Can You Paint with all the Colors of the Wind?

Trip Stats Day 5
States Traveled Through: Virginia
No new Capitols
No new States

Today was another fantastic day! We woke up and had a delicious FREE breakfast at our hotel. After checking out we headed to Historic Williamsburg. Our first stop with the Jamestown Settlement. In case you don't know, this is where the story of Pocahontas happened. I personally like the happy Disney version better than the sad real life version. Let's just say that a lot of people did not survive.

I've been singing Pocahontas songs all day by the way... "In 1607, we sailed the open sea." "...should I marry Kokoum?" "You can paint with all the colors of the wind." I hope you all sang those tags from the songs; if not, go watch Pocahontas. :)

 This is the Indian village. It was really cool because you can go in and explore the huts and touch everything. There were games for kids to play and there were actors recreating what time was like back then.

 They even put corn in so you could make cornmeal!

 The huts were cool.

 There were 3 ships that the Virginia Company sailed on to America. They were the Susan Constance, The Discovery and the Godspeed. You are able to go on replicas of all 3 and there are people on board to tell you all about the ships. I like the reenactments because I don't like to read about a lot of stuff... Even though it is cool to learn new things.

 This is the English Settlement. Again, you can touch a lot of things and even try on the armor.

 Ready for WAR! 

After Jamestown we continued up the timeline of history to Colonial Williamsburg. This is the original Capitol of Virginia from 1776. I would highly recommend going to Colonial Williamsburg. Make sure to have a lot of water because it can get very steamy! If they try to tell you at the visitor center to get a multi-day pass you don't need to do that. We got there at 2 pm and we were done by 5 pm. If you want to see all the reenactments get there when it first opens. If you have kids you might need 2 days to do it but I just can't see spending more than a day looking at everything.

 Musicians! 

 Found me a husband! I think he may be a general! 

 Natalie and I ran into some trouble with the law... we missed church on Sunday... That was a criminal offense back in 1776!

 Celeste and I were having too much fun... so we got locked up!

 One of the coolest things was at 5:00 they did an army recruitment thing. They fired the muscats and the cannons!

 Another cool thing that they do is they have some real trials read in the courthouse. Back in 1776 they had 10 judges instead of 1.

 After Colonial Williamsburg we checking into our hotel (which is located on POCAHONTAS TRAIL!). We were then VERY hungry so we looked in the coupon booklet the hotel gave us and found something that looked interesting. The restaurant is called Food for Thought. Let me tell you... It was the BEST find so far on this trip!!! I would describe the food as "Home Cooking." The wait was so long that we decided to try to eat at the bar. We were so lucky because there were 3 seats in a row! We didn't have to wait the full hour to get seated. So lucky! We were given bread to start with - cornbread and an asiago cheese roll. GREAT bread. I got the meatloaf and pot roast combo with sweet potato fries and steamed broccoli. It was to die for! I could not pick which one I liked better. To make our evening even better we met a very nice couple and chatted with them for a long time. They gave us some great advice on what to do in Washington DC and Philly. The bartender, Andrella (sorry if I spelled it wrong!) was AMAZING! She was so positive and told us all about the owner of the restaurant. She said that he is an amazing family guy who treats his employees like family. That always makes a place better when there are good people running it and working there. If you are in Williamsburg you must go to Food for Thought. You will regret it if you don't stop by. Also, you can call ahead so you won't have as long of a wait.

We are getting ready to end our day here in Virginia. Only 22 days left in our journey! It is flying by. Check back tomorrow to see where we land.

Andy and Opi

We are on Day 4 of our #CaptitolChallenge trip. 

Stats so Far: 

States Visited today: North Carolina and Virginia

States been to so far: 7 out of 23

Capitols Visited: 4 out of 15

It was a pretty relaxing day. Lori Kaiser was an amazing host!! We were able to relax and unwind a bit in Durham, North Carolina. Natalie and I slowly got ready for the day. When we were about to head out the door to pick up Celeste from the airport I received a call from her. The flight from Missouri to North Carolina was delayed!! OH NO! But, all was ok. Natalie and I went to Elmo's Diner for an amazing breakfast. I had the Biscuit and Gravy meal with Orange Juice. Natalie had blueberry pancakes! It was good. We then went to Walmart to get a few groceries and then headed to Starbucks for some caffeine. 

After picking up our 3rd travel partner we headed to Raleigh to find the capitol building. Parking was very easy! We walked around the building to find the front... we walked all the way around to find out that it was where we parked the car. LOL! We went through security (they weren't friendly) and met some people who worked the visitors desk and one woman who worked in the capitol. They were both very friendly! The woman (I'm sorry I can't remember her name) was so nice and friendly. She told us all about the capitol and this amazing sculpture that was on the first floor in the middle. Interesting fact - the legislature is actually not in the capitol building. They moved to a different building. 

 Capitol Building #30!!!! 

 This is a cake!! 

 Here is the sculpture that the woman told us about. It is a sculpture of George Washington in ancient Roman clothing. Thomas Jefferson was the one who asked for the sculpture to be made. He didn't like the military clothes from America so he asked for the ancient Roman military wear for George Washington.

How can you tell the difference between the House an the Senate?? More chairs in the House of Representatives.

 On the staircase inside the capitol.

 After exploring the capitol we headed to Pullen Park. This is a very fun park! If you have children they would love to play here!! There is a carousel, swing set, pond, and a train! You should check it out if you are in Raleigh!

 Chilling with my friends Andy and Opi!

 Map of the park! It is really amazing!

After walking around the park we headed for Virginia!

 We made it to Richmond around dusk. We drove in circles about 4 times before figuring out where to park. We had to climb a bunch of stairs to get to the building. Look how beautiful it is!!

 Can you believe it??? I've now been to 31 capitols!! I hope my mom has been with me the whole time to experience all the beauty and history at each capitol. Fun Fact: Richmond was the capitol for the Confederate Army during the civil war.

 George Washington is at the top of this small monument.

 After seeing the capitol we went on a search for St. John's church. This is where the famous speech, "Give me liberty or give me death" was given! Of course it was under construction so we took some pictures from the car!

After seeing the church we headed for our hotel. During teacher appreciation week last year there was a raffle and I won a free night at a Hyatt. Well, we used that free night to stay in Richmond! Our room is HUGE!!! We are able to spread out tonight. It only took us 10 minutes to get here from downtown Richmond. There are a lot of shops and restaurants around here. We are going to get a free breakfast tomorrow and we have free WiFi! Big shout out to Hyatt!! 

 We are pretty tired from our day of driving and searching for capitols! Tomorrow we aren't seeing any new capitols but check back for some American History!!