Carry me back to old Virginia.....

Another rainy day- time to head out to Williamsburg, VA. We finally made it to the Jamestown Beach Campgrounds and set up camp. The campsite was viturally empty and immaculate.

We decided to take a look at several of the historic towns around Williamsburg. Smithfield was a gorgeous little town with some spectacular Victorians (and a ham packing plant). As with most of these small towns, they are very segregated. This town reminded us of Andy Griffith’s Mayberry. We had lunch at a bakery where they made their own bread (I had the Piggly Wiggly sandwich made with local salt cured ham).

From there, we headed to Portsmouth. The town itself was lifeless, but it had a beautiful section called “Olde Town”- with homes that reminded us of Dorcester. But they had done nothing with their beautiful waterfront- filled with high rise hotels and condos and no restaurants/bars.

Note- The driving style in Virginia is very Bostonesque- they all seem to be in a go-fast contest and the traffic density was similar to Boston.

We took some time to do errands. I had a two hour stint at the local laundromat- 4 washers full. They allow smoking so I’m not sure how clean our clothes smell. Meanwhile, John was working on the slider problem (the big "thunk" it made when it was retracted) and found it to be a leak in the hydraulic line. It seems to be a problem a day on the Minnie Winnie.

We’d heard that Richmond had the largest collection of Victorian homes in the country- so we headed off to find out. The reports were right. We drove through am area called Church Hill – it was reminiscent of a 1995 Charlestown. A collection of streets with beautifully renovated houses with mostly white residents surrounded by a black neighborhood with teens on the street corner. We drove to the Fan District which had the most amazing collection of Victorians ever. Monument Avenue was a Back Bay look-alike. Huge mansions going on for blocks. Several of the side streets were quite charming- a bit less imposing, but much more of a neighborhood feel. The streets were gas lit- with brick sidewalks.

Then, we tried to find a place to eat on the riverfront. There was absolutely nothing overlooking this beautiful river. Our conclusion was that we could find our perfect house, but never be happy in a city who so devalued their waterfront.