Preparing to Vacation: Williamsburg, We're Looking at You!

Since having children, Ed and I have stuck to three broad categories of vacations (1) lake or ocean destination (2) family trips and the (3) annual ski trip. I have attempted to break out of this rut by visiting my friend Vickie in New York City. We have had varying degrees of success with that trip.

For a few months, I've been tossing around the idea of doing a family vacation. I'm not quite ready to do it Grandpa Rodney style, which would require me to purchase a station wagon, throw one of my children in the "way back" and deem the other one King/Queen of the back seat and then drive for two weeks to the edge of the country. Luckily, I can drive to the edge of the country without putting two weeks of wear and tear on the family car because I live very near the ocean. Instead, I'm prepared to do a modified trip whereby I strap the children into their respective car seats and drive somewhere they've never been.

And where will we be going? We're shooting for Williamsburg, Virginia. We figure this is a good vacation spot for our family. First, it's about a three hour drive. That's manageable, and could be considered a warm-up for when we drive all the way to Upstate, New York later on in the summer to meet Ed's family.

Second, Connor loves "old-fashioned" things. We visited historic Cold Spring Village, just outside of Cape May last year, and both kids had a ball. They love seeing artisans perform their crafts, dressing up in "old-time" clothes, and playing games from the "old days". And obviously Colonial Williamsburg will have plenty of that!

Third, Ed and I enjoyed a couple of visits there a few years ago, and I've been a couple of other times, so it seems manageable. (Note: the last time we were there with my parents, we were at a Christmas dinner, and Ed was selected to sing a verse of a Christmas carol. If there is one thing that Ed is not suited to doing, it is singing in front of an audience. I missed it, because I had left the table briefly!) I suspect that rather than sitting in pubs at night on this trip, we'll be winding down from visiting sites more focused on kids, so the trip will likely be quite different than the last one we took. With the ready excuse of kids, we plan to hit Busch Gardens one day!

Finally, while Williamsburg has a lot to offer, it also offers some activities that won't be overwhelming. My recollection is that Jamestown Settlement is pretty interesting, but also fairly low-key. Recently, I learned Williamsburg has schooner cruises, which is icing on the cake and will be a perfect end to our trip.

So...we're taking deep breaths here, and looking forward to this family vacation. Now we just have to make the reservations! Stay tuned...

Elaine