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Mid-Atlantic Vacation Blog
As for the actual site, very little is visible of the original fort, but there are archaeological excavations going on:
The wooden fence in the background represents to outer walls of the fort and has been placed based on the archaeological evidence that indicates where the original wall was. There is also a part of a church tower to belonged to the chapel that served as the first building where government took place. While it wasn't much to look at, it did give me a little chill to realize that we were on a spot where 400 years ago, the actions of 104 people had a profound effect on world history.
After we were done at the sites, we walked back across the bridge to our cars and looked for turtles in the swamp:
We saw several snapping turtles of various sizes in the swamp and watched as they swam and ate. I also thought that it was pretty obvious that the settlers didn't look too far from the coastline to see this swamp because it looks pretty much like a breeding pit for disease. Anyway, Brooke was happy to see the turtles because she was a bit unsettled after seeing old turtle shells as archaeological remains and learning that the colonists used them as food.
We decided to pass on visiting the "other" Jamestown and had some lunch, and rather than ice cream, I decided that I would be nutritious and have an apple for dessert:
OK, so it was and apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and it was covered in caramel, peanut butter, milk chocolate, white chocolate, chocolate chips, and nuts. But there was an apple in it! And it was on a stick!
Anyway, we took a break from the history lessons and we wandered around the outlet mall to visit the stores we missed yesterday. After shopping, we went to play the other miniature golf course in town, Pirate's Cove:
I liked this picture because it included so many of my favorite things: Brooke, Dairy Queen, and miniature golf. Throw in some cheese fries and I've got Eden.
Golf was fun, but it was on a bit of a mountain:
The steps gave Brooke a flashback to our New River Gorge hikes, but it did make her think that if the National Parks Service added some miniature golf holes along the stairs, she would enjoy them a lot more. But even with the stairs, and even with me avenging my crushing defeat from yesterday, we still had a good time, and even took a moment for us and our golf balls to be together:
After golf, we indulged in our most expensive dinner ever (and we got accosted by a timeshare salesperson) at a seafood buffet (we may need to make do with the remaining half loaf of bread and two Fiber One bars since we'll be out of money) before heading to our ghost tour in Williamsburg:
The tour was entertaining with stories of ghosts and history of particular buildings, including some of the buildings on the campus of the College of William and Mary (which is located directly across the street from the tourist area; the school bookstore is mixed in with the other shops). Brooke's favorite building was the Peyton Randolph House, considered to be the most haunted house in Williamsburg. (Peyton Randolph was the first President of the Continental Congress, but did not live long enough to sign the Declaration of Independence; this furthered the perception the Peyton was a great leader under regular circumstances, but performed poorly in the playoffs.) Anyway, Brooke wants to spend a night in that house to see if she can meet any ghosts:
After our tour, I went to pay our parking garage ticket and to my horror, it was not in my pocket. The reason I was horrified is because I felt like I made special effort to put that ticket in my pocket in a specific way so I wouldn't lose it and have to pay the all-day parking fee. OK, it was only a $5 difference, but we walked back to where our tour started to see if I dropped my ticket there. Miraculously, the ticket was there, and our $5 was saved. Combine that with the news I got today that my annual golf outing, the Hacker Open was cancelled for this year (good financial news, bad recreational news), I might have saved enough money today to be able to afford tonight's dinner (not that I should keep complaining about that since Brooke paid for it).
Tomorrow, we will head toward our next stop at Ocean City, Maryland. Along the way, we will travel on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and visiting the Virginia side of Assateague Island National Seashore. Also, we will have to start the day by making another difficult decision regarding which pancake house we will eat breakfast at, but if that is the hardest decision I'm making, things can't be all bad.
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