Day 2-The Governor's Palace

We toured two buildings today, one of them was The Governor's Palace.  Here are pictures from the tour:

A shot of the front as we headed over for the tour.

This is what a "call to arms" looks like (I guess).  When you first walk into the palace, there are guns and swords of al kinds decorating the entry way and down a hall way leading to stairs up to the rest of the palace.  It was meant to be intimidating, and it kind of was!

One of the many beautiful fireplaces.

A close up of the fireplace.

I liked the writing desk.  This is in the room (think Carson, from Downton Abbey) where all the valuables were stored and inventoried

 Some of the valuables-crystal, glassware, silver etc.

Sink?

This is the crest over the door in the ballroom.

We liked the frills around the doors and windows.

The gardens behind the palace were pretty!

 I like trees!

The back of the palace.

I have no idea who these crazy people are...

The hedges are boxwood.

Path leading to the kitchen for the palace.

Part of the kitchen.

 They were actually cooking food in here!

Good bye Governor's Palace!

I think I have pictures for one more post so keep reading!

Day 2-Colonial Williamsburg!

I am so excited to finally be here!  After sleeping in probably more than we should have, and having a bit of a hard time finding what we wanted for breakfast we got sorted out and started enjoying our day! We took about 119 pictures today and I love them all.  My plan is to blog all the ones shareable, but it may take a few posts.  So I'll have some general pictures in this post and then I'll do one with the Governor's Palace, and maybe another random one.  At any rate, enjoy!

We thought this said "Severus" so I had to take a picture.

I like the details on the buildings, like this little guy nicely holding the shutter in place.

One of many cute little gardens we saw.

A cute little home.

A cute little squirrel-they were everywhere!

Wheelwright sign.  Read here if you want to learn more about the wheelwright trade.

I just liked the door.

Wagon and wheels that were made by the wheelwrights.

Outside working area at the wheelwright.

Wood and maybe the home where the wheelwright would have lived?

More details-like the way this is held together

I think David told me this was a jack.

Workshop!

More of the workshop-you can see one of the wheelwrights through the open door.

More workshop.

A pretty covered walkway.

 I like the gate.

The Gunsmith.  Read here to learn more about the gunsmith and foundry trade.

This helped make the barrel of the gun-and it is just really cool looking!

Work shop!

A gun in progress.

An anvil (I'm not going to lie, I wanted to hit it with a hammer).

A sharpening stone,

I liked how the bricks are secured together on these steps.

Mens shoemaker.  Read here for more information on the shoemaker trade.

It smelled like good leather in this shop-and it was nice and cozy.  

I asked him how long it took to make a pair of shoes and he told me that it takes more than one person to make a pair of shoes-one person cuts the leather, another does the sewing and another fits it around the form etc. and this team of shoemakers make about 25 pairs a week.  Pretty cool!

Read the next entry for more of our first day!

Day 1-Getting There

Today started early.  Like why did I bother trying to go to bed early.  We were clean, packed and out the door before 3 am this morning.  My excitement was an excellent motivator.  Today we start our Colonial Williamsburg vacation!  

Last night there sounded like a might fine storm brewing.  It was still going when we got up this morning.  Our drive to the airport was a wet and gusty one, but we made it there in the allotted amount of time and in one piece.  The lines at the airport were tiny.  We were there just before it looked like things stared to get busy.  While waiting at the gate, we ran into Teresa-the owner of Los Dos Hermanos (eat there, it s yummy!) who was there helping her mom get on a plane to El Salvador.  We talked to her for a few minutes, did some people watching and then boarded our first plane.  We knew this was going to be a long day of travel, so in the planning of this trip (which has been almost a year in the making) we saved for first class to make the long flight tolerable.  It was nice not being packed in like a sardine.  I dozed through most of the first flight, which happened to be the longer of the two.  The we had a slight layover in Dallas, Texas.  After a meal and some moving around we boarded our second and final flight to Richmond, Virginia.  On this flight they gave us hot nuts.  Who knew in first class you got hot nuts!  The couple in the seats across the isle from us decided to play some sort of obnoxious as hell slot/casino game on their iPad with the sound all the way up.  Even after giving them my best "burn/die/really?" face they kept going.  Eventually they stopped to sleep.  I slept more and next thing I knew we were getting ready to touch down in Richmond.  

We got our bags, picked up the rental car and drove the hour or so drive to Colonial Williamsburg.  We are staying in the Williamsburg Lodge.  We've only seen it at night, but it is lovely!  Tomorrow we'll get out and sight see.  I can't wait!

12 Years With My Sweetie

To celebrate our 12 years together on October 21 we went and stayed the weekend at our favorite beach getaway.  Here are some photos to sum up our stay, enjoy!

I'm looking forward to the next 12+ years with my best friend, the love of my life!