Visit to Virginia

Last fall, my sister and I, our husbands, and my parents went on a trip to Virginia—specifically the Historic Triangle area. 3 of us had visited a decade ago, and were surprised to see how much the area has filled in since then. Personally, I missed the way it felt to me back then—a bit more isolated, and less like it was butting up to the modern world. On my first visit, it felt like we’d been transported back in time. I didn’t get that this time—but I still loved it.

There was even more to see, and a week just wasn’t enough to fully explore everything the way we like to, but we did as much as we could, and loved every minute.

We wandered around Colonial Williamsburg and enjoyed seeing and learning about many early craftsmanship techniques. We spent a day at Historic Jamestowne—toured the ships, the Powhatan Indian village and the fort (we also unofficially joined an elementary school’s field trip for a little while. Their guide was SO interesting!) We also went to the archaeology museum and explored an area where they are still excavating. The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown is a new addition since our last visit, and it’s amazing! We could have taken an entire day just in that place, and maybe still not seen it all! We did the beautiful Yorktown Battlefield driving tour, then walked around Yorktown. That is a beautiful little place! We were fascinated by the Thomas Nelson house which still has cannonballs embedded in its brick exterior.

Even though it was a bit of a drive, we also went to Monticello—Thomas Jefferson’s estate. Gene and I had been when we visited the Washington DC area, and loved it. It’s a gorgeous home on an amazing piece of property, and Jefferson’s creativity and inventions are everywhere. The tours are so interesting, and the grounds are beautiful. Here’s an interesting tidbit: On our first visit, our tour guide was very specific about the pronunciation: Monti-SELL-o…an Italian word meaning “little mountain”. But this time, the tour guides and the movie we saw at the visitors center all pronounced it Monti-CHELL-o. I’m no expert, but I did find this which seems to answer the discrepancy. Seems pretty clear to me, but apparently even AT Monticello, they haven’t come to a consensus.

We also spent some time in the Williamsburg Antique mall—which is enormous—I found some treasures that had to come home with me, and I found lots of others that I left there (watch for an upcoming post sharing my latest collectibles).

I’ve been to this beautiful area of the country a few times now, and still feel like there’s so much more that I want to see!