Cities that Influenced our Nation

Between Williamsberg, Washington DC and Annapolis, Alex and I have been very occupied with places to see, history to learn, time spent with family and good places to eat. It's actually been a little overwhelming. I mean, there is only so much you can do in a day and I felt like time just flew by and we didn't get to see everything I would have liked to. It's been great, though. I think I will have to come back to these places again sometime time in my life.

In Williamsberg we were able to meet up with my brother Micah and his wife Rachelle. I was soooooo glad to see them and even better was that we got to stay with them in their hotel because their room had an extra bed. It's funny because I thought it would be so nice to sleep in a regular bed, but strangely I was rather uncomfortable. I guess I've just gotten used to sleeping in the van. Anyways, Williamsberg is a very old town, it was first settled sometime in the 1600s. It's about 8 miles north of Jamestown which was one of the first English settlements. It was originally the capital of Virginia, but it was later moved to Richmond after the Revolution. Williamsberg has been nicely preserved to it's Colonial era. There are all kinds of neat knick knack shops, boutiques and restaurants. Many buildings are museums of old shops that were around during the Colonial era like wig shops, tailors, silversmiths, blacksmiths, general stores, etc. The people who work in the museums are dressed in Colonial clothing and they pretend that it's the year 1775. It kind of felt like we had traveled back in time when we were there.

Colonial Root Beer, (Non-alcoholic)

Colonial Re-enactment in the Streets of Williamsberg

Martha Washington being greeted in front of the Capital Building in Williamsberg

Colonial Williamsberg

Old Grave at the Oldest Church in Williamsberg

I love that the Horse and Alex are both leaning into each other. How cute!

Rachelle giving the horse a kiss

Getting water from a well

This was a really good truffle at a candy shop in Williamsberg

We toured many of the buildings and watched a few Colonial re-enactments. We had a guided tour through the Governor's Mansion and the tour guide did a really good job pretending it was the year 1775. At one point I couldn't help myself from laughing uncontrollably . There were about 40 people in our tour group and when we walked through a room with a piano in it, the tour guide asks the crowd, "How many of you are learning to play the piano?" Only one person raises their hand and the tour guide then says, "That's okay. The piano is a rather new instrument, so it's understandable that not very many people are learning how to play it." Hahahahaha!!!! I thought that was so funny because she was addressing us as if we were from the 1700s as well., Ahh, so silly. The Governor's Mansion was beautiful, and the surrounding gardens were just as beautiful.  Williamsberg is a neat place. It can be entertaining for the young and old. I think if I have kids someday, then I will take them to Williamsberg.

The Governor's Mansion

The Labyrinth at the Governor's Mansion

Tulip Garden at the Governor's Mansion

The back entrance to the mansion

Micah doing some cleaning in the horse stable

This is an outdoor shower used by the Governor in the 1770s to cool off during the summer. Servants would throw buckets of water on the Governor while he was fully clothed

Oh, and a little side note; the term "Powder Room" was originally used by men and it was a room for the men to go to "powder" their wigs. The wigs that were worn by men weren't naturally white and they would powder flour on them to turn them white. During a social event with dancing and what not, the powder would fall off and they would have to go to the "Powder Room" to reapply flour to their wig. In other words, "Freshin up."

After spending two wonderful days in Williamsberg, we drove up to Washington D.C. Driving into the city was so surreal. I couldn't believe we were actually here. As soon as I saw the top of the Capital building excitement overwhelmed me. Wow! I was at our nations Capital. We parked right by all the monuments and there was so much to see I didn't know where to start. The Washington Monument is huge! The Lincoln Memorial is huge! The Capital is huge! Everything was so big! And beautiful! The work that was put into making these huge memorials is amazing. I was in awe.

The Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

Korean War memorial

Washington D.C. Capital Building

Thomas Jefferson Memorial (This was taken on the last day we were in D.C. it was sunny)

It was really overcast and started raining, so our endeavors outside quickly ended for the day. Our friend Jami Holland lives in DC and I hadn't seen her for about 3 or 4 years. I called her and later we met up for bit. It was so good to see her. She is graduating from law school and will be a lawyer soon. I can't believe it! I mean I can't believe we are all growing up and are adults and have careers. It seems so weird. I still feel like I'm 20 and I'm 25! I know that isn't that old, but it feels old when all your friends are in careers, are married and have kids. Seeing familiar faces on the road is really comforting. I'm really glad that we were able to see Jami.

The next day in DC we had about the same weather. It was cold and there were a few sprinkles here and there, but it didn't stop us from venturing out. We met up with my brother Micah and his wife again and went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. There was so much stuff in there! We got to see Abraham Lincoln's hat, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz's shoes, First Lady's gowns, early electrical inventions and the list goes on. The museum was so big that we didn't even get to see everything, but it was still neat to see the things we saw. Personally, I think First Lady Grace Coolidge was more fashionable than the iconic Jacqueline Kennedy, but maybe it's because I really like the 1920s style.

Abraham Lincoln's hat

Grace Coolidge's Dress

Ruby Slippers

My brother and his wife had to leave after touring the History Museum, but Alex and I went on to  see the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. That was cool, too.  I had never seen real dinosaur bones before and let me tell ya, at that museum there were an abundance of them. My favorite exhibit at the Natural History Museum was the gem and precious stone display. I like things that sparkle. On display they had diamond earrings worn by Marie Antoinette and they were clip-ons. I guess her ears weren't pierced, but probably not very many women of that period had their ears pierced. The exhibit was really over crowded with mostly women, go figure:)

It's a dinosaur

Amythest

I was really tired after going to two of the Smithsonian buildings, they are really big! I think there are 4 other Smithsonian building we skipped out on. There is just too much to see. I guess that gives us an excuse to come back someday:)

Before leaving D.C. we went to the American Memorial Holocaust Museum. That museum probably had the biggest impact on me emotionally out of everything I saw in D.C. The exhibit was a "Holocaust Experience." The first floor exhibit tells you about things leading up to the persecution of the Jews and "inferior races" and the second floor is about the Jews being relocated to ghettos; the third floor is about the actual concentration camps and the last floor is about freedom from the Nazis. As I walked through each exhibit I felt sicker and sicker to my stomach. Then during the exhibit about the concentration camps I seriously had to hold back tears. It's hard to believe that the Germans were so cruel. Man is capable of doing horrendous things to one another.

Yesterday we arrived in Annapolis. It's a really cute town. Lots of old buildings and rich in history. Annapolis was settled in the late 1600s. It is where the treaty was signed to end the Revolutionary War and was our nations capital for less than a year. It is the capital of Maryland today. The city's design when it comes to roads is horrible. Driving can really be a nightmare. I don't think the designer of the town took into account how traffic would be effected with future automobiles, but how could he, right? The streets are very narrow and they don't come together in a square grid, lots of dead-ends.  Anyways, the city itself seems very quaint and beautiful. I would come back again even if it is really hard to navigate in a vehicle. The last thing we did before leaving Annapolis was enjoying a scoop of icecream at a local chocolate shop. I had the best scoop of icecream ever! Toasted coconut lightly coated in chocolate in a homemade waffle cone. Mmmmmmm, so good.

Some old buildings in Annapolis

Yummy icecream

Maryland State Capital

Well, Alex and I have had plenty to do during this past week. It was even hard finding time to even write this blog. I think it's just gong to get busier for a while here. Next on our list of places to go is Baltimore, Philadelphia, Gettysberg, New York City, Springfield, Providence and Boston, all before Easter. Sounds crazy:/

Petersberg and Richmond, Virginia

We made it to Virginia! I can't believe we have traveled this far! I really feel far away from home right now. Alex and I spent some time in Historic Petersberg. It was basically the Capital of the Confederate Nation during the Civil War. The town definitely has a very "old town" feel to it. There are lots of old brick buildings, some are preserved nicely and others need a little work done. The weather was nice while in Petersberg, sunny blue skies, not to hot or cold.

