Quick Bounce Home and 400 Years at VA Beach

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to take a quick trip to Michigan after I unexpectedly obtained a three-day weekend. With the help of my dad, I flew home on Saturday morning and surprised my mom by suddenly having all her children home for a weekend. I got to see and hang out with family that I hadn’t seen since I’d left. My quick weekend boondoggle happened to coincide with a few other friends being in town that I happened to visit. My grandmother was also briefly in the hospital, but of all times to happen, I was glad I could be home. Between family visits, food, shopping, and movies, it was a busy but overall good weekend.
(photos: Jamestown Island from the air; James River from the air (near Richmond looking back towards the Chesapeake Bay and Jamestown Island visible in the top right corner); Lynn and me; Dutch tulips blooming delivered from Amsterdam last year on my travels; Josh, me, and my Dad; and the Professor, Josh, and Max.)







Also, upon returning, Anniversary mode kicked into high gear. With a few more very busy days of groups, the Honor Guard headed out to First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach for the Landing Day Anniversary (400-year marker of the first landing in Virginia by the Virginia Company settlers) and the first part of the Journey Up The James commemorative sail by the Godspeed (and in VA Beach, the other two ships as well). They were having re-enactments of the settlers rowing to shore from our three ships in a shallop, programming from all sorts of groups and re-enactors, and Jamestown Settlement’s own tent with us doing the interpretation. After setting up our tent, we ordered pizza and settled into an evening of ridiculous fun, pizza, and music at our little cabin in the state park (very similar to the goings-on of the following evening). The next day between programming sessions, we also got to ride a Segway that all the park rangers were using (!!!), much to Jeff’s delight. Between the two days, we saw over eight thousand people, including 2,500 school children on Friday morning (impressive numbers despite the cold foggy weather on Thursday and massive storms on Friday). In the end, it was a really fun trip. Currently, I’m preparing for the Hampton segment of our spring travels starting tomorrow. While the days are long, almost all of them over ten hours, it’s a great change of pace and scenery.
(photos: Kai excited for the pizza; Jeff and James rocking out; Jack being himself; Mike inspecting our tents the next morning -- we were just impressed they were still standing as much as they were; and the Susan Constant and the Godspeed coming out of the fog on the Bay, a bit enhanced for ease of viewing.)





(photos: The Discovery and the Godspeed a bit more clearly as they re-enact the landing; Jeff learning to love his town cap; me on a Segway; Jeff also learning to love his new nickname; and Jack taking a quick snooze before the school kids arrive.)






Beyond work and travels home, the news is pretty minimal due to the lack of time I’ve been home. Our social group has had a few late social nights, a karaoke evening with actual karaoke performances postponed until this coming Monday, my tomato plants developing fruits, and news that I’ll be moving into a house come mid-August with Sally, a coworker from Yorktown Victory Center (cheaper rent, more space, super good deal). Still, this week includes more intense work and a visit from a certain British monarch…
(photos: My tomato plant with a baby tomato; the Marks feeling the love on the un-karaoke karaoke night; and Ashley and Heather secretly devastated about the lack of karaoke.)

Spring Hiatus

*** Sorry, I wrote this a week ago and haven't had a chance to post it until now... I promise, I will try mucho to not have such an awful lapse in blogging again! ***

I apologize for not having updated my blog in so long. It has indeed been busy, with the first two weeks of April being one of the busiest times to date that Jamestown has ever seen (at its height, over six thousand visitors a day). The weather’s been getting warmer, with one day a couple of weeks ago being in the nineties followed by a day a few days later when it snowed. Hmmm… Still, flowers are blooming and leaves are budding. I also bought a new bike for riding around town and to work (doing my part for the environment, etc.) and am trying to grow tomatoes, peppers, and herbs in my living room. The plants aren’t dead yet! (photos: Daffodils, everywhere in Virginia in the Spring; more pretty spring flowers; and the snow from my apartment window the morning before Easter.)




Katie came down for a few days at the end of March with her mom and her aunt. We did the Colonial Williamsburg thing, including a viewing of the fabulously kitschy “Portrait of a Patriot” movie from ca. 1957. There was shopping, eating, turbo tour of Jamestown Settlement and Historic Jamestowne, and even another visit to Presidential Park. Sandy and her friend also came down for a day last week and we did an even more extreme turbo tour of the downtown/Colonial Williamsburg area, Jamestown Settlement, Historic Jamestowne, Yorktown, and various food/shopping establishments. It’s been fun having visitors and it’s always good to see friends from home. (photos: Katie's mom, her Aunt Mary, Katie, and myself on the pier at Jamestown Settlement; Katie smelling flowers, which we did a lot; Katie's mom enjoying an interpreter in the Revolution City at Colonial Williamsburg (CW); her idol beckons from afar; and Katie and I in front of super nice Gerald R. Ford.) -- For more photos of Katie's visit, please see her blog and others of ours. --





(photos: A blustery day on the James River with John Smith; excavations at Historic Jamestowne; and Sandy and her friend Anne at the Yorktown Pub.)




For Easter, I went to my friend Ashley’s house and ate (and played lots of cards) with her and her parents. They were quite lovely, with Asheley’s mom even making me an Easter “basket.” As for other social fun things, there’s been a cookout, some social gatherings, a trip to C.W. (Colonial Williamsburg) with Heather and the other Stephanie, a trip down to Norfolk for a Decemberists concert, movie nights and field trips, dinner/chill evenings, and a record-breaking challenge to eat 8+ cones on Ben and Jerry’s Free Cone Day (managing seven in a span of under two hours!). (photos: Ashley excited about her birthday booty -- pirate style; mmmm... St. Patty's day; Scott showing his Irish side; me, Ashley, and Kat; and Heather and the other Stephanie on our play day in CW.)





