After sleeping the heat exhaustion off, I felt more prepared to deal with the humidity moving forward. My next stop: Williamsburg, Virginia. I assume that wherever I decided to stay in Virginia would be beautiful. Every part that I drove through was so green and full of wild flowers.
Williamsburg was the Capitol of Virginia from 1699 to 1780. Today, it is a tourist destination with many of the original buildings open to the public including the Court House and Capitol. Because of the pandemic, there were a lot of shops and restaurants that were still closed in old town. To some extent, I do feel like I missed out on the full Williamsburg experience. I was able to take a tour of the Capitol and a blacksmith shop, though.
Here are some pictures that I took from this excursion. Just so you can get an idea of the overall scenery.
The only vehicles on the street were carriages. On the off chance that you ever visit the small town of Williamsburg and want to take a ride in one, I highly suggest you purchase your tickets beforehand because they were sold out for the day when I got there.
The next few pictures are some examples of the architecture in the area. All of these houses were closed (and possibly privately owned).
Here is the Court House which WAS open, but I didn't go inside.
Finally, here is a view of the governor's mansion:
Because it was such a hot day, I stopped for water and a drink at the only restaurant that was open for dining in Old Town called Chowning's Tavern. I ordered the "Witches Revenge" mainly because I thought the name was cool. The video was taken to show the engraving on the glassware, but unfortunately the color of the drink and the room lighting did not allow for that, here it is anyway!
After I was done with my historical fix for the day, I headed up to my hotel which was a very fancy Marriott in town. This was a major improvement from the day before. I forgot to mention in my last blog entry that my hotel room in Washington D.C. had major water damage and probably needed to be condemned. So, every other room moving forward seemed like a luxury. The Marriott in Williamsburg had many amenities that were free with the stay including laundry! They also had a pool. I planned on doing my laundry and then relaxing by the pool in the evening. Unfortunately, the washer in my particular building and floor broke while my clothes were in it. I had to call maintenance several times and it ended up taking me five hours to do one load of clothes. My laundry wasn't even completely dry after the five hours, so I ended up hanging my clothes all around the room and calling it a night.
The next day, I treated as a rest day and stayed in Raleigh, North Carolina. The hotel that I stayed in was right next to North Carolina State University so I did take a walk through the college and the surrounding areas. College towns are usually nice because of the abundance of restaurants, shops, and progressive ideologies. The area that I stayed in did not disappoint, everyone in the area was COVID aware and really good about wearing masks.
The most important thing that I did in Raleigh was eat authentic North Carolina barbeque at a restaurant called Ole Time Barbecue. The restaurant was located on the outskirts of town. The young gal that worked in the front was the first person I encountered with a really deep southern accent and she talked extremely fast. The barbeque itself was okay, but the hush puppies were fantastic! They also came free with the meal. Ole Time Barbecue also has a free meal program. Paying customers can donate five dollars, write a note on a post-it, and community members in need can then use the post-it note to buy a meal. I have heard of restaurants helping out the community in this way, but have never been to one personally. I was happy to purchase a future meal for someone.
For the rest of the evening, I listened to music and enjoyed the sunset on my balcony.
The first time I ever saw a squirrel in person was in Williamsburg on an eighth grade trip to DC and surrounding areas. All of us Hawaii kids took photos of said squirrel.
Sharan, Virginia's license plates say, "Virginia is for Lovers". ---Hal
Love reading all your updates and I think I'm in love with Virginia!
Bec, I just got through catching up with your trip details. What a delight! You are truly a brave traveler and I love your style of photojournalism. I'm glad you're feeling better and I know what you mean about the heat and humidity since I was raised in Wisconsin and Illinois. I just melt in that kind of weather (and can get cranky too). I collectively spent 6 months in Europe in my early 20's much like you're doing. I took off by myself with a backpack and Eurailpass and it was the trip of a lifetime. Your memories of this trip will stay with you forever. Stay safe and bravo to you for grabbing life by the h…