Colonial Williamsburg 2013

My most recent vacation was to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia this past weekend. I went with my lovely girlfriend, Caity. Read on and you shall hear more about what it was like living in Jamestown in 1607. If, however, you are an easily offended historian with a particular interest in colonial American history, it's best you stop here.
The only thing I can tell  you about Jamestown in 1607 was that it was swampy.
When Caity and I arrived in Jamestown, VA in 2013 we went to the collection of Visitors' Centers provided by the state and the nation. We looked at the different pictures of what was beyond the visitors' centers, and decided we didn't right much care to see where old houses used to sit. Seeing fields and reading plaques about the wood that used to be in the fields sounded fun and all, but we thought a ferry ride would be more intriguing. So we boarded a ferry across the James River and landed in the South. The river is as much of a divider as the Mason-Dixon line. While in Surry County, VA we looked at some peanut farms, then took the ferry back. I still feel very confident we made the right choice in skipping the 400 year old ruins to opt for a smelly ferry and a trip to the South. But, to make sure we appeased our Historian friends, we did go see a movie that night. No wait, what I meant was that we did do a driving tour around Jamestown island where we saw a fox.

Day two of our magical weekend included Colonial Williamsburg. For all my Boston readers, CW is kind of like Sturbridge Village. It's a large settlement meant to look like it did originally in the 1700s and early 1800s. There's a lot of people wearing period clothes doing period things like making shoes, riding horses, churning butter, getting stomach cramps, and whatever else happens on your period. I'm really not an expert on the subject. After three hours of walking the cobblestone streets in the sun, Caity and I turned to each other and almost in unity said to the other one, "This was kind of a strange vacation for us to go on since neither of us are really all that interested in colonial American history."
WHAT? We figure this out now? So we did what we like doing- bought some authentic root beer and drank them under a tree on a lovely bench while discussing why birds don't have arms and why the squirrels weren't in colonial costumes. It made for a delightful afternoon.
Day three of our magnificent vacation was at Busch Gardens. Busch Gardens is an amusement park just outside of Williamsburg. The last amusement park I went to was Knottsberry Farms in CA three years ago, and before that it was probably ten years. I pretty much forgot what an amusement park was. I'm often amused by a lot of different things, but primarily it's puns. I was expecting the park to be filled with clever puns, and was a little disappointed that I didn't see more. On the train ride I made up the majority of the puns because, well, monorails make the best one-liners.

Anyway, Mondays are the best days for amusement parks because most people have to go to work. The same applies for Tuesday-Friday. The longest wait we had in line was 30 minutes and that was so that we could be in the front line of a daring roller coaster: Poppy's Puppies. It was terrifying! The sign out front said you had to be accompanied by an an adult to ride it, so I knew it was going to be mind bending-ly scary. Caity and I were both too scared to be the 'adult', so we recruited another patron to go with us. He was reluctant at first, but when we sweetened the deal with the offer of 100 free business cards he was more inclined to accept. He held my hand and Caity jumped on his back for the entire Poppy's Puppies.
The other highlight of the day at Busch Gardens was the nap we took on a park bench after the Rhine River Cruise. We both enjoy a postprandial sleep, and after a big lunch we both decided that our afternoon would be greatly improved with a nap before the roller coasters. So we sat on a  wood bench by the river and slept. Hundreds of people passed us, many of them sat on us unknowingly, and a few even joined us. Unfortunately those few decided to join us at the same time, and the bench was just not big enough for 8 humans and three dogs all lying down. I didn't sleep much during that interval. But anyway, after the nap Caity and I both felt much better and headed off for more fun. When the park is open 12 consecutive hours you can afford to take nap or two.
It was a really great weekend. I'd highly recommend the historic Jamestown for the foxes, Colonial Williamsburg for the root beer and collector's spoons, and Busch Gardens for the superior wooden sleeping benches.