Day One

actually, one and two.

We took off early... and i DO mean EARLY... Wednesday morning for a 6:50 a.m. flight. Our first leg took us from San Jose to Atlanta where we landed about 3 p.m. on their record high day of 101 degrees. That was NOT a good omen! The flight was bumpy on the way in, which was to be expected, but my stomach wasn't expecting it. I was so happy to get off the plane but then walking down the gangway we almost passed out. About an hour later we caught our next flight to Richmond, VA. It wasn't much better there, but a little. We then went to rent our car and we had nothing but trouble from the Thrifty car rental folks. That's the last time I go with them - at least in Richmond! Not only were both clerks we dealt with lousy in their jobs, the car we were assigned had such a smell of smoke that we could not breath. Immediately, I said, no way are we getting this car, so we went back to the clerk who gave us this car and asked for another. Not only was she confused as to which car she gave us (tried to give us the same car again, duh) but we had to redo the whole contract. Surely you are saying, "You've got to be joking!" Right? Seriously... not kidding. The next car was exactly the same kind, a Chrysler Sebring. Not bad for an economy class car. It was comfortable and drove quite nicely. It was a little odd getting used to an automatic though, lol. This one also smelled of smoke, but not nearly as bad. We could actually breathe, so we decided this one would be ok. I should have taken a picture of the car... oh well.

So we drove down towards our hotel in Williamsburg, VA. It was a nice drive... not much traffic at all for rush hour. I noted that the roads there are very much like they were up in Massachusetts last year; divided highway with trees being the only sight to see. Geez Louise that's a lot of trees!

That evening we drove around Williamsburg looking for a place to eat and ended up going in circle after circle trying to find out way back, lol. I'm pretty good at directions, but we didn't have a map with us and none of the streets are perpendicular, so...

Well after sleeping pretty good in a cute Days Inn which we would stay in for the next night as well, we headed out about 10 a.m. to go see Jamestown. Pictures? You want pictures? Ok... here we go!

Pocahantes Statue, Historic Jamestowne.

Jamestowne Church This structure is the "fifth church" on the site and dates back to only 1907. However the tower portion, which I neglected to photograph (bad lighting) but can kinda be seen in the picture above on the far end of the building, is the only remaining 17th century structure in Historic Jamestowne, dates back to 1639 as the Fourth Church. It was built on top of the foundation of the Third Church of 1617 which had a cobblestone foundation. There is glass on the floor edges of the building which reveal that foundation.

The James River

Captain John Smith and a house where research takes place.

More tomorrow...

Oh, I should mention, we didn't go to the other Jamestown site called Jamestown Settlement. It was more for families and such with people costumed living historians reinacting the settlers of old. I'm sure it would have been fun too, but I much prefer the actual history and quietness of Historic Jamestowne versus a kiddie interactive playland. Besides... I did that kind of thing last year up at Plimouth Plantation.