I'm back! What a trip to the mid-atlantic!!! About This Page:

[infinity&beyond]

Whew! I can't believe I made it through the whole week and a half! I think my total hours of sleep is somewhere around 36. And now I'm suffering from being back in California where it's 3 hours later. I'm awake at 4am and asleep at 8pm!

I had tons of fun, but not enough time. So, I'll give you guys the highlights:

Day 1: Travel and check in to Colonial Williamsburg Colonial Houses. The travel went well, no glitches on the air flight. Had a layover in Dallas and got a hold of my brother, sister-in-law and they came by to take me to lunch! What a great surprise. The most fun was visiting with my extremely precocious 5 year old niece. It was great to catch up with them, and my flight to Dallas left right on time. I arrived in Norfolk around 5:15 pm. We got our rental car (me and my friend Karen who was attending the conference also) and headed to Williamsburg. We stayed in the Brick House Tavern, right on Duke of Gloucester Street. Very cool. Had dinner at Chowning's Tavern and enjoyed the Gambols (singing and general carousing Colonial style) and got to bed around midnight.

Day 2: Williamsburg! How can anyone even think of doing this in one day? It was great to stay right in Williamsburg, I woke up early and took a walk in the historic district. Workers in period garb were strolling about on their way to work, it really felt like I was in another era. Brought coffee back to the room for Karen and while she showered I perused the visitor's guide to decide what to do. We went on a tour about slavery in the colonial era, toured the Governor's Palace, and visited lots of cool sites...including the print shop, the wigmaker/barber (really a great interpreter here!!), the shoemaker, and of course we shopped. We also saw the windmill and the courthouse. Dinner was at Shield's Tavern. Mr. Shields came by for a visit, and he was very funny. He said that California was full of nothing but savages and Spaniards, and was glad that we had come to a more civilized part of the country. After dinner we attended a fantastic evening storytelling program called "Spellbound." It was really professionally done and lots of fun. The stories are all based on newspaper articles from the period. Finally, to cap off our day we went back to Chowning's tavern for more singing and a magician, too!

Day 3: Road trip to DC! Okay, another thing that you cannot do in one day! We decided to give it a try, and arrived around noon. Started at the Capitol and headed towards the Lincoln Memorial on foot. What a trip we had on the way! Stopped at the Air & Space Museum for lunch, which was McDonalds (not what I expected and as a vegetarian there wasn't much to eat). Fortunately upstairs there was a more upscale coffee shop type place that had a grilled vegetable panini.
Went into the Natural History Museum just to see the Mammoth in the lobby. Really impressive! We had 4:00 tour reservations for the Washington Monument so we hurried to get there on time. Well, wouldn't you know it...the elevator was broken! Kept walking through Constitution gardens and arrived at the Vietnam Veterans memorial. This was so moving, particularly because it was Veteran's Day. President Bush had been there earlier in the day and left a wreath. The first thing I saw was a shadow box with a pair of baby shoes in it (the tears are starting) and a note that said "The shoes you didn't get to tie." [img]graemlins/cry2.gif[/img] There were lots of moving tributes, and I really enjoyed seeing it.
We also visited the Korean War Veterans Memorial (Karen's father had served), and it was a very moving sculpture as well!
Finally, the sun was setting and the Lincoln Memorial was in front of us. What a fantastic sight! We visited for a while, then made the long trek to the Foggy Bottom Metro station and back to the hotel. A long day but really great!

I'll write more later, but work calls!

[AKLRULZ]

Wow - sounds great and you were all over our great Commonwealth! Hope you waved as you passed through Richmond!

I hear you about the Vietnam Memorial. It's incredibly moving.

Welcome home.

[infinity&beyond]

Yep, I waved! And I said "Thanks for the input!"
I really did explore much of the commonwealth.

On Day 4 we headed down the Eastern Shore and made a stop at Chincoteague and Assateague. It was pouring rain but there were still some of those famous ponies that I had read about when I was a kid. It was great to see them! I was standing out in the rain gleefully saying "Ponies! Ponies!" It was very neat to see them. I bought fresh copies of "Misty of Chincoteague" and "Stormy, Misty's Foal" for my collection.

We then headed across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel...what a great thing! The storm was right over us as we headed across and it was really beautiful! Arrived in Virginia Beach just in time to check in and get the booth set up (I'm the promotions co-chair for next year's workshop in Reno). Then we changed quick and headed to the opening reception at the Marine Science Museum. Stayed for about two hours, enough time to see the exhibits and make a few contacts with my fellow interpreters and committee members, then it was back to the hotel to SLEEP! Couldn't see the ocean because it was too dark, but it sure sounded nice!

For the next couple of days it was all work, but we had our offsite workshops on Friday, and fortunately the rain cleared up so I got to hike the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge without getting wet. Can't say I remained dry during the kayak trip in the bay, but that's okay! We saw dolphins and oystercatchers, and cranes and made a stop on Raccoon Island where we did a little seashell hunting. Wow! Conchs, sand dollars, tons and tons of crab carapices (those seagulls eat well!). It was really a highlight of the trip.

Back to work now!

[ 11-20-2002, 04:35 PM: Message edited by: infinity&beyond ]

[Bert & Sully]

Welcome back. Thanks for sharing some of the trip.

[chezp]

All the memorials in DC are truly moving. Last time we were there, we visited them all during the day and went again at night as part of an organised tour and each time, it was very different but very thought provoking. I think it's a shame we in Britain don't have more memorials.