WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA

Thursday, February 26, 2009
Hampton Inn Central
Williamsburg, Virginia
60 F and Sunny

Yesterday we started our trek home. On the spur of the moment we decided to take the highway toward Williamsburg, Virginia, one of our very favorite destinations (620 miles/almost 10 hours). The drive was going to be quite smooth-good weather, good roads.

We stopped in South of the Border, South Carolina. While Tim was getting gas, I purchased a Diet Pepsi. By itself, this would not be a remarkable event. Then, we drove for 96 miles and stopped at McDonalds for fish sandwiches for Ash Wednesday. THAT is when I discovered that I no longer had my wallet (my 2 major credit cards, $115 cash, my driver’s license, and my bank ATM card). That is also when I found out that McDonalds charges $5 for 2 hours of Internet because I used my laptop to find the phone number of the gas station. After calling the station and finding out that luckily they had my wallet, we made the decision to return to South of the Border. I would drive. Tim was not happy about this turn of events, but he was happy that this problem was not his fault. So, three hours later, at 8:30 p.m., we were finally back at the McDonalds where we discovered my loss. Instead of reaching Williamsburg by 9 p.m., we would get there by midnight.

Normally we do not drive much at night, but I drove on. Tim took over again at our next stop for gas. We did not have reservations in Williamsburg, but we found a Hampton Inn at midnight that had just opened—a very nice hotel. Needless to say we were exhausted.

We did learn several things:
1) we can drive at least 13 hours in one day
2) when someone buys something, one must put her/his wallet back in her/his purse
3) we are very very fortunate

Today was a beautiful day in Williamsburg. First, we visited The Williamsburg Pottery (a huge shopping area with pottery, garden items, ribbon, floral items, Christmas items, lamps, etc. http://www.williamsburgpottery.com/).

Even Tim likes this place! Then we went to the Williamsburg Visitor Center that has the best bookstore, the Peanut Shop of Williamsburg, Merchant Square (Toymaker of Williamsburg), and the Prime Outlet Mall nearby. Inspired by Lawrence on our Princess cruise, we stopped at Tommy Bahama and bought two great shirts and two swim trunks for Tim/good deals at the outlet.

The area has changed a little in the past two years. The outlet mall has expanded and a new shopping area is being built near the historic village. There are several new hotels and restaurants.

We had ribs at Red Hot, and Blue. The meals were good, but I liked Cousin Phyllis’s cooking better!