Virginia | Change Is Hard

May 19, 2016
by dawnkinster 12 Comments

Williamsburg – Katie’s version

Katie here. Mama says she’s too busy weeding the garden to tell you about Wiliamsburg even though she’s promised more than once to do just that. Mama makes promises all the time and then doesn’t do the stuff she promised. Like take a certain dog to a park. If you know what I mean.

Conversation on the courthouse steps.

Anyway, I guess it’s up to me to tell you what I heard about mama and daddy’s day at the colonial village, even though I’m still mad at them for going there without me. I hear it’s a dog friendly place! They said they saw lots of doggies there and I don’t understand one little bit why I couldn’t go.

Mending.

Ahem…

So mama said she was very interested in all the places they visited, and particularly took lots of pictures of the people that were explaining the different houses and occupations. Like the lady that was showing how residents used to spin the yarn…

Beautiful colors

…and the woman that was weaving thread into fabric.

Explaining how the loom works.

They visited a lot of houses too, this one was the home of Payton Randolph who was the first president of the Continental Congress. She described how the slaves interacted with their owners inside affluent homes like this one, and how some owners gave their slaves freedom while others did not.

Important politicians lived in nice places.

Their personal slaves slept on pallets outside the owners bedrooms.

Bedroll stored in a corner

The governor’s palace was pretty spectacular too.

Governor’s palace

The foyer was lined with swords and guns as a sign of wealth and power.

Lots of wealth on display.

And the Capitol Building was amazing. It held two sides of government, the Colonialists and the King’s representation. They each had their own side of the building, but met in the center, up above the arches, to discuss policy.

Mama and Daddy learned lots of history here!

But mostly mama and daddy visited and talked to people that represented the regular day-to-day lives of people. Like this little boy selling lettuce from the back of a wagon…

Lettuce for sale!

…and this silversmith making a bowl.

It’s a slow process.

There were lots of people interacting with the tourists. This guy was explaining a battle, using stones and twigs, to a group of children.

What if you moved your troops to the east?

He made it into a game letting them make strategic decisions. Mama said they were all having a great time trying to win the battle.

Mama said there were lots of pretty little places too, gardens tucked into spots behind houses, or out along the street.

Simple and beautiful.

It was a beautiful spring day. Not too hot, not too cool. Seems to me it would have been a perfect day for a certain sheltie-girl to go for a walk with her folks in an historic village. Just saying. It’s not like mama didn’t pet a sheltie or two or three while she was there!

THREE of them!!

That’s right. I know she cheated on me! This is exactly why I’m still giving her the cold shoulder, not that she’s noticed or anything.

OK. Enough whining. Back to the tour.

Mama and daddy also went to a concert that evening at this church.

Episcopal church

Lots of famous people have attended church here. People like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. And President Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Thomas Jefferson sat here!

Mama and daddy sat in Thomas Jefferson’s pew to listen to an oboe and organ candlelit concert. It was nice even though mama said the seats were very uncomfortable, I guess to keep people awake in church!

The other musical thing they got to see was the pipe and drum parade.

On parade.

Everyone enjoyed watching and listening to them pass by…even people (and dogs) inside!

Are there treats involved in this event?

All in all I guess mama and daddy had a wonderful time even without me. They said they were looking out for my best interests when they scheduled me for camp instead of going with them. But I think they just wanted to keep all the fun for themselves. I’m going to protest louder if they do this again. I might even hire these guys to play outside their bedroom window for a few nights in a row.

After the parade.

That might work.

Meanwhile I guess I should forgive mama. I guess I can take the higher road. Especially if it leads me to a park.

Mama had to pay the price of leaving me behind!

May 10, 2016
by dawnkinster 10 Comments

Assateague National Park

We left beautiful Virginia Beach this morning as the rain began to fall. I felt sad to be leaving the ocean, but excited for the next adventure…

A cold, rainy run. But the dog doesn’t mind.

…because next on our list of places to explore was Assateague National Park! It’s on a thin strip of land, one of the outer bank islands, and it spans both Virginia and Maryland. It’s where the famous wild horses live.

