Virginia is for Lovers, part 1

For our final East coast spring break we decided to be "Nawtheners" once again and head South to Richmond, VA. Home to Pocohontas and Jamestown, Yorktown of Revolutionary War infamy, Capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War, Appomatox courthouse, Monticello, and most importantly, my brother Devin and his wife Sarah. With all of this excitement where to even begin?!?

Well, certainly one of the best things about heading south is the barbeque, so we started there. We ate at "Buzz and Ned's" (who's ribs beat out Bobby Flay's on Throwdown), and let me just say, the food was definitely wortth the trip. We sampled the mac and cheese, hush puppies, coleslaw, potato salad, and BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. Jon was obviously too busy digging in to pose for this picture.

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny so we headed for the Historical Triangle, starting with Jamestown, the first American colony founded in 1607 by John Smith and others. You may also recall this area from history books as the famed home of Pocohontas' Powhatan tribe--this view is where the Native Americans would have seen the first sails on the horizon.

Lucy's new best friend was "the REAL Pocohontas." She loved holding hands with her.


We got to see remains of the original fort, the first church, the Chesapeake Bay where the ships landed, the site of the first Thanksgiving, and basically the first countryside our forefathers ever set eyes on. It was amazing to think of how many poor pilgrims died in those first few winters!

After exploring Jamestown, we stopped for a quick bite to eat at a quirky little bakery called the Carrot Tree. They had some killer carrot cake, and we all loved our sandwiches (and Zachy loved Sarah's pickle)!


We then headed over to Colonial Williamsburg where the Jamestown settlement eventually expanded. It's supposed to be like an entire city set back in the 1700's, to show what it would have looked like and how people would have dressed. It was pretty fun to walk the cobblestone streets and see the horses and wagons, and check out the local mercantiles and taverns.


Thus on to our final destination: Yorktown! We learned all about how the stage was set for the colonists to finally defeat the British in the Revolutionary War. We got to walk along the beach where good ol' General Washington's navy was able to beat back the British ships attacking from the sea. Lucy and Eva LOVED running wild and free along the beach and throwing sand. I guess they were celebrating the end of the war too!

Sunday morning we got to go to church with Devin and Sarah, and that afternoon Devin took us on a great tour of Richmond itself. We got to see Monument Drive (only the South would immortalize generals from the Confederate army as heroes), Belle's Isle, Carey Town, and Shockoe Bottom. Jonathan had to check out VCU's dental school while we were there, and yes, it did look nicer than Temple's. Here's Jefferson Davis' home away from home-- the Confederate capitol building located next to the dental school.

And here's the church where Patrick Henry gave his famous "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" speech. Talk about a little piece of history!!

Here's Sara in front of the James River in Richmond, VA.

After all that running around it was SO nice to have a place to stay where the kids could play and get their wiggles out. Devin and Sarah were SUCH great hosts-- we enjoyed every single second with them!! Lucy absolutely adores Sarah and follows her wherever she goes and is constantly asking for her "Sawah" when she's not around, and Zachy has been known to pee on their bed (oops!) and maybe even in Eva's bean box (just kidding), but they were so easygoing we had a blast! Thanks guys!


Monday we were recharged and ready to head out to Petersburg where one of the final major battles of the Civil War was fought. Petersburg sustained 10 months of fighting, almost 60,000 casualties, and some of the most vicious trench warfare in the Civil War. You can still see the bumps in the earth where the trenches were dug, as well as this enormous crater where the North literally mined underneath the battlefield, loaded the mineshaft with explosives, and detonated it right under the South's army. It was insane!

Monday was an absolutely gorgeous day so Eva and Zachy got a little tired of being cooped up in their strollers and decided to play footsie for awhile. Aren't cousins the best?!


After touring a little bit more of Richmond in the afternoon we went to this really cool pizza place in Shockoe Bottom, right underneath the train tracks for dinner. It was DELICIOUS!!

We had originally planned on staying one more night and coming home Tuesday afternoon, but our kids were BEAT (I'm even exhausted just re-typing this post!). I don't think they could have toured one more battlefield or stomached another National Parks Service film, so as soon as they were drowsy and ready for bed we headed back up to Philaldelphia, arriving around 1 a.m. safe and sound. We weren't too worried with cutting out a little early because we will be back for part 2 (stay tuned for Monticello, Busch Gardens, Fredericksburg, Stonewall Jackson's shrine, etc), and yes, Virginia is definitely for lovers!!