Day 9 - conquering the colonial

The following events occurred on Sunday, July 26th

The camera wasn't in any different shape this morning. Rather than putting it out of it's misery with the hammer, I decided that it would make a little more economic sense to return it to Walmart. That was an interesting little venture. The plan was to exchange it. That didn't happen. Instead we spent 40 minutes trying to convince them to just take it back and issue a refund. My receipt clearly stated that the camera could be returned within 30 days. The problem was that I had thrown the packaging away in the hotel room back in Oskaloosa 8 days prior.

Finally the poor girl in the electronics had had enough and allowed me to get a full refund rather than an exchange since they didn't have a comparable camera in stock. After my credit card was refunded we journeyed a few miles down the road to Best Buy. There I bought a Cannon for $50 more than I had spent on the Vivitar. I am more than happy with it. My last film camera was a Cannon and I dreaded switching to digital when the time came. I am happy to say that Cannon offers a comparable digital product at half the price.

Today our plan was simple. We were going to conquer the Colonials and visit all the historic sights I had been dying to see. We started in Colonial Williamsburg with a quick drive-by of the gorgeous William-Mary campus. It almost made me wish I was back in college again.

Then we started our walking tour of the historic district:

I was amazed by the moss on the shingles. Although it would drive me to battling my fear of heights with a push broom and hose, it definitely added to the historic ambiance of the area.

The smallest of these sunflowers had to be 10 feet tall.

My little Minute Man

The future Martha Washington?

Bug and Ashley were quite amazed by this fence.

So amazed in fact, that we couldn't keep them out of it.

A few of the locals.

Yes, Bug was trying to limbo under the horse tie-out

The capital building. According to the book Sis purchased about local hauntings there are some mysterious happenings in this building at night. Patrick Henry denounced the stamp act here.

Playing with my new camera at the cemetery. This small cemetery is sandwiched between the Capital building and the Secretary's office.

Sis resting on the steps of the Secretary's Office. I am starting to get the feel of my new camera now.

I found this old rustic gate quite eye-catching. I would love to have a garden with a gate like this.

Sis just isn't as enthralled with historic places as I am. Here she is resting on the steps of the apothecary shop.

the Raleigh Tavern/ The call for the first Continental Congress was issued here.

A beautiful garden between and behind two of the houses. How I wish we could have walked through.

Gosh, you would have thought these two learned to behave the other day. Nope, Bug & Ashley are in the shackles again.

It was right after this picture that we first heard the thunder and decided to head for the car. We didn't even make it 2 blocks before the down pour started. We were hit with hail and small tree branches as we ran for the safety of Tony's car.

A couple little drowned rats. Oh no, wait, I guess that's just Bug and Ashley.

We stopped at this historic overlook on our way to Yorktown.

This is the approximate site of Powhatan's village where Captain John Smith was held captive.

If you look close at the left side of this picture you can see a rainbow. We actually drove through part of the rainbow in Yorktown. It was a very surreal experience, everywhere we looked around us we could see light refracting.

I would like to say that we were about to finish our tour of the Historic Triangle, but it was not meant to be. The storm hit Yorktown around the same time we did. We sat in the car for 20 minutes waiting for the weather to subside before we decided to head back to Williamsburg for dry clothes. We saw several downed trees along the way, including one that caused a lady to veer off the parkway into the line of trees along her side of the road.

We stopped for dry clearance clothing at Kmart and attempted to continue on to Jamestown. The biggest thing on my must see list was the Jamestown Settlement. I will have to save that for another time. 5 miles short of town we found that the bridge was out. The detour would add another 30-40 minutes on our journey. It was decided then that because of the hour we should just head back to the house for pizza and movies.

Tomorrow we will rise early and start our long journey back. It has been a very enjoyable adventure/vacation and I hate for it to end.