wasn’t going to pay any fees at all. The driveway was kind of long and winding and they had us park out fairly far from the house. It also looked deserted for the most part. We parked and got out and started our walk up the driveway. This is the pet Cemetary where John Tylers family pets were buried, including his horse. Sherwood Forest has the distinction of being the only private residence in the United States to have been owned by two unrelated United States Presidents. William Henry Harrison inherited the plantation, then named Walnut Grove, in 1790 and held it for three years. He sold the 3,000 acres property in 1793 having never lived in the house. Harrison's successor John Tyler purchased the plantation, which by then had been reduced to 1,600 acres, in 1842 and lived there after leaving the White House. John Tyler was the first vice president to ascend to the presidency upon the death of 9th President, William Henry Harrison. Sherwood Forest Plantation has been the continuous residence of the Tyler family since the President purchased it in 1842. It is still maintained by the Tyler Family descendants. It is known to be the longest frame house in America, it is over 300 feet long. This was about the best I could do to get the whole house in the picture. The house is supposedly haunted as well, with a grey lady being heard rocking for over 200 years. Though this house IS long, I really didn’t think it looked much longer than Westover. But I assume Westover is not a frame house (though I am not sure what gives that classification). We had our look and headed back to the car then. We set off on our way back to civilization. We were very hungry now. We knew where a few fast food places were not too far from our resort, so we figured we would head that way. Luck would be that we got behind someone who had no clue how to drive. They were driving so slow and swerving back and forth a bit. And the road we were on had some turns, plus oncoming traffic, so there was no safe way to pass them. We were having a fit as we were wasting away now without having lunch and I think it was after 1 PM at this point. Soon Siri was telling us our turn was coming up and sure enough these people got in the turn lane. We made a quick decision not to follow them anymore ….we should have……. I went straight thinking that that we would find food quicker and then easily get back to the resort. We came into a populated area, but no fast food was in site. There were even strip mall looking places, but not a single McDonalds or the like to drive through. I finally pulled over and set Siri to get us back to the resort again as I knew how to find food from there. She took us to the main drag we had driven so many times and we found a Burger King. Sadly the route was much longer than I thought it would be and I think following the slow people would’ve gotten us there faster. We both had to use the restroom by this time, so we got out and used it and made our orders inside. I think it was now around 2 PM. Luck again, was not on our side and they were the slowest burger king ever! I got the wrong drink and I think Dad got something wrong as well. We snacked on fries as we made our way back to the resort where we then inhaled the rest of our food. Claire and Mom were not there when we got back. Amanda said they had been swimming and taking walks and they even had her do some of her homework as well that morning. I laid down for a quick nap then and got a nice little rest and then Claire came back and of course had to wake me up. You never allow a Mom to sleep too long, it’s in the kid rule book. Soon it was time to get ready for dinner. Today was Mom and Dad’s anniversary! Amanda had bought a ring a few days earlier that already broke, so we headed out early so she could return it. Dad and I sat in the car while the rest went to return it. Sadly they wouldn’t give her her money back and she had to either get something else or have them repair it. I think she chose something else. Since we still had time and a primo parking spot in the shopping area, some of us headed off to the book store to look around and make some last minute purchases. We then drove over towards the Kings Arm Tavern and found a parking lot across the street. It was very easy to find actually and not a far walk at all from there. We came in the back way and made our way around the front of the restaurant.

I did not see a restaurant there nor did I see one listed on it's site, so my guess it was gone, but that would've been a perfect spot for a lunch that day. And of course since we weren't familiar with the area at all we weren't too keen to go exploring on side roads to see if we could find anything either. You would've driven by the Charles City Tavern on your way to the plantations (it's right on Rt. 5). It used to be the Indian Fields Tavern years ago, and the food was great back then (no idea about it now). It's in a big farmhouse. Wa it kind of dumpy looking? We did see something kind of in the middle of no where that looked like a truck stop type place and the outside kind of looked scary so we didn't even consider it.

