Tuesday, July 20, 2021- Our Anniversary in Williamsburg

      Today is our 30th wedding anniversary and we decided to spend it in Williamsburg.  We woke up in Hopewell, packed up our car and followed Route 5 towards Williamsburg.  Route 5 runs along the north bank of the James River and was always one of our favorite drives to take.  It goes by most of the big plantations, though you can't really see anything of them from the road.  The road is scenic because of the beautiful trees that are growing along it, usually on both sides of it, and often so close to the road that they touch over the top of it.  It was a peaceful and pretty drive down, though no one behind us wanted to drive the 45 mile an hour speed limit.

     When we got to the Williamsburg area, Julie remembered following the Colonial Parkway to the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center, parking there and then following a footpath to the historic part of town.  Scott didn't remember that as well, but Julie knew what she was talking about.  We found a shady spot to park, entered the Visitor Center, and then headed over to the historic area.  There is a new bridge to help make the walk a little safer and it has interesting plaques embedded in it.  It begins by telling you that you are leaving the 21st Century and entering the past.  Then as you walk on the timeline back ticks off how things were different back then.   (It does a similar thing in reverse as you walk back again.)

     We passed the windmill and entered the historic area near the Governor's Palace.  Scott's sure he's never been in the Governor's Palace before, but Julie thinks she has been.  We've never paid for admission to the buildings in Williamsburg before, though we have seen the inside of some through different workshops and conferences that we've attended here- mostly through Scott's tourism job.   The plan today, though was to take it easy and just stroll through the streets like we usually do.  Abby wouldn't be patient enough for tours.

     We stopped at a bench near the front of the Governor's Palace and got Abby to eat some grapes that we had brought.  We watched several horse drawn carriages go by.  Abby said that horses say "neigh."  One of the drivers saw her pointing and laughingly told his horse, "Look, horse!  A child!"

     Abby never likes to move in the direction that we want to go in.  At malls and places like that, she always starts to head the opposite way  The same was true today.  In fact, she was content to stay in one spot and play in the dirt.  We didn't make a lot of forward progress as a result of that.  We sat for a while in front of the store of "Jno Greenhow," and Scott eventually went in and got some bottles of cold water there.  One thing is for sure, Abby makes friends everywhere she goes and everyone seems to like talking to her.  After staying there a little while, we moved down the street to the edge of Merchants Square and found a bench in the shade where it was a little cooler.  By that point it was about 11:30 and that meant it was time for lunch.  We ate ham sandwiches made from food that Julie had bought at Food Lion last night and enjoyed a quiet little picnic there.

     After lunch, we went to some of the stores in Merchants Square, though we had to take turns doing so.  Abby was either napping a little bit or watching TicToc videos on Julie's phone, but wasn't in the mood to behave in the stores.   After spending some time there, we made our way back towards the Governor's Palace, and Abby finally fell asleep for a real nap.  The problem was that it was so warm and humid and we didn't want her getting sick from overheating as she was sleeping.  It was after 1:00, and we decided to try to make our way to the hotel.  We had to walk the path back to the Visitor Center first, and Scott took Abby ahead in her stroller in order to get her to the air conditioning, while Julie took her time and came a little slower.  We all cooled down there and went to our hotel.

     We always say that we don't expect a lot from a hotel- just a place to flop.  That's what we've been in for the last three nights- some bare-bones minimum places that didn't cost very much.  They were so bare-bones that the last hotel didn't even have Wi-Fi.  We had to use Julie's phone as a hotspot in order to write the blog.  There seemed to be switches missing on the lights in the room, and there were cracks and nicks in the walls.  The hotel we're in tonight may not be anything special, but it feels luxurious after the last two.  We don't usually mention the names of hotels in this blog, but lets just say that the first two felt like we were laying on the side of the "roadway" and it is much more "comfortin'" to be where we are now.

     We chose this hotel because it was relatively close to the historic area and it had a pool.  After we got checked in and unpacked the car, it was about 2:00 PM and we decided to make use of that pool.  All three of us went in and Abby absolutely loved it.  It was her first time in anything bigger than a bathtub, but she took to the water like a fish.  Julie has no doubt that Abby is ready for a children's swimming program now.  Abby was all smiles and giggles as she was passed between Mom and Dad . Yes, even Scott went in, and it has been years since has done something like that.  The whiteness under his farmer's tan is partial testimony to that.  Abby didn't want to leave at all, but once we got her in the car to find dinner, she was asleep almost instantly.  

     When we did get out of the pool we were hungry, but didn't know what we wanted.  Julie wanted to find a barbecue place, but when we did find one it was hard to order there.  The menu at the drive-through was confusing and they weren't taking any orders inside.    We were getting hangry and frustrated, but we did find a Five Guys and got food there.  We got it to go and ate it in the hotel room.   We've had weirder anniversary dinners.  

     After dinner we went to look for the shopping that we remembered along Route 60.  We were a little disappointed.  The huge Yankee Candle store that Julie remembered so fondly is closed and vacant.  We went out to the Outlet Shops but were a little disappointed in them.  They were not laid out well and were hard to follow.  We went to a few including a bookstore, but many of them were already closed since it was 7:00.  We were a little surprised that one of the anchor stores there was a Food Lion, but we had thought of several more things we could get there, so we did "made some groceries" and called it a night.

     Like her big sister Anna, Emma had to stay home this time because she has a job.  She's working at Kohl's now.  We heard that she went for lunch with Grandpa and Grandma Wright today at Rayzor's.   It was good to hear that she got to do that.   Yesterday, she and Anna went out to shop at Target.