Williamsburg to Yorktown Battlefield

Williamsburg
I feel inclined to finish the account of our visit to Virginia and America's Historic Triangle. As mentioned in earlier posts we started with Jamestowne. Progressing through time our next visit was Williamsburg. This is a really fun place to visit because the whole city has been restored or preserved and they have people dressed and role playing as if they were from the time period right before the revolutionary war, the early 1770's. They have shops set up where artisans are creating products just as they would have back in the day. I guess it is pretty hard to get an apprenticeship there. I really enjoyed talking with them and learning about how they got their apprenticeships, how/why the were interested in devoting so much time to them. It takes several years to progress form an apprentice to a journeyman, to a master. They have great information on the time period and give perspective on what it was like living in the time. The highlight locations for me were: The Court House, The Governor's "Palace", Furniture shop(They had a harpsichord you could play), the tailor, and the coffee house (hot chocolate). We missed talking with some of the bigger names in town like Patrick Henry, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.

It was great being there this time of year. No lines to get in and out of shops and tours and no hot humid weather. The down side was we didn't get to see the gardens in full bloom.

Mckay playing the harpsichord.The Governors "Palace.
Leather wall paper in one of the rooms.

Yorktown Battlefield
Our last stop was the Yorktown battlefield. This is where the last major battle of the revolutionary war was fought. General George Washington and the French cornered General Cornwallis and a large British Army in Yorktown. The French Navy kept the British Navy from showing up to bail out General Cornwallis. 8,000 troops surrendered. The trenches that both sides made during the siege have been recreated and old artillery is still in place. Interesting to see. At the state 'Victory Park' there was a camp setup with role players in it. They showed us around a camp and fired one of the guns. It was informative. The trenches were the most amazing thing to me. To think that the 17,000 troops put them up in just days with the equipment they had boggles my mind.

You can see all our pictures from the week at our Williamsburg album.

Those interested in Ira pictures can see the Ira album.

Jamestown, Monticello, and Asian Buffet

I'm currently recovering from the all you can eat Asian (Mongolian/Japanese/Thai) Buffet we ate at this evening. Watching the Olympics I feel guilty for trying to take the gold medal for eating the most. My younger brother, McKay, has proven that I am no longer in that part of life where I can eat at will. Time to retire and take up a life of more responsible and healthy eating. While I recover I thought I would update you all on the adventures in Virgina.

Our first site to visit was Jamestown. We went to the recreated 'Jamestown Settlement' where they have replicas of what the original fort houses, boats, and Native American homes would have been like. After that we headed to the historic Jamestown out on the island, which was really just ruins and old foundations.

This is a reconstructed church house. McKay got on the pulpit to call us all to repentance. Under the martial law of the fort everyone was required to go to church twice a day.Reporting for duty, a fresh supply of of people to replenish the dwindling numbers of the struggling settlement.Taken on the river at the site of the original fort in Historic Jamestown.

My youngest brother, McKay, checking out the ruins of some of the homes.We went out to Monticello. They had been hit with a lot of snow so we couldn't really explore the grounds too much, but Thomas Jefferson's house is really pretty cool.

Sharon, Ira, and I at the entrance of Monticello. Someday we will have a house as cool as this....

Ira's Baby Blessing

We have rendezvoused with my parents in Williamsburg, VA. Sharon's parents came down from Washington, D.C. and we had Ira's baby blessing today. It was great to have both sets of parents present. We got together for a nice three generation historical photograph.

After much anxiety, anticipation, and proactive pursuit of the UPS delivery truck on our snowy roads, we procured out new camera before the trip. I'm hoping to figure our how to take some great pictures as we explore Williamsburg.

I liked this one of Ira living it up on vacation with Grandpa Quinn. I love how small he is. The most up to date pictures can be seen on the Ira Album.

Snowed In!

We got hit with a pretty big storm. One of the biggest in Pittsburgh in years. It piled up fast. Overnight I would say we got about a foot of snow on top of 3-4 inches that fell in the afternoon. Our street is only partially plowed. The plow started down one end, but stopped because on the other end there was a car stuck in the middle of the street. So we now have a snow barrier on one end of the street. The neighborhood came together to dig the car out that was stuck. Sharon looked out the window this morning and said, "Hey, everyone is shoveling the street!" It was only enough to get the car out of the way, our car is still quite boxed in. You can see the pictures I took below and a video of my initial reaction as I pried open the car door. Enjoy.




A video as I was breaking into the car through the snow.

Bom Dia

Bom Dia means good day or good morning in Portuguese.

This morning we woke up snowed in and all our appointments and commitments canceled. We were lazy and stayed in bed for a long time. We then got up and made an amazing breakfast.

Our main course was French Nuggets, which is french toast eaten like chicken nuggets... we tare the bread up into pieces and soak them in egg, then fry it all up at once with cheese. We eat it with ketchup or fresh tomatoes. Today we had it with some avocados we found for cheap. Yum.

Our side drink was an açai shake. We went shopping yesterday and I found a juice company called Bom Dia, which it appears is from Brazil. I bought their Açai juice. While on my mission in Brazil I fell in love with this fruit. We would often stop at little juice shops and get açai pulp blended with ice, which created a slushie/smoothie texture. Added to this would be guarana, another amazon fruit known to be energizing, and sometimes sweet and condensed milk poured in. This would be served with granola and banana slices on top. I've been curious to try some of the açai juices that have sprung up in the US. I guess people are starting to call it a 'super fruit' and a bunch of weird diets and things have popped up. Anyways, I blended the juice (which also had blueberry juice and a bunch of other stuff) with some vanilla ice-cream. It was good. Not as good as what I used to get in Brazil, but still good. If anyone knows where I can get açai pulp I would love to know about it.

So, that is our start to a snowed in day in Pittsburgh. Bom Dia!

Camera Test

Our graduation present is going to be a new camera and so we are testing out a few products. I'm borrowing our neighbors SLR camera to test it out. It's a Canon Rebel something or other. I made the collage above from a few of the pictures I took with it.

I've had a point and shoot camera, Canon powershot SD 550, for the last five years and it has served me well. I'm a hobbyist photographer. I'm a graduating beginner, but not quit amateur, so a new camera that will allow more options and creative control will be nice.

Below are some pictures I took with the Canon Rebel. I feel there is a pretty noticeable difference from the pictures I've taken previously. Since I already have some loyalty to Canon, I think I will stick with a canon for my next one. Any opinions on cameras?Forget sucking thumbs, he's getting to to the good stuff early. This was not staged, he happened to move just as I was getting the camera ready

to shoot.

Sharon is an amazing mom.

This was getting ready to go on a walk. He was pretty excited, so much so he slept the whole walk.