Colonial Williamsburg
This past weekend I took a road trip to Williamsburg and the Colonial Virginia area. I had never been before and have wanted to go. Aside from the intense 100 degree heat and relentless sun, it was a very fun trip. I arrived at the Hospitality House after a 9 hour drive. The hotel was very nice and very convenient, and not very expensive. It even had a decent restaurant, which was the only thing open after 9 pm when I got there.
Friday I started early walking around Williamsburg. They have entry fees for many of the historic buildings, and multiple day passes as well. Unfortunately, the main buildings to see are only available on the multi-day pass, which was $48.00. This would be fine if I was going to spend 3 days there, but since I was basically only there for the day I had no choice. However, the quality of the re-creations and restorations was amazing, and I enjoyed the experience very much. The most impressive buildings were the old Capitol and the Governor's Palace. The historic part of town was closed to cars, and was like stepping into the 18th century. Most of the buildings had costumed re-enactors to explain an exhibit or to give a tour. I am glad it had an authentic feel rather than a Disney feel to it. Right next to the colonial town is the College of William and Mary, so the area had a vibrant college-town feel to it as well, not just a bunch of stuffy old historians running around.
For the end of the afternoon I drove to the ruins of the original Jamestown settlement, the first permanent English settlement in the colonies, settled in 1607. The original settlement was inside a small triangular fort, and then when the colony was established they quickly outgrew the fort and established a new town nearby. Both settlements are now in ruin, virtually vanished. In fact, the exact location of the original triangular fort was only discovered in 1994. Extensive archaeological excavations are currently ongoing, and they are are also in the process of building a new visitor center and museum to house artifacts, which should be open in time for the 400th anniversary in 2007. Presently, however, there is not much to see. When they excavate a site, they re-bury it to preserve it.
After a long hot sweaty day of sightseeing I was ready for a pleasant dinner, which I had at A. Carroll's Bistro and Wine bar, 2 blocks from the hotel. As the name suggests, they had a good wine selection, from which I started with a Gewurztraminer to go with the Garam Masala grilled shrimp with cucumber and mint slaw. For the main course I had a Ravenswood Cabernet to go with the grilled lamb tenderloin scented with lavender and garlic, topped with black truffle butter. For dessert I had lemon cheesecake and a glass of Chateau Cauhape, Jurancon, "Symphonie de Novembre" which is a late harvest petit manseng. The cost was in line with most Atlanta fine dining places, appetizers from $8-17, entrees from $21-30, and desserts from $6-8.
On Saturday I started out early again to beat the heat, although it was already 85 at 9 am. I walked around the battlefield at Yorktown, where Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington in 1781, effectively ending the American Revolution. Not much there, unless you are a student of history and want to experience a place where something important happened. Afterward I went to the Williamsburg Winery, the largest winery in Virginia. You have to take the tour to do the tasting, so that took up an hour that I really didn't need to. Plus, the wine was mostly unremarkable, but it was still interesting. Then I headed down I-64 toward the North Carolina coast and encountered one traffic nightmare after another. Apparently everyone on the east coast decided to drive to Norfolk, which caused a 5 mile back-up. After taking a detour to a bypass and another bridge up river, I was again on my way, only to come to another grinding halt in a 7-mile back-up from the bridge to Kitty Hawk. This 7 miles took an hour to creep through. I will never visit here in summer again. I barely made it to the Wright Brothers Memorial 10 minutes before closing, so I was only able to see the monument on top of the hill commemorating the first controlled powered flight.
Next came a 3 hour drive to Raleigh, arriving around 9:30 pm at my friend Ryan's who was kind enough to let me stay. He and his boyfriend Tal were down to Atlanta and stayed with me a few weeks ago during Pride. We went to a nice restaurant in a trendy upscale area called Enoteca Vin. It was amazing, the most extensive selection of high-quality wines by the glass. I had Chambolle-Musigny Burgundy with dinner, which was sauteed Tripletail with lima beans and sweet corn succotash in a roasted red pepper-lobster jus. Tripletail is a flaky white Gulf fish similar to Grouper, but otherwise not very remarkable. For dessert I had a white peach tarte tatin with blueberry compote and orange creamsicle ice cream. The blueberries were the best part. Along with that I had a fabulous Coteaux du Layon St. Lambert "Les Bonnes Blanches", a late-harvest Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley. The prices were similar to A. Carroll's, in line with the quality. I was quite impressed with Raleigh, even though it is a fairly small town. The dance club, Legends, was a lot of fun, had excellent music and cute boys to look at. I was too tired after driving all weekend to stay long and dance, so we headed back. I returned to Atlanta Sunday after a 6 1/2 drive. Road trips are fun.
