Day 3: Williamsburg, Pt. 2

Tuesday morning started out much better than Monday. Everyone mostly slept through the night. We had leftover breakfast food from the previous day so I didn’t even have to cook. We got up and bummed around for a little bit while we sorted out plans for the day. We considered going to Jamestown, however that would have been a significant bus ride. While my confidence in navigating the bus system had grown after a day I was worried that the kids would get restless just on the bus ride there. Instead, we decided to head back to Colonial Williamsburg. If we took the bus to the transportation center we could walk to Merchant Square and William & Mary, so that was the plan.

We were later getting on the bus than Monday so by the time we got to the transportation center it was already 11:00. We checked out some shops then decided to split up briefly. Allyson took Nolan into Mellow Mushroom to order pizzas for lunch while I took the girls to a Williamsburg exhibit, the old schoolhouse. The schoolhouse was interesting, but like most things Williamsburg the interesting parts were tainted by underlying theme of slavery. The school was actually for slave children. The tour guide did a great job providing the history of the school. Basically slave children were allowed some limited education to help them be more productive. But they were eventually cut off to limit their ability to escape. Pretty sad. However, it was good for the girls to hear the history.

The guides/performers in Colonial Williamsburg are pretty interesting. They're basically part historian and part actor, and they are doing the same shtick every day. The skill set doesn't strike me as particularly transferrable outside of the immediate area. So I do wonder if these folks are committed to Williamsburg for life. Also, how did they end up here? Were they life-long lovers of colonial history and they just had to work in Williamsburg, like a kid trying to work at Disney? Were they born in Williamsburg and this is "just what you do"?

Some of them played their part very well (the apothecary, the schoolhouse instructor). Others really embraced the theatrical elements and unnecessarily drew out the performance (the capitol tour guide).

After the school we walked back to mellow mushroom where the pizza was just served. This was clutch. Had we corralled the children to wait for pizza they would’ve lost it. So thankfully Allyson was able to keep Nolan distracted long enough for us to arrive and eat pizza in the A/C. It was now hot and humid out, so we all appreciated the break in the cool air.

After lunch we checked out a few more Williamsburg sites and then walked over to William & Mary. We try and expose the girls to colleges everywhere we go. We won’t insist they go to college, but the idea is to get them thinking that college would be a fun place to go. William & Mary was very nice and literally adjacent to Williamsburg, so it’s a cool area.

The last stop of the day was the public library. We had about 40 minutes to kill before the bus was coming and right on our way to the bus stop was the library and surely more A/C. The library had a nice children’s area so it was great break. We eventually got on the bus and made it back to the campground.

We all cooled off for a bit and then I took the girls to the pool for a while. Typically we’d take Nolan but this pool’s shallowest point was three feet. Normally you can play with Nolan in that depth if there’s stairs or something. But this pool only had ladders and when we tried it on Tuesday he was flopping around like a nut job. So it was best he sat this one out on Tuesday.

After dinner we all bummed around and watched movies. It was way too hot to do a campfire and it eventually started storming. I actually thought this was great. We couldn’t hang out by a fair anyways and when it rains in the motorhome is actually makes a pitter patter noise that’s very soothing to sleep with.

By the end of the day Tuesday I think we were all ready to make a change in scenery. We loved Williamsburg, but we were looking forward to A) cooler weather, B) the beach, and C) having a rental car. Allyson and I were glad we tried the bus option, but with so many kids having a car would be much easier. So we’ll see if we get those three things in Delaware tomorrow.