Virginia Beach, Yorktown & Williamsburg- Tuesday, June 30, 2026

      From our balcony in Virginia Beach, we were able to watch the sun come up over the Atlantic.  It was probably the first time that Abby actually watched a sunrise.  She spotted several big cargo ships but was most excited when she saw a "pirate ship."  Scott took a look at it through the zoom lens of his video camera, and it was indeed a big, 4-masted tall ship with her sails furled.  The AI on Google identified the ship as the BAP Unión from Peru.  She was sitting at anchor, but was here for some of the VA 250 events.

     We needed to find breakfast because our hotel didn't serve any.  We took a five minute walk down Atlantic Avenue to a place called the Atlantic Waffle Company.  It was a great choice.  The staff was very friendly and our waitress wanted to talk to us about Disney after she saw Julie's Haunted Mansion phone case.  When the food came we had no idea how to eat all of it.  We all got pancakes of some kind-- Abby, with chocolate and Julie with bananas.  Abby also got tater tots, and they even brought more out because the first serving was "small."  (We didn't think so.)  It was a little on the expensive side, but we were pleased with it.    

    Of course, Abby wanted to head to the beach before we left.   She and Dad went down to play in the surf a bit while Mom packed.   She liked trying to build sand mounds up before the next wave came in to knock them over.   Abby didn't like the Navy jets that kept flying overhead, and they did make a lot of noise.  Mom eventually came with a boogie board for Abby.  Abby tried it once or twice, but neither of her parents were dressed to pull her out a little deeper.  Abby decided she liked it better on the beach at Sullivan's Island because the water there was more smooth and the waves was not as rough.

     About 9:30, the car was packed and we headed towards Yorktown, a little more than an hour away.  Scott wanted to go to the American Revolution Museum in Yorktown again today.  We had visited there when Abby was little back in 2021.  When we first arrived there, Abby had fallen asleep, so as she was waking up, Scott went in to explore the galleries alone.

      The American Revolution Museum hasn't changed much since we came back in 2021.  Scott's biggest complaint is that it's a little hard to follow the story.  The gallery areas certainly have a beginning, middle and end, but it isn't always clear where to start.  The first rotunda area has a copy of a broadside of the Declaration of Independence, and judging from the way it's carefully lit, it seems like an original.  It's the kind of thing that would be posted somewhere in town to let people read the news for themselves.  Around that is a series of mannequins showing the uniforms of the Continental soldiers, their French allies, the British redcoats, and the German soldiers and the weapons each used.  From there, though you might not find the right path at first, you can follow a gallery about the causes of the war and the opening battles of the war, which includes a life-sized diorama of the Battle of Long Bridge which was one of the first fights here in Virginia, and which had African Americans fighting on both sides.  The display on the turning point battle of Saratoga had black curtains over it for some reason.  Scott casually perused other galleries on various aspects of the war, but he dived in deeper when he got to the maps and displays of the later phases of the war in the South.   Was he taking notes for future trips? 😉

     Julie and Abby had come into the museum, but spent time out at the children's tables in the main hall.  Abby colored in a picture of a tent.  Hers had rainbow-colored sides and a little girl peaking out of the front of it.  She was torn whether to leave it at the museum or to take it with her.  She decided to bring it with her.  Meanwhile, Scott went to the gift shop and bought himself 250th anniversary copies of Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence, a guide book to the museum, and a pin.  Together, the three of us went in to see the movie called Liberty Fever.  In 2021, Scott wrote, "The film had an interesting framing device.  It was told as a magic-lantern/shadow puppet presentation by a man who was living 40 years after the Revolution.  As he related each of the stories that he had been told, actors replaced the shadow puppets to tell the stories."  Abby didn't like the shooting and fighting scenes.  

     After the movie, Julie and Abby went to get lunch at the cafe while Scott went to finish up the galleries.  He decided to skip the presentation about the fight at Yorktown (leaving something for 2031, perhaps?) and continued through the galleries about the aftermath and effects of the war.  Eventually, he joined the girls for lunch and shared their sandwiches.  We stopped to get a picture with George Washington's statue, but we skipped the re-enactors' camp outside and the Revolutionary era farm. 

     We continued to our hotel in Williamsburg, the Williamsburg Woodlands Hotel and Suites, which is part of the Colonial Williamsburg complex.  It's like staying on property at Disney World to be in the "Disney Bubble."  We are right next to the Colonial Williamsburg Visitors Center, and free shuttles connect you to several stops in the old town.  We plan to make use of them tomorrow.    

     While Julie was checking in, Abby spotted a blue-tailed skink on the brick walls, and she and Dad watched it scurry back and forth.  Once we got into the room, the smell of it reminded us of Disney.   (THe lobby smells distinctly like wood too, but its a different smell in the room.)  It's a cute room, nothing fancy, but it's wallpaper has 18th century scenes on it and the room feels cozy. 

     Abby was very anxious to get to the pool, so while Julie took a short nap, Scott took her over to the pool.  It's a very big pool, twice the size of the usual hotel pools.  It has 3' shallow end at both ends, which Abby liked.  The water wasn't as warm as the Charleston pool, but it was warm enough that you didn't have to get used to it while still being cool enough to be refreshing.  There is also a pirate-themed splash pad that Abby played on.  (Julie had called it a "water park" before we got here, but "splash pad" is a better description of it.)  After Julie's nap, we got dried of and dressed and headed out looking for dinner.

     We drove along Richmond Road looking for a place that looked like a good place for dinner.  We finally settled on one called Route 60 BBQ.  (Richmond Road is Route 60.)  We recognized it as place we had eaten before, and sure enough, when we looked it up in the blog, we had eaten here that same day that we went to the Yorktown museum in 2021.  We had similar things to say about it this time.  It was mysteriously empty and we were the only ones there each time, but the food was good.  Julie and Scott both got pulled pork, hoping again for something like King's.  The food fell short of King's, but it was better than the barbecue we had yesterday.  Abby tried banana pudding, but didn't like the pieces of banana in it.

     Like that previous trip in 2021, we then went shopping at a few of the gift shops along Richmond Road. Scott and Julie both got Williamsburg t-shirts that they will probably wear tomorrow.  Abby got a pen with pictures of cocker spaniels on it.  She also got an axolotl finger puppet and a t-shirt that says "I axolotl questions!"  We were hoping to find some swim goggles for her because she wants to be more adventurous and put her head under water more.  When the gift shops didn't have any, we found a Dollar General store nearby that did.

     After that, we went back to the hotel.  We want to rest up for tomorrow when we will be hitting the historical parts of Colonial Williamsburg.  The temperatures today were in the mid-80s, which was warm but more bearable than the high 90s we saw in Charleston.  Unfortunately, the temperatures are supposed to be creeping higher tomorrow.