Hey crew! Well we're back from Colonial Williamsburg. We had a package visit & squeezed a lot into it. It was fun but it was friggin HOT & humid. We left home at 2:30 in the morning. My dad is kinda obscessive abt traffic. I'm used to that. I was half asleep until we crossed over into Delaware & he pulls over & goes "you drive." Ok, I drove thru Delaware & Maryland. We were going thru Baltimore just as the sun came up and we could see Fort McHenry (of National Anthem fame) just before I drove into a looooong tunnel under the harbor. I'm not used to tunnels. I'm not used to bumper-to-bumper traffic either but we got to Washington and it was gridlock on the highway circling it. It was only 6 in the morning! My mom could see I was getting frustrated so she told my dad to take over. So we both jumped out of our seats & switched in the middle of the highway (nothing was moving an inch anyway). When we finally got to Virginia we were all frazzled & hungry so we stopped for breakfast. The waitress put some biscuits on the table with a bowl of white stuff. I was like "What's this?" She went "Gravy." Whoa, I'm a country boy but even I don't have GRAVY with breakfast! We drove to just outside Richmond and turned east toward Norfolk. There was a lot of ground fog & I imagined seeing ragged, barefoot,grey-clad ghosts with muskets emerging from the foggy pine forest. We got to the Best Western Colonial Capitol just b4 noon. Happily the parents room was NOT next to me & the Rodent, we were down the hall.

Then we were off. First to the Reception Center in the George Tucker House. Williamsburg is a restored 1700s town and everyone except the tourists were in period costume. There were horses all over. We were going to go to the Governors Palace but the line was so long we put it off until later. We went to the Capitol instead. That was interesting but I like the Armory, Gunpowder Magazine & the Gunsmith more. Espicially when they fired the cannon! There are 48 restored buildings to visit & my dad was checking them off on his list. I told you he's obscessive lol. We picked up a quick lunch at the 40 Shops of Merchant Square and visited even more old buildings after lunch. We were encouraged to try lawn bowling by some re-enactor. The Rodent did, I didn't >>> I'm not a dork. We had supper at The Second Street Restaurant. & hit the pool & sauna afterward. I slept soundly that night even with the Rodent watching TV unti late.

The next day we finally got to the Governors Palace. It was huge & took most of the morning. There was a big maze-like garden in the back & the tour guide said that there were Confederate soldiers buried there in unmarked graves who died in the Union assault on the city. But that was 100 yrs after the colonial period. Next we visited the Public Hospital. I thought it was a hospital but it was an insane asylum. In the 1700s they chained you to the wall like in a prison! Not nice. There was also a colonial prison nearby of course. Then the Bruton Parish Church to hear music. The afternoon was so friggin hott we went to the HUGE Visitors Center & enjoyed the air conditioning & a movie about Williamsburg.

The 3rd day we took the Shuttle around to the areas too far to walk. My mom did her thing, meaning she dragged us to the DeWitt Wallace Art Museum and then the Abby Rockefeller Folk Art Museum. Boring but also air conditioned. After lunch we split up. Mom went to the 40 Shops again, dad went to more historic stuff and I went over to the William & Mary campus. The Rodent had a choice of who to go with & he didn't look happy about any of the choices but he picked mom. I enjoyed walking around the campus even tho everyone was on break. I'd never visited an Ivy League school b4. The Wren Building has a chalace given by King William.

The fourth day we went off site. Our parents were planning to drive over to Yorktown to see the Revolutionary War battlefield there and the Rodent was pleading for Busch Gardens waterpark instead. He didn't want to tramp around in the hot sun seeing where General Snodgrass fell off his horse any more than I did. So I suggested that they drop us off at the waterpark on the way to the battlefield, I would not let him out of my sight and to call my cell when they were coming back and we would be waiting outside the gate. No problems, no trouble I promise. Pleeeeeese! Mom was not too happy but dad said ok. So that's how we spent our last day.

The next day we checked out and it was raining. Can you believe on the way home my dad couldn't resist stopping in Fredricksburg VA to visit the Civil War battlefield? I put up with visiting the Stone Warehouse & Confederate Hospital but the rest of us put our foot down & stayed in the Visitors Center while my dad roamed around the battlefield in the rain. Even the Park Ranger thought he was nuts. We stopped for dinner in Delaware & got home just after dark. Denise called. She was like "Oh good you guys are back. Can Michael watch the kids?" I wanted to see Jessi first so the Rodent went over to her house & watched them for a few hours and then I took over. He's a decent kid now that he's getting older! So that was my vacation. I had fun but I'm glad to be back.