(no subject)

[rivka]

Michael came to pick me up from work, yay. The car thermometer said 39 degrees. Before I went to get Alex from nursery school, Michael got my long wool coat and scarf from the attic, and I brought Alex's winter coat with me to school as well. It really was much, much colder today than I expected it to be.

I used some of my cancelled-meeting time to book the mini vacation we've been planning. We're going to Williamsburg VA, a.k.a. Colonial Williamsburg, for Thanksgiving. Michael and I have never been there before. We recognize that we're not going to see all that much of it with a three-year-old, but I think it will be fun regardless.

For those who are unfamiliar, Colonial Williamsburg is a massive recreation of the town as it was in the 18th century, with hundreds of houses, stores, and other buildings rebuilt on their original foundations, furnished appropriately, and populated by costumed historical interpreters. You can watch blacksmiths and weavers at work, visit a plantation and talk to both the slaves and the "family," go into a coffeehouse or tavern and be swept into a debate about whether the Colonies should revolt. The farms have 18th century breeds of livestock and grow 18th century crops.

I think the historical aspects of it (the Revolutionary War debates, the opportunity to speak to Thomas Jefferson) will be utterly uninteresting to Alex, which means that Michael and I will probably miss out on those aspects as well. But I know she'll enjoy visiting the farms and watching the artisans work, and we will too. And I know it will be lovely just to have several days to relax together as a family.

I've reserved us a room - well, sort of a cross between a room and a suite - at the Springhill Suites Hotel. It has an indoor pool and a hot tub, which I think all three of us will enjoy, and serves a free hot breakfast every day. We'll have Thanksgiving dinner at the Williamsburg Hospitality House, and we're planning to go to a seafood feast on Friday night. (Key phrases: "featuring sushi of the moment" and "children 5 and under are free." Little do they know what they're getting into.) Saturday night we may try a tavern in the historical area featuring period singing and games.

We have a whole series of contingency plans, depending on the weather. If it's cold and rainy we may not even wind up touring the historical area, but there are plenty of other attractions locally: the Mariner's Museum, for example, and the Virginia Living Museum, which seems to be a sort of a Biodome. If the weather is great, we may try to find an ocean beach so we can take a walk and look for shells. Alex has never seen the ocean, not for real. (She's seen the harbor, obviously.) If we love the historical area, we may spend two days there and not see any other attractions.

I think it will be wonderful.

Comments

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

It will! It will be wonderful.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

It will be wonderful. I thought it was a great place for young kids - no cars, lots of open space for them to run around, horses, etc.

Don't forget Jamestown Settlement, either! That weekend is Foods & Feasts of Colonial Virginia weekend. My friend, attack_laurel, will be there displaying food in the Govornor's House. Jamestown Settlement has a fort and three ships, and is quite spiffy.

That's a really great Thanksgiving idea! We'll have to keep that in mind for future years.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I second including Jamestown if you can. I went to both on both school and family trips, and overall, I recall having more to do at Jamestown, while Williamsburg had more to see, hear, and buy. Jamestown had chain mail to try on, and yummy beans to taste (on one trip, but not every trip) -- seriously, I almost always hate beans, but these were yummy -- and lots of hands-on things.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Just a point of information... a lot depends on the weekend that you go there. I'm not actually sure what's there on a regular weekend, but my husband and I participate yearly in a historical timeline event called "Military Through the Ages", demo'ing a 15th century soldiers' camp. Special event weekends have a LOT more!

[spiritdancer]

My memory of Colonial Williamsburg as a kid?

The blacksmith, and getting a horseshoe with my name on it :-) (I'd have to check with my mom about when we made that trip, but fromwhat I recall of it, I'd guess I was _maybe_ 5 or so).

[acceberskoorb.livejournal.com]

This sounds like a wonderful (and well deserved!) vacation—have a great time!

[mellificent.livejournal.com]

I loved Colonial Williamsburg. I also loved both the Yorktown and Jamestown historical areas, so if you haven't been to those before, they're worth checking out. On the other hand, if you only have two days, the historical area itself may well be plenty.

It was really really blazingly hot when we went (in early June, go figure) so the idea of a Biodome sounds nice. Authenticity's great, but past a certain point, it ceases to be much fun. A climate-controlled backup sounds like a very good idea, in June or November, either one.

[ororo.livejournal.com]

I didn't appreciate Williamsburg when I went at age 14. It may have had something to do with the guide declaring I was an indentured servant attached to his household and when I got older and had worked off my debt I could marry his son Robert.

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

I'll be reading your trip review; this sounds like an trip my boyfriend and I would enjoy.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Good for Michael!

I spent Thanksgiving 1985 in Williamsburg (when I was well, I went so often I bought year-passes) but I kept coughing like crazy, which was the first sign of the small-airway disease. And then on 2/8/87, I went in for the first renal failure (and stroke) and have never been back.

