First stop: Charleston South Carolina. We stay in a renovated bank on Market St. and walk to the battery. From there we can see Ft. Sumter the site of the first battle in the Civil War. Confederate forces fired on the Union forces in the fort until the white flag was raised giving the confederacy the first victory in the war. Later we would hear how General Sherman defeated Beauregard, marched into Charleston and burned it to the ground giving the Union the final win in that city.
Next stop Williamsburg Virginia: This city takes you back in time to 1774 and uses actors to portray the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence. Andrew became a soldier in the milita and we listened while Lord Dunmore declared martial law in Williamsburg. Eventually the colonials declared their independence, the cannons fired and the fife and drums played while the flag was raised over the capital building. Needless to say we all had goosebumps. 
The kids were placed in the stocks. Apparently Ashley and Andrew stole a hog and Austin was locked up for being deranged. He cried a lot. We thought it a good time to take a break from our history tour by blasting down a few water slides at Water Country with the cousins. They left town for New York and we headed to Jamestown and the big 400 year anniversary party they were having.
The party hats were a little stiff but we learned some cool stuff like: how wearing these helmets will make you a "mad hatter" because they contain mercury, "sleep tight" means tighten the ropes on your bed and that "Dont let the bed bugs bite" is serious business. Did you know that the Susan Constant is actually the Sarah Constant and she has a pretty cool little door heading to the stern balcony?
Next stop Mt. Vernon, George Washington's digs. My niece, Kathleen is in the navy and stationed in DC so she met us there. FYI you can watch my beautiful niece do the navy 'Fleet News' headlines at : So OK I got off track but I am just so proud of her. Anyway we all hung at Mt. Vernon and could understand why GW loved it there.
Oh this was neat: 'Jimmy crack corn' while we were there:)
Washington DC was spectacular! The kids were a great age to get the most out of it. I was hampered by the need to cry at all the war memorials and get ticked off at the guys in the capital but otherwise it was very inspiring and educational.
Off to New York and then on to the Cape.
Because of these two boys, this happened...
They even had a name for this sport: Extreme Kayaking. Pretty simple really, just ram and sink any nearby vessel. Eventually they sunk everyone except me. I threw out enough verbal threats to keep them at bay.
The kids are standing on the sight where Pickett's Charge started. Lee's men fired 100 cannons across this mile wide field and before the smoke cleared they charged across to attempt to break the Union line on Cemetery ridge. It was one of the biggest mistakes in the Civil War.
Abe talks these two into getting re-united and we head on home to FL. It was an incredible trip! I think that we all have a better understanding of what it means to be American and that is a good thing.
1 comment:
Nice post! Glad you all had a good time!
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