Richmond, Virginia -Berkley Plantation- Day 7

We had to get up earlier than usual today since we had a refrigerator full of leftover that we needed to eat for breakfast.......It is soo bizzare that I won't even repeat it....haha.  The good thing is that it didn't take us long to get ready to go.  Our things were packed and waiting for our host to finish getting their things together. 

After we did a quick walk through of the vacation home, we (Chris) loaded everything into the car and we headed out for our last leg of adventure in Virginia.  We were headed about an hour away.....

TADA!

On the way, we spotted these  huge heads and had to find a way to get over to them and see what they were.....

Turns out that it was a presidential memorial of some sort that had evidently closed down.  The grass was overgrown, but you could see that the place was beautiful at one time.....:-(

Our next stop was Berkley Plantation and Berkley and Harrison Landing......This is the entrance to the plantation.  Now, I have to tell ya that being an African American woman, I'm sure I was seeing things from a completely different perspective than the others with me.....if you know what I mean...ha.  I was glad I am FREE! 

The further inside the gates we got, the weirder it felt to me.......

holy moly.......I was riding on an original carriage road that was constructed all those years ago....wow.  And I thought going around downtown Oklahoma City in a horse drawn carriage for my birthday was a big deal........gee wiz.  THIS took it to a whole new level and I was in a car!

I wasn't really impressed with with the pond thingee that looked like it would have misquitos carrying tennis rackets in the summer time! ha

We're getting clooooooserrrrr..............

and there it stood......The main house.....Not nearly has large as I thought it would be.  But there were several other houses on the property as well....

Once we got up to the door, there was a sign telling us that we had to register for a tour.  So, we followed the arrows around to the back of the house where the registration office was. We joined up with our tour guide only to be told that were not allowed to take ANY PICTURES, had to turn off our cells (which I totally understood), and were only allowed to see the lower level of the main house and the basement.  .......:-(.  We don't know why. 

But we were told that the main house's foundation was 6 feet deep, the outside walls of teh house were 3 feet thick and the inner walls were 18 inches thick.  There was a cook house on the right; which you can see and a bachelor's house on the left not visible in this picture.  There was also a tunnel that stretched between the cook house and the main house called the "Whistling passage"  as the cooks were instructed to whistle when passing through.  It was believe that they could not eat and whistle at the same time.  It was an American type of "loss prevention".....haha.  Wow....

We saw this building as well on our way to the back and learned that it contained a bathroom.......yeah!  And once I got into the building there was the sound of the military "Taps" playing in the background.  We were to learn later that that very song was written on that property by Gen. Mc Lelland; a General in the Union Army.  It was kinda eerie since I had just attended a military funeral the week before where this very song was played......  

this is looking at the James River.

It was a bit chilly, but very sunny......

And of course....Chris's head was taking it all in filling every corner of his brain....haha.

I found this tree to be quite strange.  I have no idea why it grew this way, but I felt it was picture worthy.....:-)

This turned out to be a short tour in regard to the house since much of it was off limits to the public.  Chris has an execllent memory and grasp on history and has given a very informative write up on this property and it's history.  You can read all about it here:

http://ddo2jl.blogspot.ca/

We decided to start making our way to the airport in Richmond and make a quick tour of the city before catching our flight.

and of course we knew we had to grab lunch somewhere before getting on the plane as they would not be serving us anything except drinks.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:10.  We found a Starbucks which was inside a local grocery store and decided to stop there and get some coffee, and a few other things to go with our "left overs" from the vacation home kitchen.  But first....COVER THIS NASTY TABLE!  Yuck....:-(.  We had to go upstairs to find seating and it was not pleasant.  We decided to make it work rather than try to find somewhere else to go and deal with parking...

Once we got it covered, we were able to spread out our food and rest a bit.  Uh......no.  That is NOT toilet paper! hahaha.  Geeze....it wasn't quite THAT bad! haha

Our bannas got a little beat up along the way, but they were ok.  By the way, we didn't eat Halls cough drops for lunch either! haha.  They just happen to be in the picture....  

after we left Starbucks, we drove around and took pics of the beauty that was so obvious to us.

The colors were all ablaze with Autumn.......:-).  Just lovely.......

see........:-).

Chris was marveling at the design of the historical "row homes" in the area.  I grew up in a row house in the later years of my youth.  So, I was familiar with how they are made.

I really like this picture because the city scape peeks out between the trees.....:-)

I wanted to walk along this pathway, but the airport was waiting for us as were our host who we left in the car when we jumped out to get some pictures......

But I mean, really.......don't you just love it?......Very beautiful....

Virginia is for lovers.......:-).  this is our last picture in Virginia.....:-(.  This was taken at the airport on our way to our gate.

Our flight was just over 2 hours and was uneventful.  I felt really tired once we landed in Dallas......

I was so tired that I was running out of words and my light lunch was wearing off.  So, we were glad when our ride showed up outside the airport.....:-)

We went right to bed once we got back to the home of our host and got up this morning taking our time and lounging around the house until close to lunch time.

After a very nice Chinese lunch and some more quality time  with our host, we started our 3 hour drive back to Oklahoma......

The sunset was spectacular!  Never the same on any given day.....:-)

And we finally made it back to our own home after making a quick stop at the store.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to see so much history over the past 7 days with some fantastic people.....:-). 

Thanks for traveling through some of our nations's history over the past few days....:-)

Good bye for now!



Historic Yorktown, Virginia - Day 7

Well, since we were all dragging today, we didn't get out of the house until noon.  We did manage to get a decent breakfast down before we left.  However, since we are trying to eat all of the food that we bought, we only had one piece of bacon a piece!  Needless to say, I was starving in about an hour and half after leaving for our next destination....ugh!