It was now getting closer to the time for our tour, so I clicked a few more pictures as I made my way to the meeting place. I was back around the front of the house now. A look out to the front driveway. I had a seat and saw this lizard on the side of the house so I tried to get his picture. And one more picture from where I was sitting before I put the camera away. Our tour guide came and met us. She told us she was new and this was her first tour on her own. She was very nice and very good for her first time alone. I am sure we missed out on some info, but she still did a good job. We got a little history outside and were told about the cannon ball in the side of the building and then led to the basement where we watched a movie. Honestly, I no longer remember what the movie was about, but I am sure it gave history of the area and house. After that we were led back outside and in the house. Our group was much bigger than what we had at Shirley. I am sure this had to do with the time of day. Again, no pictures during the tour were allowed and again we only toured the first floor as the upper floors were being lived in. These people were not the original family. They had bought the house, restored it and opened it for tours. This house was not kept up over the years like Shirley had been either. At one time is was close to ruins and I think it had even been used as a barn for a while. Berkley is the birthplace of Benjamin Harrison, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Also this is the birthplace of William Henry Harrison, the 9th president. The house was occupied by Union troops during the Civil War and the song “taps” was composed here. It was another very interesting tour and we were told things that had been added on and when and things that were found during restorations, for example doorways and windows that had been covered at some point in time were discovered. After the tour we were getting hungry. We knew there wasn’t much of anything in the area, so we decided to head back towards civilization. We headed back to the car. And one quick look back at the house. We headed off and I decided I wanted to take a quick look at Westover since it just veered off on the driveway. Dad said he would sit in the car, which was fine. It was actually kind of windy and chilly today, with some warm periods when the sun came out to shine, but near the river it did seem colder. We made the turn to Westover and wow that was a long driveway back. As we got back there, there were actually several little houses all around the place. I am not sure if they had been there as part of the plantation years ago, or as things got sold off they just built these houses, but it was kind of strange. Some seemed to be awkwardly placed, so that makes me think that they might have been part of the estate at one point in time. We parked in a little parking area and I got out, put some money in the drop box and started at the back of the house. They were right along the river as well. This is the back side of the house. This house itself was the most beautiful. I enjoyed Shirley best for the all-round experience, but if I had a chance to tour inside of this house, I may have picked this one as winner as this is my kind of house in looks!!! I kind of felt weird walking along the house. This was someone’s private residence. But they did allow people to tour the grounds, so they must be Ok with it. A small map was also given at the drop box and I had taken one. It showed that they did have underground tunnels from this end of the property to the other side of the house. There was a building I could go into, so I did. I only took a quick look as I was trying to get around fast since Dad was waiting in the car for me. After getting home, I did look up Westover online and found that at one time there were several different buildings and in the late 1800’s a family descendent, Mrs. Clarise Sears Ramsey, bought the place back and then enclosed it all to make it one big house. Also during the Civil War, troops also occupied this place as well. And cannon fire had burnt down one wing. The place was left in ruins till Clairise bought the place and rebuilt the wing and enclosed everything. If I was a rich plantation owner, this would be the kind of house I would have. Maybe that has something to do with the house I grew up in? I always had a thing for brick houses and I was going into the 5th grade when we built that house. My mom said she was having a brick house with pillars, even if it was a shack. LOL Back to my walking tour. Coming around to the front now and a car pulled in. It was the owner. I talked to her a few minutes and told how beautiful the place was and she told me to go to the pump building to see the tunnel and told me where the light was to turn on. So I took a few more pictures and worked my way over there. And this is where the tunnel came up. I am not sure if it is useable anymore or safe, or if the other end is open. It appeared on the map to be kind of in the side of the cliff over by the river and I never went to look and see if it was there. Back out to go and check out the front of the house.

I did not see a restaurant there nor did I see one listed on it's site, so my guess it was gone, but that would've been a perfect spot for a lunch that day. And of course since we weren't familiar with the area at all we weren't too keen to go exploring on side roads to see if we could find anything either.

I really love the amount of land they had too. now I grew up in the country and we had a farm and huge yard, but no where like they had there, nor as pretty.

