Virginia – Meanderings & Mind Munchies

Williamsburg

After getting ourselves together in the morning, we headed to Historic Williamsburg. I had been there in middle school, but that was over 50 years ago. Yikes!

Our first stop after navigating the visitor center was the Governor’s Palace. I’m a sucker for old buildings, so this was a favorite.

Another highlight of the trip was a discussion by the Marquis de Lafayette about his role in the American revolution. Neither Greg nor I had known that the French were so involved in the revolution. Lafayette was given the rank of major general by the Continental Congress when he was only 20 years old!

We also participated in a trial at the local courthouse, where several people were accused of not attending church regularly enough.

And, of course, we stepped into the many shops along the Duke of Gloucester Street, where we learned about life in early colonial America.

Both Greg and I were very surprised to learn that the town only had about 2,000 residents at the time of the American Revolution.

And we were both unaware until our visit to Williamsburg how important the battle at Yorktown had been.

It was quite an enjoyable day, although I think I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t already been so tired.

I couldn’t resist taking more pictures of those red buds!

Virginia Capital Trail

Since I got to decide what we would do yesterday, I let Greg decide what we would do today. He chose a bike ride on the Virginia Capital Trail.

To say that I was unenthused would be an understatement. The weather today was chilly, windy, and often cloudy. I did not relish freezing my butt off on a bike ride. But off we went anyway.

Honestly? The Virginia Capital Trail makes for a boring bike ride. The scenery consists of fields and woods, and the part we rode on ran parallel to the highway, so there was a fair amount of road noise. Maybe if the weather had been better, I would have enjoyed it more.

If you’re training for a bike race, it would be a good place to practice. Other bikers were rare. We encountered no other bikers going the same direction as we were, and few going in the other. The terrain is mostly flat, and the trail is well-maintained. But it was pretty boring.

We found a picnic table along the way and stopped for lunch.

In total, we road just over 25 miles. Since I wasn’t feeling particularly well when we started out, I used the bike’s battery assist the entire way and let the bike do most of the work — at least until we turned around to head back. At that point, I really pushed it because I was cold and eager to get back to our campsite.

In the end, I was pretty proud of my stats. The calories burned stat is inaccurate, since the bike did more work than I did. But hey, pedaling is still exercise, right?

Jamestown

Our Spring 2025 adventure through Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky began with a trip to Jamestown Settlement.

First we wandered through the exhibits inside the visitor’s center and watched the movie about the Jamestown Settlement. Then we went outside, found a comfortable spot near the recreation of the Powhatan Indian village and ate our picnic lunch.

After exploring how the natives were living back in 1607, we checked out the reconstruction of two of the ships that brought the first Jamestown settlers from England to Virginia. They were amazingly small for the number of people and supplies they carried.

Next, we watched some reenactors entertain the children by showing them how corn was ground and weapons were forged.

We checked out the reconstruction of some of the buildings within the Jamestown Settlement. One of the volunteers told me that the original settlement would have had so many buildings that only narrow alleys would have existed between them.

We finished our tour of the reconstructed Jamestown Settlement by stopping by the church. Attendance was mandatory for all settlers, and not just on Sunday!

On our way out of the Jamestown Settlement, we passed this beautiful redbud tree in full bloom. Spring has arrived in Virginia!

Historic Jamestown

After leaving the recreation of the Jamestown Settlement, we headed to historic Jamestown itself.

Since time was a-wasting, we decided to do the archeological museum first, since it closes at 5 pm. We had to pay an additional fee to go through the museum, but it was well worth it.

I enjoyed seeing the skeletons of the original settlers and hearing about how they died. Modern archeology is amazing in what it can learn from the past.

After touring the museum, we checked out some of the other sites. In the reconstructed church, one of the docents talked about the three major groups who lived and interacted with one another during the early Jamestown years: the Anglos, the Native Americans, and the Africans.

We learned that slavery in America began at Jamestown. And the beginning of representative government began here too.

On the road again…

Greg and I are about to head out on our first camping trip of 2025. We’ll be doing a six-week trip through Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, with most of the time spent in Tennessee. Here is our tentative itinerary:

3/31 – 4/5	American Heritage RV Park	Williamsburg area
4/5 – 4/10	Waynesboro North 340 Campground	Charlottesville, VA, area
4/10 – 4/11	Pioneer Village RV Park	Port Chiswell, VA, area
4/11 – 4/18	Riverbend Campground	Pigeon Forge, TN, area
4/18 – 4/23	Spacious Skies Belle Ridge	Monterey, TN
4/23 – 4/28	Raccoon Mountain Campground	Chattanooga area
4/28 – 5/4	Elm Hill RV Resort	Nashville area
5/4 – 5/8	EZ Days RV Park	Memphis area
5/8 – 5/11	Thousand Trails Diamond Caves	Park City, KY, area
5/11 – 5/14	Louisville South KOA Holiday	Louisville, KY, area
5/14 – 5/17	Seneca Lake Park and Campground	Cambridge, OH, area
5/17 – 5/18	TBD	PA, somewhere

Child #2 and Child #4 will be holding down the fort for us. I’ve outfitted both of their bedrooms with fire escape ladders in case they set the house on fire while we’re away.

Tennessee, here we come!