This ride was only about 20 minutes  from where we have been living.  So, it was alright that we left as late as we did. The town was established in 1691, but the battle was fought for independence in 1781.
    

if you look into the distance, you will see some hills behind the flag......those are there on purpose....

under all of those hills are bottomless basket type things that are about 3 feet wide that the soldiers used to shore up the ground and keep it stable for their protection against enemy forces.  They worked night and day digging holes, making "galbions" (that's what they are called), and they are still in the ground to this day..... 

isn't that amazing?  I have served in the military before and I can assure you that our fox holes did not look this polished! The battlefield was huge and spanned 14.5 square miles.   

 We went inside to see if we could use my national pass to get in and it was accepted.  So, we didn't need to pay for anything this time around.....yay!....:-)

the first thing you see when you turn the corner is this big ship sitting in the middle of the floor....ha.  Alrighty then.  I'll just have to go inside and see what's what......

These cannon were recovered from sunken ships that had been used in the war...

At first glance, I had not a clue what those thingees were hanging from the ceiling and then I realized they were rolled up hammocks.......    

this is a replica of what a dining area would have looked like......

I tried to get as close to the glass as I could to take pics of these scenes without casting a glare.  The British had been so defeated that the entire army marched to the surrender field to lay down their weapons.   They were flanked on either side by American and French forces.

These are other scenes from that battle......



it was rather dark and my camera had problems focusing.  Had I used a flash, it would have made a glare...

and of course the officers had to discuss the progress of things......

One last bang for good measure.....ha

As I said, the lighting was terribly dark.  I guess to help preserve some of the history and protect some fabrics from deterioration.  This is the actual tent the George Washington stayed in.  It is said that he cut pieces of it out and gave it away since several pieces have been found in private collections and been confirmed to have come from the same tent.
 

Here is a description of the tent.  It is difficult to read, but interesting if you can get it figured out.....

She must have been treated very well to have done this for them.......although, a slave.....:-(

Well, I was starting to feel famished since we were a little lean on the protein for breakfast.  We decided to stop at a coffee shop and get a snack and something to drink.

We saw this memorial along the way.....

The York River was very beautiful and the sky seemed very clear.....

We found the coffee shop......cool beans.....:-)

 

 It was a nice place, but nearly deserted since most of the tourism season was over....

 A quick look around found this guy hanging around the window........

by now, I was running on fumes and asked Chris to get me something FULL LEADED...

 after regaining my strength and finishing my muffin; which I ordered as well....we carried on.....this time walking and taking in the scenes.......:-).  I loved this bridge.

This almost looks like a little village, but of course the whole place looks like little villages....:-).  Very cute....

We did in fact drive to this little place along the shore.  I thought it was interesting as it appeared that someone may have lived there at one time.....

a little further along we ran into a bronze statue of George Washington.  Chris decided to give him the eye.  Neither of them moved.... well, until Chris did...ha.  George won! haha.  He was STILL staring when we left him....hahaha....

As we strolled along the coast line, we noticed that the bridge was open.  A local gentleman was standing near by and informed us that the bridge had malfunctioned and that the cars had been sitting waiting for it to close for some time.  I was glad we were not the ones stuck up there.......geeze...
    

 

while the other were gazing at the malfuntioning bridge, I grabbed a few more pictures....

the cresanthemums were just strickingly beautiful......

and then, Presto!  The bridge was closing and the cars were able to pass after a few minute of waiting for the gate to raise.

We noticed that there were a few more shops in the area that we wanted to check out......

When we get in the door, the first thing that greets us is the tea party......

and a life size reminder of what your home would have looked like after the British took it over for their own use during that time.  To not allow them to take control of your home during that time would have been considered an act of treachery for which you could have been shot.   Have a seat boys, says I.  Can I get you anything.....ha 

 

These are replicas of what a common table setting would have looked like for the soldiers...

Chris decided to join the inserrection and dump his tea off the boat......hahaha

These guys look creepy.....my goodness....

Then I decided to revolt too!  Down with Taxes!!

 ok, time to go on.......hey look.....:-).  SCOOOOOTERRRRR!!!!  It's a Stella 125cc I believe.....:-).  cool beans.

We ventured inside and discovered that the rented Segways and also had this used one for sale for $4,400.  There was a  lady inside who was up in years.  She was behind the counter, but explaining to me that she had her eye on the used one and was saving her money to buy it. She also told me that she rides them and finds the quite easy to operate.....hummmm.  Problem is there are restricted to 8 miles an hours.  After riding a 250cc for 1 full season, I just couldn't see it.
   

Well, the time was getting on and our coffee and snack had worn off long ago.....it was time to get in the car and head to the store for some dinner.  The scenery along the way was beautiful......

and wouldn't you know......The Yorktown Pottery Store "found us"......:-).  I have no idea why they call it that because there was all manner of stuff inside.  This is the view to my left.




this is looking to the right.  It seemed that we had "been found" by another village!

after having filled our eyeballs with eye candy as far as they could see, we decided to head to the store and get some things for dinner.  We also needed to finish what we already had in the freezer.....yikes!

Well, I managed to get everything cooked, but then we still had too much food!  We will be finishing the rest for breakfast!  Yep, meatloaf, mac and cheese, broccoli and carrots for breakfast; with a healthy dose of vanilla icecream.....hahahaha.  I will know better next time. 



Tomorrow is our last day as our plane leaves at 6:00pm.  But we do have the whole day ahead us.

Stay tuned!