We made our way a few miles back down the road and towards Berkley Plantation. As we went down the road towards Berkley it gave us an option to turn one way for Berkley or another way to Westover. Now I hadn’t read about Westover …..hmmmm. We kept on to Berkley, but I mentioned to Dad about possibly trying Westover out on our way back out. We approached Berkley and parked. The house looked nice. But as we walked up to the house to get our tickets we saw the flanking buildings …which were ugly…. With a nice puke color to them. That particular puke colored building is where we were to buy our tickets. Dad was paying this time around. You can see him digging in his wallet for his money in that last picture. We went in and made our ticket purchase and Dad was excited because these 2 tickets were 50 cents cheaper than Shirley, so he made a big deal about him getting the better end of the deal. LOL. They gave us a time to meet and told us we had a bit of time yet (I think about 20 minutes) and that we should walk down towards the river as it was a beautiful path. Dad didn’t want to, but I did and he ended up coming with me. We also saw a picture of a beautiful plantation hanging on the wall and I asked what it was. The guy told us it was Westover. OK, so THAT’S Westover. He said they only do tours a few times a year, but you can go over and tour the grounds for a small fee. I might just do that….. We made our way back outside and looked for the path. The River was at the back of the house and quite a walk. But it was beautiful and the whole back yard was beautiful. They also noted that this was the site of the first Thanksgiving. I am not sure what they actually meant on that. I think it had something to do with the landing in Virginia, but I am not sure. The water looked a little choppy today. A look back at the house. As you can see, the back yard is really huge and the house is quite a ways back. We then started to head back towards the house so we wouldn’t be late for the tour. We moved over on a path the led up to the backside of the house. Again, I had that “Can you imagine being a kid and growing up with this yard” thought. I believe Dad is already over at the meeting spot and I am still behind taking pictures. A look back towards the river. Here is a cannon ball still lodged in the side of one of the flanking buildings. The cellar. Side entrance. Another puke colored flanking building. These just looked disgusting to me. I am not sure if that is mold on the side of the house, but it sure looked like it to me. I guess they were keeping the place looking original? I have to say I tried to look in the windows from the where I was without being too obvious. I couldn’t figure out what this is used for now. It really looked like a junky apartment. They had broken blinds in the windows, fans in the windows and AC units. And I could see an old looking TV set through one window. It really looked like some low life lived there. I could be totally wrong and maybe it was used for storage, but I was not impressed with what I saw and I really think in either case they should have the blinds closed ….and perhaps replace the blinds.

I was so excited to see the plantations. I started looking for them several years ago when we had talked about going and then once again when we planned this trip. I had never been to one before so it was such a treat for me to see a real one.

I wandered around the side of the house to make my way to the backside to see what it looked like back there. As you can see the front and back mirror each other. Something we learned on the tour and something I had not known was that many plantations were built on rivers and the front doors often faced the river. Back then it was hard to get to them by land and most people traveled up and down the river to visit other plantations. Shirley was built with 2 front doors. I guess it was rude to have a visitor come in the back door and since they had a driveway to the front and also received many visitors by water they made it so that coming from either entrance was acceptable. This was a very old tree and it was roped off so you couldn’t get too close. I guess the roots are fragile and they don’t want people disturbing it. Looking back at the house from near the tree. Back around to the front. This was the kitchen building. And it was now time to meet on the front steps for our tour. There were just 3 of us for this first tour. The other guy actually lived in Richmond, but said he had never been to visit the plantation and decided to check it out today. We entered the house with our guide and sadly we were not allowed to take pictures inside, though I had known this prior to coming. I believe we only toured the first floor of this house and the 2nd and 3rd floors are still lived in by the current owner …who is a descendent of the Hill family, the ones who built the house. He was a single man, but our guide told us he was planning to be married in a few weeks (and he was as it was posted on their facebook page) and he was an older gentleman and they were all so happy to have him get married. The tour was very interesting and informative. They were very rich at times and actually pretty poor at times as well. They didn’t know about rotating crops so much back then and tobacco was the main crop and it took so much out of the soil that at times hardly anything would grow. Loans were taken, parts of the house were sold off to make money, etc., once being the roof that was made out of a metal that was needed for a particular war and it got the plantation out of debt. (I can’t remember what the roof was made of but it was an expensive metal and though it is sad it had to be sold, it did keep the plantation from going completely under and we now can see this beautiful place today). Also some members married into other influential families as well. The house had additions added over the years too. At one point there wasn’t a family heir to hand the house over to so I think it went to a nephew to keep it in the family. All this was so interesting and we learned about different family members in each room we went into. The guy in our tour asked a LOT of questions. And while they were good questions, he kind of asked them in an interrupting way, or in a know it all way and it was slightly annoying at times. I could tell the guide was a little frustrated with him asking so many things and often told him she would get to that later in the tour. I had to laugh after we were done and Dad mentioned that he thought the guy was kind of rude. For my Dad to notice it meant that he was. LOL The tour was about an hour long and we excited back out the front steps where we had entered. We thanked the guide and decided to look around a little more before heading to our next destination. This area over there with a sign….at one point in time both sides of the main house had flanking houses …another thing I learned was very common for plantations and I never knew….and these buildings held bedrooms and guest quarters. I believe this side had burned down many years ago and the one on the other side was actually removed by a family member many years ago and rebuilt a few miles down the road to be the residence of a son. I never found out if it was still actually standing or not, but we obviously were not invited to go see it if it still is standing. I guess I was going for odd angle pictures. I had to make a bathroom stop so I went in the direction I had seen signs. There were many more cars in the lot now. It was a good thing we came so early. That bus had a whole group of Senior Citizens in it. The bathroom was very basic, but decent enough. I went back out and looked a little more. This still is a working farm. If you visit their facebook page you will often see pictures of their animals. This is where the doves were kept and I guess they were a big treat to eat and something they grew for special occasions. It was now getting time to head back to the car and off to the next plantation. Shirley was my favorite plantation we visited this day. It was informative and beautiful and I was happy I chose to visit here.

