Tag Archives: Virginia

Visit with my Mom & Kay – Viriginia

Tourism, ,

My Mom (Sally) and her friend from the library Kay came out to visit in early October.  We had such a great time and their visit was really fun.  Here’s the first post chronicling our adventures!  🙂

The boat was based in Annapolis, but we rented a car and explored everywhere from Baltimore to Monticello!  With the government shut down and virtually everything in Washington DC closed  we decided to head to Virginia for a night and visit Monticello.

Hello Virginia!

Hello Virginia!

It was our good luck on the way down that we saw signs for James Madison’s Montpelier.  Since we’re such easy going gals we decided that would be a great stop for the afternoon and then we could head to Monticello in the morning.  James Madison, our 4th president, is considered the Father of the Constitution.  We got to tour his home and enjoy the beauty of Virginia.  Unfortunately that beauty also included Stink Bugs!  These beetle like creatures fly and love to land on you to take a rest.  I definitely was not a fan!

Montpelier

Montpelier

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It’s sure pretty in Virginia

Blue Ridge Mountains

Blue Ridge Mountains

My mother in her natural habitat!

My mother in her natural habitat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a nice afternoon and a good dinner we headed out the next morning to go to Monticello.  My Mom said this was a place she had always wanted to visit so was thrilled that we were going.  Her excitement was infectious and we were all really looking forward to our visit.  We got there and got our tour assignment and then rode a bus up to see the mansion.  The mansion had many interesting features…. Kay remembered from a previous visit that it was designed so every room had natural light.  It was really nice inside and I love all that light.  Thomas Jefferson had designed a clock in the foyer that would not only count the hours, but the days as you went through the week.  He also slept in a bed that was 6ft 4in long and he was 6ft 3in tall!  This bed was in a wall and you could step out on either side, into the actual bedroom or into the den type room.  I have to mention too that Kay is great to have on a tour.  Her inquisitive nature led her to ask many questions and I’m sure we learned much more than any other group!  Thanks Kay! 🙂

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Enjoying our mother / daughter time.

Enjoying our mother / daughter time.

My Mom and Tom.

My Mom and Tom.

Thomas Jefferson's grave is onsite as well.

Thomas Jefferson’s grave is onsite as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a great visit to Monticello and some good shopping in the gift shops we headed out.  We didn’t get too far though because lunch at Michie Tavern was calling. 🙂   They have an excellent homey buffet with all the folks who work there dressed in costume.  It was delicious and fun too.

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After lunch we headed back to Annapolis.  My Mom and Kay loved being on the boat at it’s mooring ball in Spa Creek.  They even liked the dingy rides back and forth to get there!  I’m glad they both are adventurous.  It made for a really fun time.

p.s. Coming up is more on our adventures in Batimore, Mount Vernon and D.C. and even Steven and Rosemary make an appearance!

US History

Tourism, ,

Living on the West Coast all our lives “historic” means anything from the early 1900s, ancient history for us is the CA Gold Rush and the Spanish Missions. So, we are really excited to get to spend some time on the East Coast and soak up some US History this summer. We spent 5 nights at the Hampton public piers (an amazing value!) and did some exploring while we were there.

First we rode bikes to Fort Monroe and spent a morning cruising around there and visiting the museum. We learned that one of the fort engineers was Robert E. Lee, that after the Civil War Jefferson Davis was imprisoned there, and that things that are that old may be unstable! As we were walking though a brick came falling from the ceiling just one room over from us!

To continue our history exploration we decided to rent a car to visit the Colonial Triangle – Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg. The first day we went to the Jamestown Settlement and learned about the first English colony in Virginia. We toured replicas of the ships they arrived on and Ryan asked me what I’d think of a 4 ½ month voyage on one of those. Well let me just say there is a reason I insisted on a catamaran! We then went through the replicas of the old settlement and got to hold the muskets and visit the cook house…all the fun touristy stuff. We also went through the museum and learned more about the interactions between the English and the Native Americans. All I can say about that is WOW and I’m sorry. And I’m sure they toned it down quite a bit. We also learned more about the story of Pocahontas as well – it is exactly as Disney described. 😉

Once we were done with the museum we headed to Yorktown for a late lunch. There wasn’t much going on there but we had a delicious lunch and walked Stanley around a bit. Ryan saw a steel boat at the Yorktown docks that he had been drooling over in Beaufort and that was pretty much the highlight of Yorktown.

The next day we visited Colonial Williamsburg. I got a distinct Disney vibe as we followed the well marked route to the visitor center. We parked there, bought our tickets, and “headed back in time”. The first building we toured was the Governors Palace. It took a bit of our excitement away when we realized that the entire village had been rebuilt around 1932 by Rockefeller and weren’t the original structures. I guess they were able to excavate all the old basements though so the village had the same layout as it did in the 1700s. The tours through the houses were interesting as the guides were all in costume and told the stories of people who had lived there. We ended our day with a tour of the capital building with our guide walking us through how Virginia and the US declared independence from England. Quite exciting stuff….I wonder how it will all turn out….