Fear the Viking Tour

Jake and I got to spend the weekend with my folks and some of their friends (Viking Tour Group to be exact) in Williamsburg, Virginia. We drove the 7 hour trip on Saturday, stopping only in Durham to get a look at Duke. It is a beautiful campus, but much smaller than you would think it is. All of the campus buildings (student loan, different specific studies) are just old houses they have converted and slapped up a sign. They are nice houses, but still not what I expected.

Williamsburg was tons of fun. It was great to see my folks, but 36 hours is just not quite long enough! The weather could not have been better and the company wasn’t bad either. The first night we ate at the Fat Canary and had fantastic food and great wine. I had sturgeon on truffle mashed potatoes with a topping of scallops and lobster…Yeah, it was just as good as it sounds. PS: The wine’s name was Bleasdale mom. We got to sit outside and enjoy the stars and then we went to the witch trial. Yep, I said witch trial. We were late to it (shocker) and I didn’t realize just how serious it was going to be. They were actually putting some lady on trial. The evidence was overwhelming and I voted to burn her…what? She “floated in an unnatural position” when she was tied up and thrown in the lake.

The second day the lady folk were to shop while the men golfed..But instead we found a great wine and cheese bar around noon and pretty much hung out there for 4 hours. It was fun to catch up while relaxing outside with a procuitto and provolone sandwich while munching in cranberry cheddar cheese…and a bunch of wine. Good stuff. We got cleaned up and went to dinner at the most imposing seafood restaurant I have ever seen. It was a huge buffet with something for everyone and giant masts/booms/etc above the buffets. Crazy.

The guys and some of the ladies played golf on the third day, and the remaining ladies managed to keep out of the wine all day. Everyone should be impressed. I had a wonderful run through the old part of Williamsburg and the College of W&M around 6:45 in the morning. Of course I got really lost and ran for 50 minutes, but it was a really enjoyable 50 minutes! It was a great morning, no traffic, and the scenery was perfection. I can see why you would want to live somewhere with such beauty and historical significance. W&M is a college founded by a President, just miles from the first settlement of the US, and full of Civil War and Revolutionary War history. Yeah, but there are a billion people there. That is enough to turn me off.

We said our sad goodbyes as I looked around at the most exhausted group of 50 year olds I have ever seen. It must be what the kindergarten bus looks like on the way home from a fieldtrip. Jake and I then took off for home….the long way.