Historic Triangle

   Hello!  I am now writing my last blog entry, and it's from Chicago.  My flight was on time and without incident.  There was almost an incident, however, because despite the fact that Chris and I left Williamsburg in plenty of time to get to the airport for our 4:30 flight, the traffic was horrible.  When we were merely 7 1/2 miles from the Richmond Airport, traffic stopped completely for close to half an hour.  People were getting out of their cars to assess the situation (many were even backing up the on-ramp!), but there was no clue to what was causing the delay.  We thought it was either an accident or President Obama's motorcade coming through.  Turns out, we discovered from the guy who issued our tickets at the airport, it was the latter.  Obama had flown into Richmond and was on his way to wherever and two freeways, ours included, were shut down.  Grrrr!
   I'll back up now to breakfast.  After we all checked out, we ate at Shield's Tavern (they have delicious grits!) and I sat with Minnie, Alli, and Daron.  We talked a lot about languages, which was fun.  Daron's wife is from Morelia, Mexico, the town I lived in for a summer when my dad was teaching at Albion College.  After breakfast we took an air-conditioned bus to Yorktown, the third point of what's called the Historic Triangle (Jamestown and Williamsburg being the other two).  There, we took 5-minute bus trips to several points of interest, the most significant being Surrender Field.  (You can guess why it's given that name.)

battlefield

Surrender Field

                                                     

cannonball embedded in Sec. Nelson's house

   

   At Surrender Field we were given the opportunity to write a new "essay" about what it means to be an American citizen; some people read theirs.  Some were getting pretty choked up; it was very moving.  I didn't read mine but I did say that I thought it should be a requirement that every American should take this week-long institute class. I'm serious!  There was thunder in the background and Mike, one of our guides, said to pretend it was cannon fire.  Then we all received our certificates and group photos and boarded the bus for Bruton Heights School for our farewell lunch, Panera.  

Mary (one of our awesome staff members) sharing her bag of
Garrett's with Kristen

   After lunch we took photos and distributed all our gifts to the staff.  Kristen told the staff members that if anyone wanted to share the popcorn, that would be great.  Of course she was just kidding, but the photo on the left shows you what happened. The Garrett's idea that Katie had was a great one!  In fact, Minnie just texted me from O'Hare, where she has a 2-hour layover on her way to Hawaii, to tell me that she was heading to the stand there to buy some there now.

   So the CW Teacher Institute week is over.  It was one of the most important, incredible, and enjoyable experiences I've ever had.  My adjectives are overused and inadequate because I can't really describe the week the way I want to.

   I hope I at least gave you a good glimpse of what it was all about.  But it definitely was one of those "you had to be there" situations.

  I'll close by saying that I just spoke to Lauren and asked if she'd been reading this blog.  She said yes, and that she posted the photo of me, Sarah, and Monica (all dressed in colonial clothing- I had posted it on one of my earlier entries) on her facebook page.  What can I say??

some of us saw the fife and drum corps parade down Duke
of Gloucester Street as we walked to our cars or shuttle buses

Farewell, Williamsburg!