April 19, Day 7 Today was the day we planned to visit Plantations in the area. I had done a little research online and found several in the area, but a couple peaked my interest more than others. I also found out later, that many didn’t even show up online in a general search and in the future I will look more into it so I can see some others. The night before we discussed it and Amanda decided she didn’t want to go now. She was worried we wouldn’t be back in time for our dinner reservation. I think she thought we would just hang at the resort, but this was one of the highlights I had really wanted to do this trip, so I said I would still be going. Mom wanted to go but I think she just decided to stay back with Amanda, as Amanda wanted to spend time with her and then we decided to let Claire stay back and catch up on some sleep. So it was just going to be Dad and I heading out bright and early to see the plantations. Dad and I got ready early and headed out. Our plan was to get to the furthest one out at opening. Then we would work our way back. Mom had said as we got closer back she would like us to call and pick he up to visit the last plantation on our list. Our plan also was to eat lunch while on the road. Well…plans always sound good in theory! We headed out and I think it was about a 40 minute or so drive to Shirley Plantation. I was amazed at how many plantation signs we saw along the way. Some were just landmarks, some now bed and breakfasts and some were ones you could tour and I had not seen them listed online. We also noticed that it was pretty much country out here and nowhere to find lunch at this point that we could see. I believe Shirley opened at 9:30 and we arrived around 9:15. This guy came right out to great us. I am a germ-a-phobe with cats and I did pet him, but then quickly used hand sanitizer to clean my hands. He kept coming back to me and I went to pet him again and he was freaked. I guess he did NOT like the smell of my sanitizer. He then became Dad’s good buddy and followed him all around. While we waited for the place to open I took a few quick pictures. This was the drive we came up. And this is the house. Dad sat in the car while we waited for official opening time and I wandered around a bit. I am not sure why the bricks were in this tree. The gift shop was located in here and this is where they sold the tickets to tour the house. It opened a few minutes early and I went in and bought our tickets …using AAA to get a small discount. I went back and let Dad know I had bought the tickets and we could wander around till our tour at 10. He wanted to know how much he owed me and I said he could buy the tickets at the next stop. Dads new found friend followed him around. This was an outline of the history of the property. Basically someone bought it sight unseen and owned it for a while then sold it off to the family that still currently owns it. I believe Shirley is considered America’s first plantation (1613). It’s the oldest Family business and has been in the same family since 1638 and the current house has been there since 1738. I basically scanned the timeline, but Dad did a more thorough reading and so I went on my way exploring the grounds. The Grounds were beautiful and I really loved taking pictures of the house from different angles. The buildings were really neat and they were original. And of course they had beautiful gardens. A look at the river behind the house. A peek back at the gardens.

