Colonial Williamsburg, 1

Not long after we arrived in Cary, college friends Susan and Ken invited us to accompany them on a trip to Colonial Williamsburg. What transpired in early December was one of the best short trips we've had, in part because of the company but also in part because of the exceptional place we visited. We'd been to Colonial Williamsburg years before--day visits with kids--but now we had the opportunity to spend three off-season week-days there, with ample time to interact with the "re-enactors" (more anon), to really savor what is a fine research and educational institution, indeed the largest living museum there is. BTW, we found nothing candy-coated about the place...the negatives as well as the positives of the society and times were well evident.

Colonial Williamsburg has a fine website, with many pix, much commentary, and several virtual tours as well (https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/learn/virtual-tours/?from=home), so I won't attempt any more here than posting some of our better pix with relevant commentary. Vicki and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and are certain to return. Thanks, Susan and Ken, for rousing us from our down-sizing doldrums!

We stayed at the Colonial Williamsburg Lodge

On one of the several house tours

Street scene; the foregoing and immediately following by Ken

Posing our last day there in front of the Governor's palace

The plan: Ken and Susan are very organized travelers

At the witchcraft trial our first night there

At the blacksmith's shop: these are no mere "re-enactors"...they
are really practicing the trade as it was done in colonial times and
appear free to come and go out of character as the circumstances
warrant...they all have a canned intro for the casual or hurried
visitor...but if you stay a bit, you can have a long, detailed, and 
edifying conversation...we saw this in every house, every workshop...
the intersection  of technology and science is always fascinating...

Revered in Virginia because of the tobacco thing, I suppose;
executed as a traitor long before there was a colonial Williamsburg

In the apothecary shop

Really gnarly old tree

Susan and Vicki approach the capitol

Among the meeting rooms

Getting educated about colonial governance

Rifling at the gunsmith's

Street scene; OK, this is not what it would have looked like in
1760, but some concessions have to be made...

Christmas decor competition (appetizer foreshadowing)

At the silversmith's

Wigmaker

Champion wreath

Research and preservation going on all over

Among our several visits to the excellent museum

Eating well, as often as possible...a great captain's plate at Berret's;
preceded by the cheapest oysters I've had since France, as foreshadowed

Goodwin preached at the Bruton Parish church as well as other
places in the East; was an unrelenting advocate for the preservation of
Virginia's historical buildings and artefacts; hit the jackpot when
he interested Rockefeller ("Praise John from whom oil blessings
flow") in the project; we found ourselves sitting beneath the plaque
during a concert at the Bruton; erected by "friend and fellow worker" John D. 

Weaving

Several of the Founders did time in Williamsburg, Virginia's
capital until the Seven Years War (aka the French and Indian
War)

It would be another two generations before Thomas Crapper
was born...yes, I enjoy perpetuating the "over-statement" of
Wallace Reyburn's playful biography Flushed With Pride...

Asheville And The Biltmore, 2, By Guest Blogger Penelope

A continuation of our visit to the Biltmore and a chocolate factory in Asheville.

The tea menu at a high tea, where you can smell the teas

After much deliberation, I picked Masala Chai, my mom
picked an apple tea, (which was later discovered to have no
tea in it whatsoever, a running joke, as my mother usually
doesn't like any tea) and Grandma picked a tropical blend

The savory, sweet, and salad options at tea

The sun setting from the grounds of Biltmore

Biltmore when the sun goes down is a beautiful place

The white roses and lights lining the entryway

My favorite room, the Great Hall, from various points of view

The library, which is my mom's favorite room

A tree drowning in decor in one of the many guest rooms
of Biltmore

The house's bowling alley

The walk-in fridge of the era

A furnace to heat the washroom in the winter

This is in the French Broad chocolate factory we toured
in Asheville, where we got to taste many things, such as
cocoa nibs from beans we cracked ourselves

Me holding a real cocoa pod; in case you were wondering,
it sounds like a large baby rattle when shaken!

Asheville and The Biltmore, 1, By Guest Blogger Penelope

On November 26-28, my grandmother, my mom, and I went to Asheville and the Biltmore. The Biltmore is a 19th century home that belonged to the Vanderbilt family before being turned into a museum by descendants. Biltmore is famous for its beautiful Christmas decor during the holiday season, and we came for the nighttime Candlelight Tour, when the house is lit only by hundreds of Christmas lights and candles. 

Having an old-fashioned strawberry soda with Grandma

 Grandma, my mom, and I on the terrace overlooking Biltmore

Inside the expansive greenhouse in the gardens

Inside one of Biltmore's hotels, a gingerbread, chocolate, and candy
replica of the Great Hall's dining table

Another view of the gingerbread dining table

My favorite room in the whole house, the Great Hall

A gingerbread replica of Biltmore inside the kitchens

Another view of my favorite room, the Great Hall

A sitting room for guests

Grandma, my mom, and I having lunch at the Stables restaurant, which is actually in the stables!

Looking up at the roof of Stables

Beautiful flowers inside one of the greenhouses

  My mom and I in front of a poinsettia Christmas tree.

On the gingerbread table, everything is edible, even the rice paper
replica menus! 

Cedric, the much-loved mansion's former resident dog, represented
in cake form below the gingerbread table