There’s some youngsters in the herd!

I’ve seen photos Robin, from “breezes at dawn” has taken of the wild horses and I wanted to see them for myself. We visited the southern entrance to the park, in Virginia, and found a herd of them far off in the middle of a marsh.

Way back there is a mom and her little one.

Even after walking way back to an observation platform they were still a long way off, so these images are cropped. A lot. Still, it was very very cool to actually see them.

Robin sent me information about visiting at the northern entrance to the park, in Maryland, but by the time we got up there it was raining harder. Rain and cold temperatures made me decide that what I had seen was enough for this trip, though talking to Robin on the phone makes me want to come back and explore the Maryland end of the park.

We also stopped by the lighthouse. It’s beautiful, back in the woods and on the edge of the marsh…

Would have been fun to climb.

…such a lovely walk back to see it. You can climb the 175 stairs, but it’s only open on weekends right now. Later in the season it will be open all week.

Then we headed out to the beach where I saw several birds that I could not identify.

I have an idea what these are…can anyone confirm?

I told my husband I had to try to get pictures, knowing that some of you would be able to identify them for me.

What are these largish dark birds?

And even though most of these are not great shots, and they’ve been cropped to within an inch of being illegible…I hope you know what all these birds are!

I think there are a couple different kinds of birds here, none of which I recognize.

And as we walked through the forest opening up to the marshes, a huge flock of these swooped overhead:

They are medium sized, white (I think) with hooked beaks. What are they?

Here’s a better shot from directly underneath:

Does this help identify the bird?

We didn’t get up close to much of the wildlife, but we had a great time. It was so nice to be back in nature after spending two days in Virginia Beach and Norfolk with it’s crowds of people.

I did get pretty close to this clump of probable seagulls. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a bird with a mouth that is so red!

What you talkin about lady?

I can’t pronounce the name of this park, but I definitely recommend you all to visit! I hope to be back again someday soon myself! Thank you, Robin, for sparking my interest in this amazing place!

Shining example of a lighthouse.

May 9, 2016
by dawnkinster 6 Comments

In the Navy – for a day

Hey! Want to join the Navy?

After a stupendous sunrise and a little run/walk along the boardwalk here in Virginia Beach we spent most of today on and around the Norfolk Navy Station, the biggest Navy Station in the world.

Sunrise photo credit goes to my husband.

First we went out to visit a lighthouse that is on the base. The soldiers at the gate were very friendly as they explained the process of allowing us entry. Once on base we stopped to see the lighthouses; one is historic, the other is still a working lighthouse.

We got to climb one of these.

Can you guess which one is which?

We just about sprinted up the older brick lighthouse when we noticed through a window a destroyer (that’s a big ship) heading out to sea when we were part way up the interior steps. I lost count of how many steps up…

View from the top

…but we counted them on the way down…181 steps plus 12 steps up to the door, plus 75 steps up the hill to the base of the lighthouse. All of that equals a lot of steps!

We also went to a viewing platform overlooking the ocean and happened to catch a submarine heading out to see. It went right past a big container ship which was headed into port. Later in the day we saw that same container ship docked and being unloaded. Very cool.

That’s a submarine in front of that ship!

Then we took a bus tour of Norfolk Naval Station, and after that a 2 hour boat tour of the Elizabeth River and the docks and shipyards there. We saw lots of different types of boats on our way out to the Naval docks. One of the most photogenic was a fishing boat headed out to sea.

Heading out to catch some fish.

But there were docked ships that caught our attention too. Here’s a couple at the coal loading docks…

Loading up with coal.

…and many more.

Red tug in front of three ships at a private shipyard.

We eventually got out to the Norfolk Naval Station docks where we saw destroyers and amphibian ships…

Huge. Even the smaller one is huge.

..and learned that the smallest destroyer costs more than $2 billion…

This can carry lots and lots of planes. And soldiers too.

…and the large aircraft carriers cost more than $10 billion. We must have seen dozens of ships and I can’t begin to total up all the money that was represented there. Even the planes on the aircraft carrier cost more than I want to think about.