We also learned they emptied the chamber pot off the front of the ship. It may sound odd, but the ship is being moved by wind and sails…and the wind is coming from the back of the ship, so if you threw it off the back, it would blow back at you. While we were down there, there were kids running around and goofing off. Parents were not watching the kids either. And sure enough one kid fell down the steps. And the parents came running and then proceeded to yell at each other for not watching the kid. So in otherwords….no one had been watching the kid. The staff was helpful and the kid wasn’t hurt too badly, just more scared. After having our fun on the ships, we moved on. The rest of the family wanted to go to the fort, so they headed that way. Why they didn’t go while Claire and I were on the ships, I have no clue. Claire and I walked back up towards the main building. Claire and I sat down outside and waited. I think I did some texting and catching up on emails. We got through the place faster than I thought we would. We should’ve bought the ticket for Yorktown too. Once the family caught up with us, Dad wanted to look through the gallery some more, but none of the rest of us did, so he went off and we went to get some drinks, did a little shopping in the gift shop and then sat out front enjoying the day. It turned out to be kind of hot. Claire bought a bow and arrow and just had a ball with that. I went off and looked at each of the state plaques upfront. They were in the order of how the states were admitted into the Union. I do not remember the order now, but I was surprised that Virginia wasn’t the first one. I believe it was 10th and Delaware was the first state. That just seemed odd to me. And it was a good 10 years after the Revolution before it became a state. I think Ohio was something like 17th and Michigan was somewhere in the mid 20’s. Each plaque had a bit of info and it was interesting to read. After a bit of reading, I went back to the table and Dad still had not come back and everyone was getting antsy. Dad does not text and is famous for turning off his phone for some odd reason. I did try calling him and it went straight to voicemail. That made Mom mad, because she figured he had his phone off again. But in fairness all over Williamsburg cell service was very spotty. I was sent in to find him and I was lucky to walk right in and spot him. I figured I would have to look all over to find him. He said his phone was on and never rang. We walked out and headed back to the resort then. Everyone was tired and we talked about taking naps before dinner when we got back. Claire wanted to go swimming. Somehow we elected Dad to take her. He wasn’t too thrilled about it. I told him to just let her swim for a set amount of time and then give her a 5 minute warning and then about 10 minutes later you tell her to get out. He was sure this wouldn’t work, but I told him I had faith in him. When we got back I sat in the gazebo a few minutes while Claire ran up to get her suit on. I had my friends the carpenter bees swarming around and I tried to get some pictures. Those buggers move fast. I then went in and took a nap and Claire and Dad went off to the pool. I think I slept about an hour and it was nice. I don’t nap a lot of vacations, so this was a nice treat. Dad told me Claire made some pool friends and when he told her it was time to leave she didn’t get out immediately….she ignored him. LOL. Well she did get out eventually and I told him you just have to be firm and tell her she has to leave now or no swimming for the rest of the trip. Dad laid down then and all of us girls decided to go to the outlet mall down the road. We did a bit of shopping and Claire got some things at the kid gap. I got her a really cute shirt and Mom bought her a dress and a short outfit. We then called dad and asked if he wanted us to pick him up to get dinner or if he wanted carryout and he went with carryout. We headed down the road looking for a spot to eat when Claire declares she has lost her sunglasses. UGH! We figured it had to be at the Gap because she had tried some clothes on there. We turned around and Mom and Amanda went in to look and I decided to search the car a bit better. Sure enough I found them in a hidden compartment and I called them and let them know we found them. Back on the road we decided on Cracker Barrel. It was a nice decent meal, but if I remember right we had a very slow waitress. This seems to be a theme for us a lot lately. We left nice and full and headed back to the resort and just lounged around for the evening. Dad and Claire played with her new bow and arrow and they were having such a fun time with that. I think the Sisterhood of the Traveling pants was on once again and Claire watched it into the wee hours of the morning while I drifted off to sleep.

