With our Disney Cruise being canceled once again, it was time for Plan B. Long story short, I decided to take us all on a super relaxing field trip to Colonial America by staying in Williamsburg, VA and visiting the Jamestown Settlement, Historic Williamsburg, and Yorktown. I knew it wouldn’t be 100% due to Covid restrictions but it looked safe enough and a place we could learn something while having a good time. First sign it wasn’t going to be the best trip ever: a phone call saying all evening programs (I had signed up for a ghost tour) were canceled until April. Bummer. Ok. Nothing to do at night. We could handle that. We didn’t do anything beside watch tv together in the Florida Keys and it was restful. Then I got a call saying the hotel with neat pool and splash pad and included continental breakfast wouldn’t be opening and they would upgrade us to the Williamsburg Lodge. Upgrade sounds good until you get there and realize not only is the outdoor pool across the street but it is only open on weekends unless you make an indoor pool reservation. It also sounded nice to get a $25 room credit each day for breakfast until we spent twice that at the restaurant. Luckily there was a grab and go place that was much cheaper and could still use our credit for and it was super easy to reserve the indoor pool and it was nice and warm and a blast to have all to ourselves. The kids were never disappointed to return to such a nice place.
Jamestown Settlement was pretty much as I remembered it and it was neat to remember one-year-old K running around the London section. Here we are in the Powhatan Village and by replicas of the ships that brought the colonists in 1607.
Williamsburg was wonderful, of course, even with a whole lot closed due to hardly any visitors. Instead of spending two entire days there we spent one. That’s all right, though, because it freed up a whole day to try something new! The Govenor's Place (pictured here) was our favorite stop but we were willing to walk a ways in order to see the lambs born within the last couple of weeks. Knowing that when you visited the Capitol you sat in a room where Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison and Patrick Henry once were was a pretty neat feeling too.
I had forgotten how fun the surgeon was at Yorktown and it makes you so grateful to not be alive in the 18th century. We were very impressed with the theater talking about the battle, complete with fog effect. (So much so that we stayed, switched seats to be closer to the fog, and watched it again.) Spending hours at Yorktown Beach and getting Ben & Jerry’s was magical for us land locked residents. Our last day we walked around Williamsburg some more, swam in the hotel’s outdoor pool, and spent the rest of the day at Busch Gardens. Our family’s favorite rides were Invadr and Verbolten. Make sure not to watch any 1st POV videos before you ride Verbolten so you can be just as surprised as we were for all it had in store. We definitely recommend going to the amusement park to break up all the “history stuff” for the kids (along with the beach). We weren’t able to enjoy the Historic Triangle in its full glory but we didn’t have to worry about crowds and I consider this destination crossed off my wish list.
P.S. On the drive to the airport I had the privilege of being able to watch Brother Howard Sloan’s funeral. To hear Brother Elliott begin took me right back to a chapel in Hays, Kansas. To listen to someone I went to Seminary with eulogize their father so well brought tears to my eyes. I felt like I was in high school all over again but with the hindsight of knowing that this family helped me develop the good parts of me. Jake and Joe attended Seminary at 6am with me on school days. Sister Sharyn Sloan literally changed my life by showing me that being angry at God never helps you feel better. Her testimony after her oldest son’s death while serving as a full time missionary brought me back to the Savior. I feel indebted to the Sloans just for being who they were and teaching me a few things along the way. When Hubby had the idea to detour a tad to go see the DC Temple, I was grateful to be reminded that death is not the end and that God is always here for us. Over twenty years later, I can still shed tears over the people I met in that small American town. I feel truly blessed to be Hays High and Hays Branch alumni.
Jamestown Settlement was pretty much as I remembered it and it was neat to remember one-year-old K running around the London section. Here we are in the Powhatan Village and by replicas of the ships that brought the colonists in 1607.
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