From Williamsburg to Philly and home again

We arrived in Williamsburg late in the afternoon, checking into the Embassy Suites around 5 p.m.  After enjoying the free happy hour and dinner at a restaurant near the Village Square and William and Mary, we strolled around the streets of Colonial Williamsburg.  The fireflies were everywhere in the dusky evening light.  Fireflies have become a rarity in Texas, so we were delighted to see that they are still thriving in Virginia.


Early the next morning we headed to the visitor's center the catch the buss to the colonial village.  We spent the day touring the homes and businesses.  Williamsburg is a place we never tire off and always find it peaceful, in spite of the hordes of tourists.  Our time here was much too short.

The next morning we headed to Jamestown on our way to Philadelphia.  The new visitor's center is beautiful, however, the reconstructed village is small and probably not worth the effort.  We wish we had allowed time, however, to see the archeological digs nearby where the original village is being excavated.

We headed back to the freeway and through Newport News to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  The Bridge/Tunnel is something we had both wanted to see and we weren't disappointed.  We emerged on the eastern shore of Virginia and stopped in the village of Eastville for a wonderful lunch at the historic Eastville Inn.  Then, it was a very long drive up the coast through Delaware to reach Philadelphia.  In hindsight, we should stayed an extra day in Williamsburg and avoided the 8-hour drive to Philly.  Delaware was a particular disappointment, reminding us of Bill's hometown, Hitchcock.

We arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn in Philly without too much problem and enjoyed dinner across the street at an Italian restaurant.  The next day, we toured the Betsey Ross House, Ben Franklin's grave, the mint, Liberty Hall and more.  The highlight of Philly was the Reading Market next door to our hotel.  We especially enjoyed looking at the wares sold by the Amish and other local farmers. 

Our lost stop was in Baltimore where we toured the Baltimore Aquarium.  The Aquarium was packed on the Saturday we visited--in fact, they had closed the facility due to overcrowding.  Once inside, however, we enjoyed the exhibits.  Afterwards, we had dinner on the wharf before heading to our hotel for the night and back to reality the next morning.