OOOH. I would love to get to Disneyland some day. On my bucket list

You know you have entered a Fort when you see one of these. Well it did indeed look like a fort inside. I always like to play with focal points. Claire and I wandered around and in and out of the buildings. They had some games off to the side and Claire met a little boy and they played together for a bit. We moved on then and this building is basically where everyone lived. They told us that they basically stacked everyone on top of each other with bunks and something like 80 guys would sleep in here. We looked around some more and headed back outside. They also had some armor to try on so Claire did. This stuff was EXTREMELY heavy. Claire said it hurt her head. We had a heck of a time getting the vest off. It was just so heavy and awkward. I think this was a place for someone who was higher ranking, like a Captain. ---- - - ---- --- Our next stop was the church. Claire gave a sermon. As you can tell, this building was to hold the ammunitions. I had been hearing gunshots off and on while there and so we headed over to watch this lady give a demonstration on the type of guns they used. We waited and waited and she never shot the gun, so we moved on. I didn’t hear it go off for about another 5 minutes or so and of course we missed it. Claire was antsy to get to the ships and Amanda had texted us that they were over there. We found someone spying on us! Once he knew we had seen him, he moved to another position. We also saw another boat off to the side hidden away. I think this one sails around with people every so often. We then headed to the ships to tour. We found the family sitting on a bench in the shade. They said they already looked at what they wanted to see and were just going to wait on us. One thing I noticed is there were carpenter bees all over the place. Really …it was awful. I had noticed them starting to fly around the gazebo at our hotel as well. I guess it was the season for them. The thing is, they don’t really do anything to humans …unless you are made of wood. That’s what they want. But they get annoyed you are in their territory and fly around you like they are mad. And they are not easy to kill with bug spray either. (I even bought some and took it to the resort and tried it and they could’ve cared less if they were being zapped with spray.) Claire and I went ahead and boarded the ship. It’s amazing how small these are and they sailed across the ocean. I am sure my head would’ve been flung over the side the whole time. There were several school groups here today and Claire and I tried to go to the ship that they were not on ….because as wonderful as our children are, in a school field trip, kids become obnoxious and wild. Claire loved being able to go below deck. The family was sitting over there, but not in view. We put Claire to work again. I believe they said 4 men would sleep across this. Basically the ship was packed full and you didn’t get to move much unless you were crew, so you got a teeny tiny bed spot and were stuck there for most of the voyage.

April 18, Day 6 We had a bit of a slower morning. Well each morning is slow with my family, but I allowed it today. We got up and ready and ate a bite of breakfast and we all decided we wanted to eat at another tavern before we left for home. Tomorrow was Mom and Dad’s anniversary, so we gave them choices from menu options online and the decided King’s Arms Tavern was where we would go. We made the reservation and were all set for the next night. Today was Jamestown! We loaded into the car, programed Siri and headed off. I think we arrived around 10:30 AM. Along the front they had each state on a plaque and the year is became a state with a little info. Later before we left I did look at it a bit more. Right now, the family was on a mission to get inside. We got in line and Claire and I got our tickets. We debated if we just wanted to do Jamestown or the combo with the Yorktown Victory Center, which was nearby, but we didn’t know how long it would take to go through the Settlement, so we didn’t. I kind of wish we did now. We got a AAA discount and Mom was taking a bit longer to get her tickets. I guess they were giving her issues about Amanda getting her ticket under Moms AAA discount. Amanda has AAA as well, but she didn’t have her card with her. They did end up letting her have the discount though. It was close to 11 now and we thought we would stop in the café and get a drink. Well we decided since it wasn’t busy yet to get some lunch and have that out of the way before we set forth. I don’t remember what we got, except I am sure Claire got either a hotdog or corn dog. I am thinking I got a hotdog or hamburger and chips or fries. It had very basic food court type food, but it was decent and filled us up. We then set off. We found where the intro movie was and got in line for the next seating. I was told before going that most places start out with a movie and it was true, but it did give some good info too. We were let in and sat down. Amanda was having anxiety again about being trapped inside and not being able to leave so she left and waited for us outside the doors. The movie told about Jamestown and also featured Pocahontas. Claire liked that. I think many people do not know her true story …..and the Disney one is not right…… But she did marry a white man and went to England and basically died after being exposed to the white man diseases. She is buried in England and they believe she died around the age of 22. After the movie and another bathroom break we headed towards the gallery area, which had lots of interesting things…if you are an adult. If you are an 8 year old…you find it extremely boring and let your mother know so. I ended up taking Claire outside since she was not making it very fun for me to be in there. In her defense, there was a lot of reading to do to understand what you were seeing and she is not a strong reader to begin with, and it probably didn’t sound like fun either. This was some sort of monument, which a read about at the time, but now I can’t find info about it online. We texted Mom and Amanda and they were still looking around the galleries, so we made the decision to move on by ourselves. Up next was the Powhatan village. I think these guys are a little on the pale side for Indians. We toured the homes. I am not sure of the official name of these…are they wigwams? Of course we put Claire to work. They had all sorts of demonstrations going on. I did have to laugh. I wonder how many pale redheaded Indians there were back then. We did talk to her a bit. She was very nice. I asked something about what they did in the winter, since basically the homes were used for mostly sleeping and they did everything else outside. She told me it never got very cold, but I don’t really believe that. I would think it had to get uncomfortable at times. Heck in the week we were there, there were a few rather chilly times. Hey a Cardinal!!!! And some random chickens just walking around. I loved the tools they had. Another Cardinal. Claire played with some of the hands on things. We found a girl talking and listened in. I think she was gardening. Claire was positive she was supposed to be Pocahontas. Someone asked if they could take her picture, so I quickly took a few too. Still no sign of the rest of the family, so we decided to head on our way without them. We decided to make our way towards the fort. The path to get there kind of circled around. Of course Claire wanted to know what was taking me so long. There was a garden out front. And more roaming chickens. We could see the boats from here too and Claire asked to go there, but I told her we would visit the fort first.

