We started our week with a visit to Jamestown settlement and Yorktown Victory Center. James town was the first European settlement in the "New World" and has been recreated near the original site. It includes an Indian village, a fort, and docks on the river where three tall ships are moored. All the attractions had people dressed in period clothing and demonstrated how cooking, soldiering, sailing and everyday living took place in the 1600s. We then drove down the Colonial Parkway to Yorktown where we saw a colonial farm, military encampment and a cannon firing demonstration. The drive back and forth to Yorktown followed a route between the James River and the York River where the first settlers hunted, revolutionary war armies marched, plantations were worked and civil war battles were waged. There is so much history there. Heaven for a history buff!

Tuesday involved a trip to Colonial Williamsburg. The original town of Williamsburg was restored to its original state in the 1930's by the Rockefeller family. The town is full of buildings housing stores, blacksmith shops, pubs, homes and businesses with demonstrations and displays to look at. We toured the mansion that housed the colonial governor and the garrison where the towns weapons and armor were kept. I would have liked to have spent a lot more time here, but the kids were getting restless and we cut our visit short. I would recommend a visit to Colonial Williamsburg for adults, but with a 15 month old, a 5 year old and a 7 year old there is not a lot for young kids to do.

From Virginia Beach, we traveled to Norfolk to see the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. We took a tour of the Chesapeake Bay aboard a tour boat for about two hours. We boarded the boat at the Nauticus Museum which has the battleship Wisconsin anchored next door. The tour took us down the Elizabeth River where we saw ocean going ships being loaded and unloaded with containers for delivery all over the world. The naval base is the largest in the world and was occupied by 40+ ships, submarines and aircraft carriers on this day. The base has facilities to repair, supply, and arm our warships that patrol the waterways all over the world. You don't realize how big these ships are until you get close to them. It was impressive!

Friday was a travel day except for the four hours we spent in Washington, D.C. I think you would have to spend a week in Washington to see everything (remember Jim is a history buff). We were able to find parking but had a long walk to the monuments and buildings. Our first stop was the Capital Building where we had to go through metal detectors to get inside to use the restrooms. We viewed the reflecting pools and then drove to the other end of the "mall" and eventually found another parking space. From here, we visited the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Roosevelt Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial (across the river). On the way out of town we drove by the Whitehouse, the Pentagon, the Treasury Building, the Smithsonian buildings, and the Holocaust Museum among others. Dani was fun to watch and listen to because she had learned about some of the sites in school and had seen pictures- now she was there. Four hours was not nearly enough time to see much, but we couldn't pass up a chance to see Washington, D.C. Not sure when we will get back there.

Virginia is a beautiful state and we would love to return some day. It's a 14 hour drive, but well worth it. The traffic was not bad and the toll roads through Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania are far better than the highways in Michigan. In Pennsylvania we got to see real mountains - the kids were impressed!

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