Tuesday, September 30

Declaration of Independence with the mixed crowd

Presentation of the troops

Colonial cow

Another day in Colonial Williamsburg.  We went to the Apothocary Shop which was the one place I remembered from my visit here as a child.  It was neater then but still interesting.  Went to the Capital building (was once the House of Burgess) where the Virginia declaration of independence was formed, a precursor to the national one.  Saw a bunch of other craftsmen and did enjoy the day.  Steve found his long clay pipe (his best memory of his childhood visit here).  It's amazing what sticks in the mind of a child while traveling.  The crowds were a bit bigger so no chance for the lengthy conversations we had yesterday with the living history folk here, but still learned a lot.  For me the highlight was having the Declaration of Independence read aloud in the town commons as a call to arms.  Pretty impressive.  More so in the connotation of "of the day".

Capital Building window

Tomorrow we're going to Jamestown and back to the early 1600's or maybe Yorktown.

Day Two - Driving from Kansas, through Missouri (Steve got to see the St. Louis arch for the first time), Indiana, Illinois, to Kentucky.  More trees and they are starting to change.  Our overnight was in Lawrence Kansas.  Poor choice since it was homecoming for Kansas State University.  Almost all of the motels booked and way over priced.  But the Holiday Inn was comfortable and clean ($179 for one night - yikes) but we got the handicap room so the bathroom was an experience.

Day Three - More Driving - from Kansas, through Kentucky and Virginia to our timeshare in Williamsburg, VA.  Mountain driving if you consider 2700 feet a mountain (she scoffs). But the landscape got more and more pretty.  But definitely glad for a promised break in long term driving.

Williamsburg, VA - September 29

Our timeshare is only a couple of miles from Colonial Williamsburg.  This site was originally excavated in the early 1930's and many of the structures are built on foundations of the original
buildings from the late 1700's.  Steve and I had both been here in our youths but as anticipated, it is much more interesting as an adult.  Plus it was very quiet so we had lengthy conversations with the historians who work there.

Did you know that "smithing" came from the word "smite" and applies to those who hammer - like blacksmithing, gunsmithing, stuff like that?  And when you say a dollar is a buck, that comes from colonial days when a deer hide would fetch you one spanish dollar so a buck for a dollar.  We had long conversations with the tobacco farmer, the guy at the governor's mansion, the guys who actually are making rifles by hand (9 year backlog for a $20,000 gun) and others.  Going back tomorrow for more.

September 26, 2014

First goal - Williamsburg, VA

Day one - Drive through Kansas.  How come the home of Dorothy (but not Judy Garland - that's Minnesota) gets such a bad rap?  Granted we bee-lined through on I-70 but it is the home of Eisenhower, the CW Parker carousel, the world's largest Czech egg, a live 5 legged cow, AND the world's largest prairie dog.  Not such a bad or boring place.  Maybe we'll actually check out one or two of those on the way back.  In the meantime, tomorrow on to Kentucky.

September 26, 2014

We are reactivating our blog to track our new set of travels.  Recent recap:  We went on a Caribbean cruise last winter (more to follow on that) and just last week set out with our trusty 5th wheel "Bodecia III"  starting with an extended This was quickly followed by a  week return trip to Yellowstone.  Finally, we went to the Longs Peak Scottish Festival and a week in Breckenridge. 
So now on the our current travels...