Historic Petersberg

Historic Petersberg

Old Train Station

Old Historical Building

The best part was driving/walking through Petersberg National battlefield. It is a really big area, I think 8 miles in length. The neat thing about the Battlefield was that both Union and Confederate armies occupied the battle field and were in very close proximity of each other for the last nine months of the war. Numerous battles were fought. The Confederates eventually surrendered and that was the end of the war.

Old Wagon at Petersberg Battlefield

Petersberg Battlefield

The Union Army shot this canon almost daily into Petersberg

This is where they kept the ammunition for the canon that blasted into the town of Petersburg

A soldiers cooking meal

What is left of a Union Fort

One particular battle that was fought in Petersberg was the Crater Hill Battle and it ended up being a Confederate victory which the South was very proud of. About half a dozen monuments were erected at the spot where the battle took place praising the Confederate Victory after the war was over. It's funny because I didn't see very many other monuments erected in the Petersburg Battlefield for the Union victories won there, which most of the battles there were Union Victories. The one significant battle that was won by the Confederates gets all the praise. Weird. Anyways, The Union forces built an underground tunnel and it ended right under the Confederate stronghold in Petersberg. The Unions packed the tunnel with dynamite and lit it ablast killing over 200 Confederates at the wee hours of the morning. It created a huge crater in the hill. The Union soldiers didn't have a plan of what they would do after the blast and many just stood there in amazement at the explosion. With the Union army just standing around staring in astonishment, it gave the Confederates just enough time to regroup and make a counter attack. The counter attack was pretty good because the Union army had to end up falling back due to the lack of planning. The tunnel took one month to dig and it was all for nothing. The numerous monuments around the site lets you know just how proud the Confederates were for that battle even though ultimately their war was lost.

The tunnel that lead to the Confederate Stronghold

We are in Richmond now. It is about 20 miles north of Petersberg. Richmond is the Capital of Virginia. It is a really big city and looks just as old as Petersberg. The condition is much the same, some nicely preserved buildings and others need work done. Alex and I went to the Virginia Historical Society Museum today. It was free and a total information overload. It is a really big museum and was full of all kinds of Virginia history. Virginia was the first permanently colonized British Colony. I don't even know where to start with what I learned there. Lots of stuff about the Civil War, Native American stuff, Slavery, Industrial Revolution, Civil Rights, Virginia economy, important political figures, Rich people in Virginia, and the list goes on. It was so much information that I think I forgot most of it. Funny how that works out. Learning all that history can be mentally exhausting.

Virginia State Capital Building

Writing a letter at the Musuem

Old Street Car

1830s Wagon Restored in the 1880s

Device to make Moonshine

This was a tiny lunch pail

I'm really excited about tomorrow because I get to see some of my family!!!!! My brother Micah and his wife Rachelle will be in Williamsburg and we are meeting them there. Williamsburg is near Jamestown. We will spend time with them there and then we are all going to drive to Washington DC on the 12th and spend a few more days with each other. Micah is a Combat Medic in the Army Reserves and is studying nursing. The major nursing training for the army is in DC, so he will spend the rest of his training there until I think next February. I am really looking forward to seeing them:D
It's such a good feeling to see familiar faces when traveling for such a long period.

Labile Weather and a Little More of Raleigh.