Yes, I had heard they were fairly close but i didn't look it up since we weren't going there. I would like to some day though.

We found a bench across the street and sat down since we still had a bit of time till our reservation time. Claire and Poppa were goofing off. As time got closer, we moved back across the street so we wouldn’t miss hearing our name. We finally got called in and we were led into a little back room. It was only big enough for a table and chairs and us! I guess they knew we were the rowdy ones and put us in our own tiny area. And boy was it dark. No lights in use here, all candlelight. We had these HUGE napkins at the table. They were like small table clothes, so of course I had to be goofy and put one on around my neck. Our server then came in and told me I wasn’t wearing it quite right. Though the way he explained to wear it didn’t seem much different. He told us in the old days they didn’t bath or change clothes often, so when they came to eat, they would take the table cloth and tie it around their necks to keep clean. The table clothes were stacked in several layers, so after each guest, the tavern would take it off so a clean one would be ready for the next guest. We then took a look at the menu and made our orders. I didn’t take much in the way of pictures again. I did take a picture of the Tavern slaw, which was good. And the basket of Tavern Rolls, and Sweet Potato Muffins, which were also pretty good. I then put my camera away for the night. We also were served Spoon Bread. This was like a corn bread, but VERY sweet and soft. It was very good, but I could only take a few bites because it was almost too sweet. We had a visit from Christiana’s “daughter” while we waited. She asked us where we were from and of course we replied Ohio. She told us “Oh you mean you’re from Virginia! You silly fools don’t even know where you are from!” We had a good laugh about that. She was quite bold and feisty, as I assume a tavern owner and her daughter would probably be back in those days. While waiting for the main course, we heard a flutist playing in the room next to us. He was playing songs and talking a bit about history, but we could barely hear him. We kind of complained to each other that being in this small room we didn’t get to be included in the extra fun. The next thing we know, he walks into our little room and tells us we get our own private concert. How fun!!!! He had several types of flutes and I do not know the names of most of them, though he did tell us at the time. He asked us if we had any 1700’s song requests. We all looked blanked face. I tried to rack my brain and the only thing I could think of was Yankee Doodle, but I wasn’t even sure. He started out by playing twinkle twinkle little star. Who knew that song was so old? He did play a few others and we recognized them all, though I no longer remember them. And then he went on to play Yankee Doodle! I knew it! He told us that it was basically a rhyme the British had made up about the Americans. “Stuck a feather in his hat and called it Macaroni” was derogatory. Macaroni was a style back then. Basically a big fluffy wig and it was almost painful to wear. All the “important and stylish” people were wearing them. They were trying to say the Americans were so backwards that they put a feather in their hat to pretend they were in fashion wearing a wig too. A doodle, was basically a fool. So the Americans then put it to a tune and used the song to mock themselves. It was also very interesting and we had a good time. Our main course came and we really enjoyed it. I got the feature of the day. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but it was some kind of white fish with a white sauce stew of vegetables over it. I think it had potatoes too. It was so good. I practically licked my plate clean. I think Mom and Amanda had the Gloucester Chicken Dinner The Captain’s Sherried Seafood Stew followed by southern-style fried Hen put forth with a rasher of salty Surry County Ham and Corn Pudding Your choice of our Williamsburg ice Cream They got 2 huge pieces of fried chicken with this and it was so much more than they could eat. They could’ve have shared this meal easily. I think Dad got the Hickory-Grilled Beef Tenderloin Choice cut Tenderloin served with Bacon-Molasses Butter and pan-seared Polenta. I don’t remember any complaints from him at all either. I think Claire got the kids steak. Mom and Amanda’s meals came with ice-cream and Claire wanted some too, so I ordered her some as well. We should’ve just let her share as they each got a HUGE slab of ice-cream. She could only eat half, so I tried finished it off, but I was bursting at the seams ….. and about fainted when I saw the bill. It was $5.25 for that slab of ice-cream. I told her in the future she can’t order any unless someone is sharing with her. This meal was fantastic, but again not cheap at all. I think for just Claire and me it was around $75.00. It was a fabulous meal and we had such a wonderful time there. After we paid the bill we headed off to use the bathroom in the basement before setting off. There were a set of stairs going up near the bathroom, but we weren’t sure where they led, except that it appeared to be outside. We went back up the regular way and went outside to wait for dad, who had gotten lost. There he was. He used the steps and they brought him right up to the front porch. The flutist and a guitar player, who had also been roaming the other side of the tavern, were outside now playing on the porch and talking too. It was just such a neat thing to see and a wonderful experience. We rolled ourselves out to the car and headed back to the hotel once again for the night. I think this night I turned on the station about Williamsburg and tried to watch as much as I could before I fell asleep. Tomorrow we were planning on the Jamestown Settlement and then from there, we would play it by ear. We weren’t sure how full of a day this would be there or how much they had to see. The Jamestown Settlement was created as part of the 350th anniversary celebration in 1957 as Jamestown Festival Park. From what I read, it was supposed to be temporary, but it was so popular it stayed open for people to visit. This is different than historic Jamestown, which is where the actual historic and archaeological site where the first settlers landed and lived is, but I believe they are close by. I was told by a few people that that site would not be as interesting for Claire. Another fabulous day was had and we all drifted off to dreamland.

