Here Be Dragons

2007-08-02

Day 11
August 2, 2007

We saw The Great Dismal Swamp on our way out of NC and back into Virginia. Let me tell you .. it�s not so dismal after all. It�s a HUGE wildlife refuge and completely non commercial. They actually discourage visitors by making all trails hike, bike or boat, no cars, and what visitor will show up ready to hike 6 miles round trip through their nature trail or carries their bicycle while traveling? They do have a few bicycle rentals but we decided that we could better use our time by seeing Colonial Williamsburg today instead of tomorrow thus freeing tomorrow up for a very enjoyable non-rushed time.

So after a small excursion into the woods and a few pictures of boats using the Great Dismal Swamp Canal that runs through it as part of the intercoastal waterway system, we departed not only the swamp but the state and arrived in Virginia hellbent on seeing Colonial Williamsburg.

I want to make it clear that I liked Colonial Williamsburg but it�s no living museum like I have back in Plymouth. I was already spoiled by my native experience at Plymouth Plantation over what this place could become. But it was still AWESOME! The bestest thing besides the restored village itself though was the post office. I sent everyone, including myself (and you BoXx!) a postcard from there because it has an official COLONIAL Williamsburg postal mark, not the modern day Willamsburg post mark. The village post office is REAL!

We walked the village in about an hour and didn�t really dig into things like we could have because of the 90 degree heat. I was melting and didn�t want to continue anymore than I had wanted to walk that 6 mile nature trail at The Great Dismal Swamp although I was very glad that I had visited and seen them both, but I needed my AC by then.

I have to say that after almost two weeks of traveling with Fred and staying in a different place every night I�m kinda glad to be heading north again. It wears on a soul no matter how fun and interesting it is, kind of like a roller coaster that never ends. I�m ready for a heaping helping of normal.

Tomorrow we cross over to Delaware using the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel. After what happened two days ago in Minnesota I�m a little shaky although wild horses couldn�t discourage me from not going. This bridge is 21 miles of engineering marvel. I am going to take pictures from the islands they have for tourists. And to tell the truth it�s the tunnels that bother me more than the bridges.

We�ve been checking out Moose Lodges as we go and today and yesterday they can�t sell liqueur, just beer and wine at the nearby Lodges. This was in NC and VA. I was shocked but I guess the liqueur license is prohibitively expensive in these parts so what they do instead is rent little lockers for about ten dollars a year and people store their booze in it and buy the mixer from the bartender. I had never heard of anything like that before and asked how they make enough money to support the lodge. Well guess what?

BINGO! BINGO! BINGO!

They even have TWO function rooms, one smoking, one non, for the event. I don�t think we have more than one church running bingo in all of Plymouth. Hardly anyone goes to Bingo around us. I guess it�s a good thing we can afford the license to sell Rum!

Tomorrow I sleep in Atlantic City. There�s a Moose in Atlantic City but there�s casinos too! WooHoo! I bet Fred and I don�t blow 20 bucks added together. It�s a different experience once you�ve taken probability and statistics.

Damn it!

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