Okay, so yesterday it was nice and sunny, 80 degree weather, then over night a terrible storm came through Raleigh.  The weather forecast yesterday said it was supposed to rain and maybe some possible thunderstorms.  Well, there were no thunderstorms, but it was just as scary.  At about 3:30am I woke up and thought, "Hmm, It hasn't started raining yet and the weather report said it was supposed to be raining right now."  Mind you, it was really windy, that's what woke me up.  The van felt like it was getting tossed a bit.  I looked up the latest weather report on my phone and then my heart just sank....a warning was issued to seek shelter in a large well supported structure immediately and stay to away from windows for a tornado and hail warning with possible hail from the size of a penny all the way up to the size of a golf ball!  OMG!!  I woke Alex up and a told him about the warning and suggested we go inside the Walmart building(we were parked in the Walmart parking lot) until the storm passed.  On the weather doppler it looked like the storm was just on the edge of Raleigh.  It hadn't started raining yet,  but I did not want to be inside our van if hail the size of golf balls were going to be hitting us.  We quickly got dressed and got out of our van then started walking over to the Walmart building.  The moment we stepped out of our van the wind picked up and it started raining.  Seriously, I was really scared...What if it started hailing golf balls before we could get into the building?  Would I get knocked unconscious?  Would I get injured badly enough to meet my death?   My walking quickly turned into running.  I was probably freaking out more than I needed to and Alex told me I needed to calm down.  We safely got into the Walmart building and waited for the storm to pass.  I was more worried about the possible hail than the possible tornado and Alex was more worried about the tornado.  We stayed in Walmart for about an hour and a half.  I don't know if it hailed or not.  When the storm passed our van was fine.  There were no signs of hail damage and it was still sitting in the place we left it.  So, that was a little unexpected excitement.  I'm seriously not a big fan of the weather schizophrenia patterns on the East Coast.  It's far to labile for my taste.

In my last blog I was complaining about all the focused history in the South on the Civil War and slavery, well today I got to enjoy some North Carolina history that didn't focus so much on the Civil War at the North Carolina Museum of History.  Actually there wasn't one exhibit in the museum that involved the Civil War.  After the weather cleared up today, Alex and I visited the museum and walked around the Raleigh Historical district.  Raleigh is another one of those really old towns with beautiful big mansions. I love the old style architecture!

The Governor's Mansion. It was closed to the public the day we went.

The Leuitenent Governor's house.

This looked like a haunted house in person.

Loved it!

Many Old East Coast Mansions have this style

We only had two hours to tour the museum before it closed.  I really wish we had more time there because we didn't get to see everything.  The exhibit that stood out the most to me was the Child Labor Exposure exhibit.  From 1908 to 1918 a man with the last name Hine photographed and interviewed children who worked at Cotton mills all over the state of North Carolina.  His investigations and photos contributed largely on getting the public's attention to take a firm stand against child labor.  He had a really hard time actually getting permission to photograph and interview the children, so he would take pictures as they were going to and from work.  He would always ask how old they were and how much money they made.  Many of the children were from the ages 6-14 and worked up to 12 hour shifts getting paid 50-80 cents a day.  Some children didn't even know how old they were and sometimes parents would lie about the age of their children so that they could work.  At the time it was illegal for a child under the age of 13 to work, but there were no state inspectors enforcing the law at these establishments.  The child labor brought down the wages of the adult workers and whole families would have to work at these mills just to survive.  The conditions were horrible, stuffy and humid.  Many children would get respiratory illnesses and their growth stunted.  One boy photographed  was 12 years old and hadn't grown one inch in 5 years.  There were no allotted times for breaks and many times the children would go their entire shift of work with out food.  Hine's work was published all over the U.S. and helped expose and eradicate child labor.
Other exhibits at the museum included sports memorabilia, Native American customs, WWII weaponry, local old drug store artifacts, carpentry, the life of a freeman of color, and War artifacts from 1898 to 2005.  Oh, and I forgot to mention the museum was free!!!

This is a replica canoe that the Native Americans used on the river for hunting

It's Black Beard Pirate!

Wilmington to Raleigh, North Carolina

Well, the weather picked up for the better:) Alex and I have enjoyed a nice and sunny week. We spent the last few days in Wilmington, NC and today we just arrived in Raleigh, NC.

Wilmington is a really nice North Carolina coastal city. There are tons of beautiful old homes and buildings; plenty of nice shops and restaurants; and they have a nice University, as well. The first day we were there we spent the day walking around the college campus. It's not a really big college, but the buildings and grounds were beautiful.