I always liked watching people make things -- instruments, furniture, glass, etc. -- and I'm quite fond of the sugar candy. I still have two horn combs I got from different trips down there.

One of the wonderful things of going at a holiday is that the place is decorated in ways we wouldn't think of today, so while it's clearly a holiday, it's not just another one.

The museum I liked best is the Rockefeller Folk Art Museum (http://www.history.org/History/museums/abby_art.cfm) but Alex is probably not so interested in handwork or really interesting instruments as I am. I don't think the Biodome existed when I went.

You can't get to the ocean unless you go to Virginia Beach; all the beaches around Williamsburg are on the Bay. But the Beach is only about an hour away. I used to drive up from VAB and shop at the Williamsburg Pottery Factory (http://www.williamsburgpottery.com/) when I was young, but I hear it's no longer just weird lots of things you'd never see elsewhere, but a pretty standard glass/pottery place.

And while you're in W'burg, if you like BBQ, you have to eat at Pierce's (http://www.pierces.com/).

[selki.livejournal.com]

It all sounds great. The tavern with period singing and games sounds especially fun to me.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

That sounds terrific.

At three, Sasha was participating thoroughly in the Georgian Legacy Festival we used to have in Lancaster every summer. But even if she only likes seeing the animals, that'll be fun.

[telerib.livejournal.com]

Moe and I went to Chownings one night and it was a blast. I hummed a few bars of an English country dance (Gathering Peascods, I think) and the fiddler played it, and Moe and I danced. People asked if we were staff. :)

[ailbhe]

It sounds like SO MUCH FUN. And just exactly what you all need about now. I look forward to seeing the photos of Alex seeing things, hint hint. One has read about these life-size model towns and they sound great.

[geekymary.livejournal.com]

My in-laws live in Williamsburg. I love it there - excellent balance of tourist and history.

There's a great place called Jumping Joey's - it's a storefront with several bounce houses in it. We took Eddie and Charlie there and it was a great way to spend the morning. As I recall, it was pretty reasonable, too.

Virginia Living Museum is awesome. It's not a biodome - it's open to the outside (there's a lot of inside stuff, too). You can easily spend a full day there. A little pricey, though. Eddie and Charlie loved it.

I also know where a good park is, if you want to just let Alex run around a little.

[mariann]

Delurking to say I envy your mini-vacation -- I've been really wanting to go to there as I'm inexplicably and utterly fascinated with the period... your trip sounds like great Thanksgiving weekend.

[bosssio.livejournal.com]

hey, on the way there or back, you can swing by to say hi - stop for a meal or coffee or something!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh, we'd love to! Maybe Sunday afternoon?

[bosssio.livejournal.com]

perfect!!!!

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

We went to the Living Museum with Sarah one time when she was little. She must have been right around Alex's present age. She was bored some of the time, but there was a lot to see. I felt sorry for the fox walking in endless circles in its enclosure. They have some good tanks inside, including one with a giant turtle that is of great interest to kids.

The Mariner's Museum has lots of great boats, and the boat miniatures of August Crabtree, which are highly detailed works of recreative art. They have a gallery of marine art and a bookstore. It's on a lake where you can rent canoes, but if it's cold, you might not want to sit on the water and paddle. It's next to the Peninsula Arts Center (same building), which actually displayed something of mine, years ago, during a juried student exhibit in which I earned a small prize.

Fort Stewart has the Army Transportation Museum, which is sadly neglected but has some fascinating vehicles. There's a walker that looks like something out of Star Wars, and hovercrafts, and a flying wing. Inside they have a jet pack video and many other exhibits, including a spine-tingling artifact: a six-foot propellor under a platform that some volunteer stands on and clutches the handlebars while praying it goes straight up and doesn't kill him. I have no idea if it was ever tested.

On the South side, the Chrysler museum is a pretty decent art museum. Seeing it many times over the years, I have several favorites there, including a large Dore painting. At the south edge of the Peninsula, near Blackbeard Point in Hampton, there's a good carousel that Sarah used to love riding on. Sometimes the band organ worked, but too often they were playing tapes of it on a boom box.

If you're in Virginia Beach on a Sunday, go have a nice meal at the Jewish Mother and listen to my friend Robin Welch play the guitar. I've lost track of how many years he's held down that gig -- could it be 20 now? He's a fantastic performer.

Are you driving down? You could plan your trip to go by way of the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel, possibly the longest of its kind, which allows a scenic view of a lot of water. When they finished the second span, I got to take a walk on it just before they opened it.

If you like Mexican food, go to Plaza Azteca on Warwick in Newport News and try the Tacos de Chorizo. Lord, I miss those.