Williamsburg Weekend

Dustin and I had a wonderful out-of-town weekend in Williamsburg, even though we strayed very far from our plans! Our original plans were to leave Friday afternoon after my doctor's appointment, arriving in Williamsburg before 10:00 so we could awake well-rested on Saturday. Saturday we were going to use our free passes (for all active duty military and up to three dependents) to Busch Gardens. And Sunday? We were going to do the whole Colonial Williamsburg tour.

Well, the first kink in the plan was that Dustin ended up tied up in a work situation and didn't come home until 2:00 a.m. on Saturday. I had our suitcases packed and waiting at the door, but by the time 10:00 hit, I was just too tired to wait up any longer. Poor hubby :( We did end up leaving early Saturday morning, but it was a bummer that we had wasted money pre-paying for a hotel we didn't even stay in. It was a bit chillier in Virginia than it had been in Carolina, so we decided we needed to stop by a mall to pick up some cozy sweaters to keep warm.

We had a yummy lunch at Second Street Restaurant. Dustin had a ginormous burger and I tried the Farmhouse Grilled Cheese. Cheddar Cheese, Bacon, and Slices of Granny Smith Apples all grilled to perfection? Oh my goodness, yes! I think I will be trying to replicate this tasty recipe sometime this fall.

Then the outlet malls sucked us in. There were so many stores that Jacksonville just doesn't have. Dustin bought some clothes from the Gap and Polo outlets, and then I found a to-die-for red/orange Kate Spade purse I just couldn't live without! I definitely justified this by telling Dustin I have been wanting a Kate Spade purse ever since 2005, when I found out she was a Kappa Kappa Gamma, just like I was in college :)

After doing some shopping til we dropped, we decided to scrap our amusement park plans and watch some college football at Buffalo Wild Wings instead. I tried some Pumpkin Blue Moon, which was much better than the Florida Gator game we ended up witnessing. Poor Gators :(

Today we woke up early. Our hotel served a continental breakfast, where we chowed down on some biscuits and gravy - guilty pleasure! On a totally random note, Williamsburg must be the capital of breakfast joints, because Dustin and I definitely passed 8 different pancake houses within about a 5 mile radius! However, the nearest Starbucks was 12 minutes away! I loaded up on caffeine with a Salted Caramel Mocha and then Dustin and I were off to visit Jamestown Settlement.

We both found Jamestown to be highly entertaining and informative! We learned about the Powhatan Indians, and how they made corn patties by covering them with hot ash to cook them, and later rinsed them off with water! We also got to watch them fire the muskets and walk aboard a replica of one of the ships sailed to Jamestown. I realized that I have some serious confusion in my history of America, namely that I had Jamestown and Plymouth Rock completely confused! One of the tour guides says this is common though. Everybody learns extensively about Plymouth Rock in school, even though Jamestown was settled over a decade earlier! Interesting.... And I guess as a kindergarten teacher who always teaches about Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower only - I am guilty as charged! I will definitely discuss both places this year with my kiddos!

To finish off the weekend, we got to watch a Falcons victory at Ruby Tuesdays and arrived home shortly after dark! I love busy weekends, but I sure wish I had an extra day to recover! If you haven't been to Williamsburg, you need to put it on your travel to-do list! And save room for breakfast, apparently!