In Ye Olden Times

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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