Claire and I kept walking around and once again used the bathrooms. I am pretty sure we used about everyone on the property by the end of the trip. A view of where we would eat tonight. We then met up with the rest of the family and I think we grabbed the bus to take us to the other end to do some shopping. Claire and I went in search of ice cream while the rest went through stores in the opposite direction. Claire and I found a Baskin Robbins and went inside and each got ourselves a cone. Claire ended up not caring for her choice about halfway through, so I ended up eating about half of hers as well. After that refreshing treat we moved on. I sat on a step and texted the family to ask where they were and I called Skip and we just relaxed a bit as it was hot today and we were getting tired. Claire posed for me. Finally they replied and told us where to meet them. We found them and decided we wanted to go see William and Mary College before calling it a day. Claire found a friend on the way. When we got to the college, Amanda and Claire said they were sitting while we looked around. Isn’t that tree so neat. It even has a support for one of its branches. The rest of us took off to look around. It is such a beautiful campus. The big sprawling yard with lots of students just sitting there talking or doing homework. I think there was an event coming up soon that they were setting that tent up for. I can’t even imagine the cost to send a child here, but I bet it is a pretty penny. Squirrel! Time to head back towards the bus stop. I believe this is the day we decided to go in the William and Mary bookstore to look around. We found these Williamsburg t-shirts that were only like $9 each so Amanda and I each got one. Mom bought Claire a sweatshirt and I think Amanda bought one too. It was a good purchase, as I wear the shirt quite a bit and I almost wish I had bought another one in a different color. We then took the bus back to the visitor center and once again we took a quick look around the gift shop. We usually did this each day. I don’t think I actually bought anything there though. I know Mom had picked up a few things, but I don’t remember what. Back at the resort I took Claire for a quick swim. This girl just loves to swim and it’s a highlight for her. We then took a quick rest and freshened up a bit before it was time to head for dinner. We were eating at Christiana Campbell’s Tavern tonight. We decided we would drive directly there today and not take the bus from the visitor center. I will admit, at times it is a little easy to turn down the wrong road, but we made it in one piece and still had time to spare. We made our way around the front and checked in. I took a few pictures while we waited. I think someone had to use the bathroom, so we just walked across the street to use the ones near the capital.