Anniversary Getaway to Colonial Williamsburg

Our anniversary sort of fell by the wayside this year. We celebrated 3 years of marriage apart from each other while Parker was finishing up SERE school, and a true "celebration" was not looking promising as we impatiently awaited the arrival of our household goods and gained a new furball as soon as Parker returned.

We've always talked about wanting to go on a cruise, but we realize in this chapter or our Navy journey, it's just not in the cards. And that's okay. We decided to take an impromptu trip to Colonial Williamsburg this past weekend as a sort of belated anniversary weekend. With military life, you celebrate when you can, where you can. The awesome thing about Williamsburg is it is an hour away from our house. We get to go somewhere fun and skip the long road trip? Um, yes please. The Phelps duo was all in. 

Colonial Williamsburg was on our Virginia bucket list anyway, but I am so glad we decided to make a weekend out of it. We walked around the town Friday evening and got to witness the "Troop Review/March to Lexington". One of the neat things about Williamsburg is that these people go all out. Everyone is in period costumes, everyone's dialect is spot on, and everyone seems to really love to be there. Parker said we totally should have dressed up. I gave him a look, and that was the end of that. It was neat to get to see "the demonstration of the local militia and two field artillery pieces". I just asked Parker to sum up that experience, and those were his words. I must have watched something different, because I didn't get any of that. I saw kids in red coats playing instruments. The history might have been slightly lost on me, but I tried.

selfies with the fife and drum players

We wined and dined at The Trellis, a cute little restaurant where Parker ate stuffed quail. Doesn't that sound so fancy pants? I balanced it out with my cheeseburger and fries. We walked around some cute little shops after dinner and, again, Parker tried to convince me we should rent some period costumes. It went over about as well as it did the first time.

We stopped by the candy shop, so naturally my night was made!

Saturday was dedicated to seeing the sites and touring the historic buildings of Colonial Williamsburg. Parker is definitely the museum/history nut of the two of us, but we both thought the whole thing was really neat. We toured Governor's Palace and The Capitol (naturally my first thought was The Hunger Games), and we got to go into the cabinetry, carpentry, and blacksmith shops. The blacksmith shop was by far the coolest to me. There was a guy actually making tools over a hot fire, and a girl explained that blacksmiths are just like any other profession these days- you go to school for about 4 years and then do apprenticeships and more school if you want to be really good. I imagine there is a really small window of opportunity to be a blacksmith in this day and age, but it's such a neat craft.

Parker LOVED the cabinetry and enjoyed the carpentry too. Being really into woodworking, this wasn't at all surprising. The carpenter let Parker and I try the blade he was using to make roofing eaves out of cedar. I expected to be terrible at it and was, but Parker wasn't bad. Back then, the carpenters built the frameworks for buildings and houses. The cabinet makers built furniture. Since the cabinet makers were the ones to build furniture, Parker enjoyed that one the most and could have stayed in there all day.

 We also got to see the types of living conditions the soldiers lived in and were sworn into the "Colonial Army", complete with stick rifles and a drill Sergeant. 

Governor's Palace

With our tour guide from Governor's Palace

Blacksmith

Just being part of the Colonial Army, no big deal.

Saturday evening, we got tickets to the dinner theater at Shields Tavern. The meal was simple meats and vegetables, the lighting was dim, and the waitresses were all in costumes. It was a cool atmosphere. While we ate, they performed a short play that really just reminded us of Downton Abbey. If there is anything this weekend did, it was make us so ready for the next season of Downton Abbey to come on. I realize the time frames are completely off in the two worlds, but the whole day just felt like a scene out of the show. Anyway, the dinner theater was fun.

Hanging out with the cast afterward. They interacted with you during the play and made it fun for the audience.

Sunday, we had planned on going to Water Country USA and doing the water park thing, but we just didn't have much time, so Parker suggested we go to the outlet malls. Husband of the year. I wasn't going to argue. We went to the famous Pierce's Pitt BBQ for lunch, and all of the locals just raved about it. It was really good, but we are still adjusting to the fact that BBQ means pork here. We are from Texas. BBQ=brisket in our neck of the woods, but the pulled pork they served was tasty nonetheless!

Overall, Williamsburg was the perfect getaway. It was relaxing and easy and just plain fun. I am so thankful that we got this weekend to celebrate our third anniversary. Parker starts class this week, so this was sort of like one last hurrah before the crazy starts back up. We loved it!