We arrived in Williamsburg and the tradition of the cheking out the hotel continued along with the evaluation of the other swimmers - how many adults, how many children, how many kids Alexa's own age. You get the idea.
Next morning we dived into Williamsburg. Now, to say that Alexa wasn't totally on-board with this portion of the vacation would be an understatement. History - blah! pilgrims* - blah! Watching the re-enactments - blah! The village is a little different from when we were there last about 15 years ago. Today they have actors recreating scenes from Williamsburg 's history and they have townspeople talking about their lives. We got to 'listen-in' to two slaves talking about how to help a slave child whose mother had been sold. That evolved into a scene between a young man and woman on the brink of an engagement - being interrupted by his family leaving for England as his father was a loyalist. The son, a young man, was a patriot and refused to go back with his family. He was leaving for Massachusetts and was signing up to join General Washington. The young woman, the daughter of a patriot family was torn over her suitor leaving. Alexa was bored...
*My incredibly intelligent daughter was a little mixed up with the historic time line - colonists not pilgrims, dear...
We had to cajole, fight, demand, insist Alexa take this picture of us! The obligatory trapped in the stocks photo! Could we get her in the stocks - NO WAY! (she just wanted to get to the shopping at the end of the street!)
We traveled down the street and heard the governor, speaking from the balcony of the capitol building announcing he was suspending the Virginia House of Burgesses due to the people's sympathic response to the Boston Tea Party. We walked down the street some more and came across a public tar and feathering! A man had been accused of spouting loyalist sympathies and putting down the patriots and was subjected to a 'court' of his peers (toursits) right there on the street.
He was saved at the last minute from the man you see on the far left. 'Jack' managed to convince the men to let the 'prisoner' go if he apologized and praised the patriot cause. As the prisoner hurried away he was heard to say he was boarding the next boat back to England.
We moved from store to craftsman working our way down the Duke of Glouster Street. Alexa did seem interested in the tradesmen as they talked about what they did and how they did it. The photo below is from the wig makers store. Oh, those folks had some serious fashion issues!
I've got some more pictures for another day. My color-artsy-fartsy photos that I'll post another time. Tomorrow we're off to Louisville and Indianapolis for the Brickyard 400. Norman's boss has yearly tickets and he sold them to us. So we're going to fly into Louisville, do some sightseeing there and then drive up to Indy on race day. Alexa is staying with Laurie and Ryann which is a very good thing because she and her grandmother have not been getting along (what's new!) So hopefully, the MIL will have some peace from her wicked granddaughter and Alexa will behave at Ryann's. Us, we'll have a blast at the race! Gentelmen, START YOUR ENGINES!!!
3 comments:
My mom, the social studies teacher and American history buff always made us visit the historical sites along the way of our vacation desitnation. I thought it was a total drag and so did my sister! I really miss those times now. Alexis will appreciate it someday.
Sounds like you survived! Glad you had a good trip!
I finally got to see Williamsburg this year. I went with Laura and an old friend of hers who now lives in Richmond, VA to see William and Mary as part of "The Grand Tour" of prospective colleges. I kept thinking about how much you and I would have had fun together going through the workshops and craft stores. I agree with Tracy that Alexa will remember and appreciate it someday. I know I did with my Mom. Also,Laura has grown in her appreciation of these events.
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