Friday I started early walking around Williamsburg. They have entry fees for many of the historic buildings, and multiple day passes as well. Unfortunately, the main buildings to see are only available on the multi-day pass, which was $48.00. This would be fine if I was going to spend 3 days there, but since I was basically only there for the day I had no choice. However, the quality of the re-creations and restorations was amazing, and I enjoyed the experience very much. The most impressive buildings were the old Capitol and the Governor's Palace. The historic part of town was closed to cars, and was like stepping into the 18th century. Most of the buildings had costumed re-enactors to explain an exhibit or to give a tour. I am glad it had an authentic feel rather than a Disney feel to it. Right next to the colonial town is the College of William and Mary, so the area had a vibrant college-town feel to it as well, not just a bunch of stuffy old historians running around.
For the end of the afternoon I drove to the ruins of the original Jamestown settlement, the first permanent English settlement in the colonies, settled in 1607. The original settlement was inside a small triangular fort, and then when the colony was established they quickly outgrew the fort and established a new town nearby. Both settlements are now in ruin, virtually vanished. In fact, the exact location of the original triangular fort was only discovered in 1994. Extensive archaeological excavations are currently ongoing, and they are are also in the process of building a new visitor center and museum to house artifacts, which should be open in time for the 400th anniversary in 2007. Presently, however, there is not much to see. When they excavate a site, they re-bury it to preserve it.
After a long hot sweaty day of sightseeing I was ready for a pleasant dinner, which I had at A. Carroll's Bistro and Wine bar, 2 blocks from the hotel. As the name suggests, they had a good wine selection, from which I started with a Gewurztraminer to go with the Garam Masala grilled shrimp with cucumber and mint slaw. For the main course I had a Ravenswood Cabernet to go with the grilled lamb tenderloin scented with lavender and garlic, topped with black truffle butter. For dessert I had lemon cheesecake and a glass of Chateau Cauhape, Jurancon, "Symphonie de Novembre" which is a late harvest petit manseng. The cost was in line with most Atlanta fine dining places, appetizers from $8-17, entrees from $21-30, and desserts from $6-8.
On Saturday I started out early again to beat the heat, although it was already 85 at 9 am. I walked around the battlefield at Yorktown, where Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington in 1781, effectively ending the American Revolution. Not much there, unless you are a student of history and want to experience a place where something important happened. Afterward I went to the Williamsburg Winery, the largest winery in Virginia. You have to take the tour to do the tasting, so that took up an hour that I really didn't need to. Plus, the wine was mostly unremarkable, but it was still interesting. Then I headed down I-64 toward the North Carolina coast and encountered one traffic nightmare after another. Apparently everyone on the east coast decided to drive to Norfolk, which caused a 5 mile back-up. After taking a detour to a bypass and another bridge up river, I was again on my way, only to come to another grinding halt in a 7-mile back-up from the bridge to Kitty Hawk. This 7 miles took an hour to creep through. I will never visit here in summer again. I barely made it to the Wright Brothers Memorial 10 minutes before closing, so I was only able to see the monument on top of the hill commemorating the first controlled powered flight.
Next came a 3 hour drive to Raleigh, arriving around 9:30 pm at my friend Ryan's who was kind enough to let me stay. He and his boyfriend Tal were down to Atlanta and stayed with me a few weeks ago during Pride. We went to a nice restaurant in a trendy upscale area called Enoteca Vin. It was amazing, the most extensive selection of high-quality wines by the glass. I had Chambolle-Musigny Burgundy with dinner, which was sauteed Tripletail with lima beans and sweet corn succotash in a roasted red pepper-lobster jus. Tripletail is a flaky white Gulf fish similar to Grouper, but otherwise not very remarkable. For dessert I had a white peach tarte tatin with blueberry compote and orange creamsicle ice cream. The blueberries were the best part. Along with that I had a fabulous Coteaux du Layon St. Lambert "Les Bonnes Blanches", a late-harvest Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley. The prices were similar to A. Carroll's, in line with the quality. I was quite impressed with Raleigh, even though it is a fairly small town. The dance club, Legends, was a lot of fun, had excellent music and cute boys to look at. I was too tired after driving all weekend to stay long and dance, so we headed back. I returned to Atlanta Sunday after a 6 1/2 drive. Road trips are fun.