Road Trip 2013-Virginia

After a very successful Thanksgiving Cruise Vacation, I dreamed up this wild 2 week road trip from Virginia up to Boston crossing as many capital cities and states as possible.  I knew JM could not take off work the whole time and go with us, but I am a Supermom and I can do this.  Big Dreams!!!  On Sunday night before we were about to leave, I really wanted to just call the whole thing off!  I had the pre-trip packing and planning jitters.  I could not believe that I signed myself up for this crazy 2.5 weeks!

On Monday morning, I woke up very early and the kids and I loaded up the car to head to the Atlanta airport.  That was enough to make me what to turn around right there.  It was difficult to get 5 kids and our luggage into the airport and through security.  Mission accomplished and there was no turning back!

We flew into Newport, retrieved our checked luggage and rental mini-van.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Jason's Deli before driving to The Jamestown Settlement to embark on a journey to 17th-century Virginia.  Jamestown Settlement is a re-creation of America's first permanent English colony founded in 1607-13 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts.  We enjoyed walking through the different settlements and learning ways of life.  The first re-creation was of the Powhatan village.

We toured the 3 replica ships that sailed from England to Virginia in 1607. 

 The second re-creation was of the colonists' fort.

After our tour of Jamestown, everyone was ready to find our hotel for the next few nights.  We booked our stay at the Great Wolf Lodge.  The kids were very excited to get to spend the evenings swimming. The kids wasted no time getting everything up to the room and getting down to the water park!  We closed the slides and pools down Monday night!  Yes, I was one tired mom at this point!

On Tuesday, we went to Colonial Williamsburg.  WOW!  This place was so fun and so overwhelming!    Our first stop was Great Hopes Plantation were we learned about plantation life from crops to building buildings.

Then we followed our little map for a long walk to the Revolutionary City!  It was a beautiful walk, but it was HOT!  Someone forgot to tell Virginia that the tourists from Alabama wanted to leave the heat in Alabama.  Virginia was having record high temperatures--higher than they had experienced in years!  Just our luck!!!  The younger girls were upset that we had not packed all their "colonial dress up" so they could be part of the city.  After about 30 minutes, they wanted swimsuits to walk around in and water to pour on themselves!

 

The Revolutionary City was fun and we explored all the different exhibits from brick making to food preparation to gardening.  Oh, the girls also took a writing class on how to use a quill and ink!

 We made it to the encampment after lunch, and the girl were drafted into the army much to Tyler's dismay!

 Our last stop for the day was the Powell House.  Here the kids watched the women cook, learned their manners, counted colonial coins and played some colonial games.

5 tired kids and 1 tired mom!  It was time to head back to Great Wolf for some relaxation!  We played at the slides and pools until closing time again Tuesday night.  

Wednesday morning was our checkout, so I treated the girls to some spa time while Tyler slept late.  Tyler took Colleen to eat breakfast with him at Dunkin'Donuts in the lobby.  She thought she was getting to do something special until she saw what the big girls were doing!!!

 After we loaded the car, I took Colleen down to Scoops.  I painted her hands and toes while the girls where finishing up their manicure/pedicures.  She was okay with that!

We drove on to Richmond on Wednesday.  We took a tour of the capitol building.  The Virginia capitol  was designed by Thomas Jefferson.  In 2004, the Capitol was fully restored to its early 20th century appearance and they added an underground extension to increase the size of the capitol.  The original Houdon statue of George Washington (3rd picture) stands in the Virginia Capitol.  It is the only statue that Washington ever actually posed for!  The sculpture on the right is of Thomas Jefferson.

After visiting the capital, I decided to take the kids to Children's Science Museum of Richmond.  This was a last minute change of plans because I was trying to avoid anything outside in the afternoon heat!

Tyler did a google search of top places to eat in Richmond and we ended up at Galaxy Dinner for our evening meal.  I was a little skeptical at first, but it was DELICIOUS and fun!

 Thursday morning we went to Maymont Park - An American Mansion & Gardens.  A mansion from the Gilded Age of the late 1800s when millionaires demonstrated their prosperity through their elaborate homes.  The home of James Dooley was just that--elaborate!  Mrs. Dooley designed the beautiful gardens around the home.  The whole estate was left to the city of Richmond.  The 110 acres includes Italian and Japanese Gardens and a farm and wildlife center.  We only toured the mansion and gardens!

This is one of the reasons I waned to tour the mansion.  Look at this bed!  I new the girls would love to see this in person!

After our tours at Maymont, we headed on up the road to Maryland!