(photos: Interpreter from Revolution City infront of the Capitol; same interpreter getting ready to be tarred and feathered; oxen!!!; Heather, me, and Stephanie; and various JYF staff and entourage at Paul's Deli for Green Mark's bday.)





(photos: Diana and Mark roasting Peeps; Jack and Johanna at one of our cookouts; eating around the campfire; and Mike and Jeff jamming on a sax and penny whistle.)





Work itself has been busy, as previously mentioned. The Honor Guard has been getting ready to start on the big commemorative sail at the end of April beginning in Virginia Beach for Landing Day (the anniversary of the first landing in Virginia before the settlers chose Jamestown Island on which to settle). People are getting stressed and excited, as staff begin to leave and the demo schedule gets more intense. The Queen is apparently coming the first few days in May, with the big Anniversary Weekend a week later. Keep your eyes open for press coverage, both magazines and newspapers (the May National Geographic is all about Jamestown, with supposed issues of Time/Newsweek soon and various national newspapers having visited). Bottom line: It’s getting busy, but it’s pretty exciting!

Holy wa! It's Wawa!

No, not the convenience store, but the Canadian town! A movie about flippin' Wawa, complete with the giant Canadian goose!!!!

Snow Cake Trailer

Huge Cement Presidents

So, I could have included these photos in the post about my family's visit, but there were just too many! Giant cement presidents do tend to overwhelm everything else, so here are some of my favorite photos...

(photos: Presidential Park... the outdoor section; me and John Adams (both behind me and on my thumb!); the reaction I tend to get from Andrew Jackson... very similar to my mussels face a la Brugge in Katie's March 2006 entry on her blog; Leslie and me educating ourselves about Zachary Taylor; and me swooning over the best looking president, Franklin Pierce.)





Imagine my delight when I was dealt the following hand in our Presidential card game, "The People's Choice." From left to right, we have affable and friendly Rutherford B. Hayes, eccentric and secretive (some would say "enigmatic") TJ, hottie extraordinaire (he was indeed sociable, depressed, and well-dressed) Franklin Pierce, a certain president of whom I'm not too fond, and of course the both ambitious and insecure John Adams. And yes, the secrecy screens are really cardboard White Houses.

Family Visit!!!

Last week, Leslie and my mom came to visit for a few days. Arriving Saturday night, we unloaded their car of all of the cargo they brought, including a “new” dining room table (my grandma’s old table, but new for me). Since I didn’t have to work on Sunday, we all explored bits of Williamsburg after relaxing that morning. We visited the Williamsburg Pottery (more or less a giant permanent flea market), the enormous Disney-esque Yankee Candle store, and were serenaded by a Dean Martin impersonator at dinner. The next day Mom and Leslie visited me at work, apparently the sole purpose of their trip. After work on Wednesday we played a few intense games of Yahtzee and planned Wednesday’s activities. (photos: The signs at the entrance to the Williamsburg Pottery (classy, I know.... but this is before the giant fiberglass elephant); oodles and oodles of baskets at the Pottery; apparently the 400th anniversary of Jamestown smells like bayberries; the inside (yup, as in NOT outside) of the giant Yankee Candle store that reminded me more of Disneyworld or Las Vegas instead of something making me want to buy scented candles; and the illustrated Schnitzelbank stein that truly completed the international nook of the Christmas-year-round-and-snowing-every-half-hour room at the Yankee Candle.)





(photos: Me at work on the Discovery; and Leslie and I on the Discovery, complete with my highlighter-green hat.)


I didn’t have to work that day either, so we headed out early to visit Presidential Park, a pretty tacky tourist attraction that local residents refer to as “Easter Island” due to the large cement presidential busts of every single US president. Not taking it too seriously, we all very much enjoyed the ginormous statues, recreated portion of a Nixon-era Air Force One, the Palm Beach County election booth with 2000 Presidential Election ballot, and all of the fun presidential trivia. After a morning of historical nerdiness, we had a delicious lunch before setting out to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (a combination of both a bridge and tunnel that connects the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area with the Eastern Shore of Virginia). We weren’t too interested in seeing any of the area sites that day other than the bridge-tunnel, so the drive became the destination with occasional stops to take photos. Back at the apartment, we played a few rounds of a new History Channel game that I’d purchased at Presidential Park that involves electing presidents, etc. Thursday morning, Mom and Leslie both left and made another amazing drive back to Michigan, making the trip in about twelve hours. (photos: On the steps of the portion of the recreated Air Force One feeling a bit of the Nixon vibe; my Nixon debating policy to Leslie's Kissenger on Air Force One; the Palm Beach County voting booth with ink jet printer signs denoting its historicality (yup, that's now a word); the Bridge-Tunnel (past the end of the breakwall is the tunnel allowing for ships to pass); and our game of electing presidents at the new/old table.)





The weather’s getting warmer down here and is supposed to be in the mid/high-70s by the end of the week. I also recently bought some plants and am trying really hard not to kill them. I’ll also include some photos of other random fun below… (photos: Mmmmm... sopapillas; Stephanie (the other one) and Demeisha debating something at the bowling alley; Mark, me, and Ashley on the ferry; and me being a bit of a rebel on the ferry.)