On Vacation

We're on vacation: a week in sunny not snowy (yet) Williamsburg. To be fair, Sunday sported temperatures near 60 F with opaline skies and shades-required sunshine. I am now officially ready for the Vernal equinox and the arrival of Spring! The rest of the week? Grey with rain. And SNOW is forecast for tomorrow! Oh well, I did ask for it (just don't tell my wife).

In the sunshine of Sunday, we toured Jamestown settlement and the ships. Way cool! We were able to board the Susan Constant and the Godspeed (the Discovery was closed). On the Godspeed, we toured the cargo hold (also the passenger cabin). The men slept on the barrels and crates. I do not envy the intrepid souls who made that journey.

On the Godspeed there was a particularly wonderful guide. He showed the boys how the windlass (the winch for raising/lowering the anchor) works. He then let the boys operate the windless. He discussed the bilge pump and scuppers (slits in the side to let water drain from the deck). My older son helped square away part of the rigging and learned how to tie stuff to a cleat. An awesome education! When we get home, the boys will probably want to practice coiling rope and tying knots.

The terrestrial part of the tour was cool too. We were treated to a match-lock demonstration, discussions about yehakin construction and Powhatan culture, a cooking demo, and many other cool things. Even standing in the recreated fort, it is hard to imagine the daily existence of the Jamestown founders.

The kids even liked the museum. Walking through, one progresses in time from the late 1500's to the end of the 17th century. Built for the quadricentennial, there are lots of artifacts, huge recreations of homes and an entire London street to help contrast English and aboriginal American culture.

And we can't forget the visit from Grandma! We toured the Yankee candle factory and dipped some candles. My favorite bit was the Christmas village. It snows every four minutes there, but I think even my wife was able to overlook that flaw. That is a neat place, but wax has gotten expensive.

Yesterday we rode the Jamestown-Scotland ferry. Not quite as big as I remember it from my childhood, but it was way cool (literally and figuratively). There was a bald eagle perched on a buoy in the middle of the river. I snapped several pictures with my T1i, but sadly none of the pictures turned out as I would have liked, and I didn't have time to make adjustments and reshoot. I'll still be grumping about this one for a long time to come. I did get some nice shots of other birds. Oh well!

As for Williamsburg? So far, so good. I'll keep you posted on the rest of our journey.