See those little planes up there? Those are fighter planes!

See that little plane up there? It’s a fighter jet!

Once back ashore we walked over to the USS Wisconsin, which has been turned into a museum. Unfortunately it isn’t open on Mondays, but we walked around the outside anyway. The thing that struck me was how thin it appeared to be from the front.

So skinny it could sneak into any harbor!

But for those of you that want to see what it really looks like…here you go:

From the side it’s very complicated!

After a long day being Naval we headed back to Virginia Beach for our last night spent walking the boardwalk and listening to the ocean waves. I haven’t even shown you the boardwalk, the beach, the ocean.

And there’s still Williamsburg to share with you. Someday, I promise.

So many adventures, so little time.

Coming up or going down?

May 8, 2016
by dawnkinster 6 Comments

Wish they taught history like this when we were growing up.

The ‘epicenter’ of our country, where it all began.

Did you know the birthplace of our country was not in Plymouth Massachusetts? Me either. Or if I knew I’d certainly forgotten. (Click on any picture to make it larger and more clear.)

Today we visited Jamestown, where the English landed in 1607, and the location of their first successful settlement. They attempted four other settlements in years prior at other locations, but each of those failed.

Captain Smith faces the James river at what was once the front entrance to the fort.

Jamestown was settled in 1607 as a business venture because the English had heard there were riches to be had in America. The settlers were immediately and continually attacked by the local Indians and by the winter of 1608 were without food in brutal cold. Many died, and by the next spring less than 60 survived.

Archeologists finally found the original fort in the mid-90s after decades of attempts. They are still digging.

Archeologists finally found the original fort in 1992 after decades of attempts. They are still digging.

This is the fort where Pocahontas and John Smith met. She did, in fact, save his life, but she did not have a romantic relationship with him, despite what Disney says. She brought food to the fort during the long winter, and ended up marrying John Rolf and moving to London where she died young, and where she is buried.

The brick tower of the church is the only original structure left and dates from the mid 17th century.

Our docent at Jamestown reminded us that if this settlement had not survived England would likely not have tried again. The area would have been settled eventually, but most likely by Spain, or possibly France. Our country would not have existed were it not for these few surviving settlers.

Our docent spent an hour and a half telling us about the history here.

He spent an hour and a half telling us about the history here.

Kind of makes you think doesn’t it.

Later in the day we learned the history, just up the road, of the 1781 battle at Yorktown which ended the American Revolution. The British were camped there, led by a very strong and successful Lieutenant General, Charles Cornwallis. General George Washington, in conjunction with French Allies, had far fewer troops than the British, but beat them at Yorktown, in part because they had larger artillery and cannons.

“FIRE!”

It’s a much longer and more complicated story than that, but it comes down to the fact that we had the bigger guns. We got to watch a 24 pound cannon be fired at the Yorktown Visitor Center. It was pretty impressive.

The ranger says that while the battle of Yorktown didn’t end the war, nothing significant happened after, so essentially it was this surrender of the British that gave The United States independence.

Then we drove a bit to the Moore House where the terms of surrender were worked out between the British and us. It’s a pretty little house with a long lawn down to the James River. It wasn’t open when we were there but I enjoyed walking down to the river to see the view.

Where details of the British surrender were worked out.

Yesterday we were in Colonial Williamsburg, and while we were there we toured a bit of the College of William and Mary. I’ve got lots of photos, and it’s going to be hard to choose which to show you.

Waiting.

Today was Mother’s Day, and I’ve associated mockingbirds with my mom for many years. Oddly, or maybe not so oddly, there were several mockingbirds flitting about most of the day, especially at James Fort.

Hey mom! We had such a pretty day today!

Somehow I think my mom was exploring right along side of us.

Tonight we’re on the ocean at Virginia Beach. I’m listening to the ocean waves as I sort photos. Retirement is good.

Stay tuned.

The British were here.

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: Virginia

Williamsburg – Katie’s version

Assateague National Park

In the Navy – for a day

Wish they taught history like this when we were growing up.