The Brown's Family Journal: Spring Break 2022: A Historic Trip

Spring Break is becoming a bigger affair as the Brown Family is now old enough and mature enough to visit places that are not Disney, the beach, or staycations. Covid 2020 was the Outdoor, Day Trip Spring Break; the beach, kites, kayaks on the pond and lots of home projects. Last year we went to Utah and visited Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks - as well as a disastrous evening stroll along Las Vegas Boulevard. This year we decided to add something educational and visited Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown in Virginia. For balance, we added a trip to Busch Gardens so the boys couldn't say "we didn't do anything fun."

The Jamestown Museum is one of the best museums that I have been to in recent years. Modern and interactive, it kept the kids engaged just enough for the two hours we were there. The interactive, living museum section demonstrated what the colony probably looked like. See full size replicas of the ships that the Jamestown colonists used was sobering. I don't think the ships looked safe enough to take out on the James River, let alone cross the Atlantic with.

Consider is this; we, in present day, are closer to the American Civil War than the first Jamestown colonists are to the Civil War...by 100 years. Almost everything they laid their eyes on was being seen by White men for the first time. America wasn't even a notion - not for another 170 years. Europe's foothold in the New World was a tenuous speck.

Time and history amaze me. If we were to project the number of years from Jamestown until today into the future then we would be addressing the year 2437. I joke with the boys that they, or their children will likely see the first people to land on Mars; perhaps in the next 50 years. If that proves to be true then it is likely to see the colonization of Mars (and the moon) over the span of 400+ years. Just consider that we have only been in flight for 100+ years and space flight for 60 years. The promise of the future is in the intrepid spirit of the those who braved the unknown centuries ago.

Yorktown proved to be another great part of the visit. The Battle of Yorktown occurred in 1781 and marked the last major engagement between Britain and the Americans and is date recognized as the moment American independence was secured. Yorktown is also a song in the musical "Hamilton" because Hamilton led troop into combat there. The American Revolutionary War Museum at Yorktown was even better that Jamestown. Without kids Lisa and I could have spent hours inside. Instead we spent about 90 minutes but the boys discovered their own points of interest - including replaying the Battle of Cowpens on an interactive computer.

Yorktown has its own living museum, with a military camp and active farm. Role players work their stations - clearly there is a market in the region for people who want to dress up in period clothing and demonstrate their knowledge. However, the web app, self guided, driving tour of the actual site was even better because you got an appreciation for the space between the British and Americans. The British fortifications are still marked off. Redoubt 10, the fortification that Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton charged, has been rebuilt. The Surrender Field, where the British laid down their weapons and sword is vast and empty. "The world upside down," indeed.

Colonial Williamsburg was the highlight of the trip. It is a living reenactment of life in the late 1700s, just prior to American independence. The book binding shop, blacksmith, furniture maker, baker and others give an authentic feel for LBG (Life Before Google) or even before electricity. Unlike Jamestown and Yorktown, you step out of the 21st century in the 18th century by merely crossing the street. Park you car, go watch a drum and fife team and tour the Governor's mansion in the morning and eat street tacos and play video games at a brewpub for lunch.

All three sites made a noticeable mention to the life, conditions, treatment, and contributions of enslaved people in the New World. It was side by side with the hard work and contributions to those not in bondage. Lisa and I both noted how this topic was present.

And yes, we took the boys to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. We got there just before they opened and rode the Pantheon - the newest fastest rollercoaster on the East Coast. We then rode The Griffon so many times that TJ eventually stopped riding coasters for a while. We dragged Lisa on a couple, including The Griffon, The Loch Ness Monster, and VerBolten, until she admitted that she has out grown mind jarring rides. Grant and I rode Alpinegeist, a rollercoaster that "hangs" from the track above it, not on top of it. In our opinion it was the best coaster of the day. We rode eight or nine rollercoasters in about six hours and called it a day. it turns out that the resort we stayed at had a FREE game room and kids wanted to play air hockey and shoot aliens.

On the day wew headed home we walked the campus of the College of William and Mary. We toured the oldest, active academic building in the US, the Wren Building and gave the boys their first taste of "college tours. You have to a appreciate a campus that sticks to its ascetic roots and avoids big, ostentatious modern structures.

A successful trip in the books...any ideas for 2023? How about the islands?