View of the campus sitting from a bench swing

There were many column style buildings on the campus

I met a girl at the Starbucks close by the college who just got accepted into the University's very competitive nursing program. I over-heard her talking to her friend about getting in the program, so I introduced myself and told her I was a nurse. She said the nursing program there is very hard to get into and most of her classmates in her prerequisite classes didn't get in. She had a mixture of emotions; shocked, excited, nervous, etc. I can remember how I felt when I got into nursing school in Sacramento. I couldn't believe it either. After three semesters of applications, I couldn't believe it was actually true that I finally got accepted. I remember opening the letter at my parents house and my dad was in the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen and said to my dad with a surprised/shocked expression in my tone and face, "Dad, I just got the letter about the nursing program!" He says, "What? You didn't get in?" "No, I got in!"
After the first two times I applied to multiple nursing programs and never got in, I guess it was just expected that I was going to get turned down for a third time. Then while going through the nursing program, it was the most stress I've ever experienced in my entire life. I had multiple melt-downs and feelings went through my head like, "Maybe nursing just isn't for me, I won't make a good nurse, This is too stressful!" But I did it. And being a nurse is a lot less stressful than being a nursing student. I'm so glad I didn't give up. I told the girl at the coffee shop about my experience as a nursing student vs. a licensed nurse and hoped that it would bring her encouragement.

Alex and I walked around the Wilmington downtown and river area admiring all the beautifully restored buildings. The town has a very nice river-walk lined with unique and affordable shopping. Wilmington was one of the only ports open for exporting cotton during the Civil War. So, it was very important in a commercial aspect during that time. Most of the beautiful homes in the historic district were owned by merchants and plantation owners.

On the River in Wilmington

World War II Naval Ship

I thought this looked cool. The asphalt covering up the old brick road.

Alex sitting at a bench in the middle of the street

Old Apt building in Wilmington

Wilmington has a very picturesque feel to it, especially now that it is springtime with flowers budding everywhere.

Beautiful flower vine growing along an old house

Springtime Blossoms

Downtown Wilmington

Downtown Wilmington

Many films and TV shows have been filmed there to capture the "typical American hometown."  Since I've been traveling, I would not say that Wilmington is a "typical American hometown," It is far above average. I would say the typical American hometown is forgettable, meaning there isn't much that stands out when it comes to beauty, charm and history. Wilmington is a town that you would like to think that it represents what the rest of America is like. I really enjoyed my time there.

Old Historic Mansion

Historic Mansion

Restaurant on the river

This was a fire bell rung whenever there was a fire in the town. Last rang in 1917.

Now we are in Raleigh, NC. It's the Capital of North Carolina. The wonderful thing about State Capitals is that they are free to tour. They have an abundance of history and it is all free. I love that! So, earlier today we walked around the rather small capital building and enjoyed learning about North Carolina. Most of the exhibits had to do with the Civil War and not how North Carolina became a state, which is what most State Capitals talk about. It seems like ever since Georgia all I learn is something about the Civil War. I guess it makes since because the Civil War is a huge part of "Southern History." North Carolina was the last State to secede from the Union and they seceded when Abraham Lincoln ordered the Governor to send 75,000 troops to Charleston, SC to stop the southern rebellion after the battle at Fort Sumter. The Governor refused and then held an emergency meeting for the state to decide if they were going to secede, as well, and they did.

North Carolina Capital Building

Anyways, I'm getting a little tired of all this war history. Is there any history in the South that doesn't involve war and racial discrimination? I'm sure there is, but it seems like the majority of the stressed history involves war, fighting, rebellion and discrimination.

One of the many statues dedicated to honoring the Confederate Army

I haven't mentioned food in awhile on the blog, so I guess today I will. We ate at a really good Thai/Vietnamese Cafe. It wasn't your typical Thai cafe, it was more Americanized, without compromising the traditional flavors of Thai cuisine. They had a variety of sandwiches and salads. I got a delicious grilled chili steak sandwich with chili mayo. The chili wasn't actually chili, like beans and stuff, it was the spice chili. It was sooooo good, lite and fresh:)  On the side I got a coconut lime chili soup with button mushrooms and shrimp. I wish they had a place like this in Sacramento and if they do then please tell me about it.