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Our first tourist destination of this trip was Colonial Williamsburg. Rob and I had been once before, so we were excited to take the kids. They had no idea what it was, but are great little sight-seers, so we set off with eager anticipation. First stop, the Visitor's Center to purchase our tickets. Actually, members of the military get complimentary admission once a year, so we just had to stop for our free tickets. Thank you, Colonial Williamsburg!  This was a cool map outside of the Visitor's Center.  You can pay $40/day to rent colonial garb to wear. No thanks. Tickets in hand, actually, they give you a badge to wear, we boarded a shuttle bus to the town. Just like Disney, my kids said. Our first historical site was the Governor's Palace where we took a guided tour. Very neat.  Palace.  Chocolate making demonstration. We learned that colonists used chocolate as a stimulant and you would be much more likely to give your children beer than chocolate.   Nice decor, Gov'na!  Ryan's hair just gets bigger and bigger as the trip progresses.  Wig room.  Anne dancing with our tour guide.  The grounds were lovely and included this garden and a maze. Our next stop was the George Wythe house. George Wythe was a fascinating man of the Enlightenment who tutored Thomas Jefferson and signed the Declaration of Independence. I really enjoyed visiting this house, until we ran into a man dressed as General Lafayette. You guys, I hate talking to people I don't know. And making small talk with a dude in a costume pretending to be a French Revolutionary War General was a type of torture I didn't know existed.   So you, um, came from France? And you, um, were in the war? At this point it was 10:45am and about 95 degrees. So we stopped for a cold bottle of sarsaparilla and stood in the shade. While we were trying to cool off, we saw a carriage go by. Of course Anne asked her daddy if we could ride in a carriage, to which he is obligated by cosmic father-daughter law to agree to.   We stopped by the place where you arrange carriage rides and secured a spot at 2:30pm. It will probably have cooled off by then, right? By now, everyone was hungry, but Ye Olde Taverne didn't open for another 20 minutes. So we shopped and waited to eat.  No thanks, I have 3 at home. We had lunch at Chownings Tavern, which was good. I was glad to sit down and be out of the heat, but the heat must have gone to my head already, because I ordered the Shepherd's Pie. It was good, but not the dish to order when the mercury is nearing 100. Luckily, the beer and the Rummer cooled me off.  Rob getting creative with his beer photography for Untapped.  I also get secondary embarrassment from watching people in colonial garb playing colonial instruments.  Hot, but yummy.  The rummer. It has rum, apricot brandy and peach brandy. No fruit juice, all booze. Good, but potent. After lunch we tried to visit the church, but it was closed for a funeral. Across the street is the public garden, which is a quick a pleasant walk through. The armory was also closed, although I can't remember why. So we poked through some more shops. We tossed around the idea of walking to the Capitol Building, but it was far away and no one felt like walking in the heat. So we found a sweet oasis, the USO lounge.   Located in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg, the USO Lounge is open to military families and it is fantastic. There is a clean restroom, coffee, tea and water, plus air conditioning and comfy chairs. Rob needed to conduct some Air Force business over the phone, so the kids and I chilled (literally, did I tell you it was air conditioned?) in the Lounge while Rob talked outside. The Lounge is staffed by the friendliest volunteers. They got the kids cold water, books, and coloring sheets. It was maybe the best part of the day. Once our time in the lounge was over, we headed outside and found the Kids Dig. This is a super cool program where Colonial Williamsburg gets free labor on an excavation site by getting kids to do it! Educational AND free labor? That's my kind of program! All joking aside, it was a fun little program and the kids loved it. Because kids can dig in full sun in 100 degree heat and it doesn't bother them.   They told us this program started a year ago and the dirt was at the top of the boards.   My only complaint was that they didn't explain to the kids that they couldn't keep the artifacts. Both of our kids thought they were going to get a cool souvenir to bring home. Finally it was time for our very hot carriage ride. I will let the pictures tell the story here.  Anticipation.   Ryan and his oiled blue steel beauty.  Ryan, keeping us safe.  Good horses. After the carriage ride we were done. Colonial Williamsburg is fantastic and we will be back! Maybe on a cooler day. I hear the Christmas decorations are beautiful!
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The first stop on our East Coast Odyssey was Williamsburg, Virginia. We were excited to see all the cool historical stuff this area has to offer. Who am I kidding? I was excited, Rob was happy, and the kids were along for the ride. Our campground was Cheatham Annex, which is a naval base with not a lot going on. For us, that is perfect! There were also cabins available on base, so Opa and Gram were able to join us for part of this leg of our trip. The campground was large but quiet. We arrived the Sunday before Memorial Day, and we found that most people were gone by Tuesday morning.  New for this year's trip, we towed the Jeep! Ryan quickly nicknamed it The Jeeper Creeper, because it is very loud. Rob has had this classic automobile since the late 90's (while I was still in high school) and he put a lot of time and effort into making it trip-worthy last winter. We also added a Blue Ox tow bar to the camper so we can flat tow the Jeep. It saved us so much money this trip because we didn't need to rent a car. And less expense day to day means we can go out for longer trips.  The kids got new bikes right before we left. Now that the training wheels are off they are biking fools!  Nature on a bike ride. Ah Childhood!  We spent Memorial Day avoiding all the crowds and chilling at the base pool. These two are not fans of adult swim!  Making Pie Iron Cheeseburgers.  This is not a snake, it is the world's largest worm. Ewwww!  Seriously, over a foot long!  When staying on base, we enjoy the nightly playing of the anthem. So we arrived on Sunday and made camp. Monday was Memorial Day, so we rode bikes and went to the pool. It was a nice, relaxing start to our trip. However, it was hot as Hades. These photos don't show it, but it was over 100 degrees for the week we were in Williamsburg. That is too hot, people! Around our house, we start to plan our annual Big Camping Trip in the Fall, so by the time it rolls around in the summer we've been dreaming of it for about 9 months. We do a lot of research on camp grounds, our driving route, hotels if we are going to need a short stop, places to eat, and things to do. This year, the research was a little different because our destination was somewhere I have been many times. Home Sweet Home, Virginia and the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  My book of trip information, also doubles a souvenir! The plan was pretty simple. A week in the Jamestown/Williamsburg area, two weeks in Virginia Beach, and 5 nights in the Outer Banks. This would be about a month on the road, our longest trip yet! You might be saying to yourself, how do they afford that? And who has that much time off? Well, we have two tricks up our sleeves. First, almost all of our camping would be at military campgrounds. These places are hidden gems and cost less than $40/night. Second, Rob was planning to work this trip. He left us twice while we were camping at the beach to fly trips. We were comfortable doing this because I was super familiar with the area, my family is close by in case of emergency, and military campgrounds are pretty safe, what with all the armed guards.  Camping, brought to you by coffee!  Anne hadn't had her coffee yet. That's a joke people, I don't give my 6 year old coffee.  The golden dome of the West Virginia state capitol building is always a welcome landmark. This time it was covered for refurbishment. Our first day was driving from our house to Lewisburg, West VA. We found a bargain at the state fairgrounds, I think it was $20 for an electric hookup site with water but no sewage. It was kinda hard to find, the grass was a bit overgrown, but the price was right! We left saying it was fine for the night but never wanted to see Lewisburg again (the roads were one way and not very camper friendly). By the end of the trip, we would eat those words.  Running through the parking lot of the state fairgrounds.  We brought along a little science. Day two we woke up and drove to our campsite at Cheatham Annex in Yorktown, VA.   The long and straight road. At the very end of the road? Our first campsite at Cheatham Annex in Williamsburg, Va! But that's a story for next time.
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