Oyster Shells and Mud

   I'm back earlier than I thought I would be tonight because I ended up not going to Chowning's (pronounced choo-ning's, which I hate!), the tavern that everyone raves about.  But it's still late!  And I'm still very tired, although not as exhausted because our day was a little lighter than previous days.
   As I said yesterday, I did not run this morning because I wanted to finish my homework assignment.  I've never explained what it is, have I?  On one side of our paper we had to write a "bio-poem" about the person from Williamsburg whose name is listed on our nametag.  My person is Frances Tasker Carter, who was married to one of the wealthiest men in Virginia.  We were all given primary source documents and a little "stat sheet" on Monday that gives information on the person.  On the other side we had to fill a silhouette of a colonial person's head with our thoughts about Colonial Williamsburg.  This is what we needed the photo of ourselves for.  Here's what mine ended up looking like- sorry it's sideways!

   Breakfast was at 7:30 at the lodge.  There's some kind of big U.S. Governors meeting going on in CW, so we often see state police escorting important-looking people- I think they're staying at the lodge.
   We walked over to Brick House Tavern to listen to an interpreter talk about economics in Virginia during colonial times.  This man was probably the best yet.  He could make money in Hollywood easy!  (He's worked for CW for 35 years!)  We saw him portray the judge at the witch trial.  The presentation was really interesting.
   After he spoke we had another application session and were then set free from 10:00 until 1:00!  What a treat!!  I ended up hanging out with Minnie (HI) and Daron (TX) for a while- we were supposed to visit different tradesmen.  We saw the cabinet maker, the printer, and the brick maker.  Cool thing is that everything is done using the tools of that time.  Very cool!

intricate chair in process

printer applying ink on ink balls

I am squishing through mud to mix it up for brick making.

Now I'm getting the mud off!

   The paths around CW are paved with broken oyster shells and they always sneak into my Keens...it felt good to step in mud instead of sharp shells!

   Next we were joined by Robin and Alli.  We went on part of a tour of Peyton Randolph's house, and then walked toward the place where we were supposed to have lunch- that same patio area behind one of the taverns.  Daron wanted to stay for the whole tour so we left him and it was just the four of us.  Lunch was low-key:  a Colonial house-shaped box with cold fried chicken, an apple, chips, and a packaged cookie.  Sarah (SC) got stung by a bee and she's allergic to them, so that was scary but it ended up being okay.  She told me later that she had told one of our guides that she'd been "stung behind the tavern" and he cracked up because he said that meant something entirely differently than what she really meant!

   After lunch we had until 2:00 to roam around some more so we went in a few more trade shops and then walked down to the little souvenir shops and a combo William & Mary & Barnes & Noble store.

  The church, Bruton Parish, now an Episcopal church that's still in use is pretty cool but the presentation wasn't that interesting.  And....then it was back to Brick House Tavern to do a great application session on the global economy of those times.  Our activity needed a lot of space so we had to go outside and do it right in the street.  I was a French merchant, in case you were wondering, wanting to trade wine for tobacco.  

   Then back downstairs again!  Some people were still finishing up their assignments.  We were then split up into three groups, based on colored "tickets" we'd picked.  One group is the loyalists, one is the patriots, and one (mine) is undecided.  Everyone's ticket has a description of their character on it- I am a clergyman.  My little blurb says:  You are a Quaker pacifist. You do not tolerate (or sanction) violence of any kind.  We had to get together with people from our group, read over some documents, and talk about how we would vote (independence from Britain or no?) and why.  Obviously we're the group to be swayed.  Tomorrow we're going to the courthouse to have a debate, which should be really fun.

   Then at 5:30 we were set free for the entire evening!  We could even take off our nametags!  A bunch of us stayed and helped Robin fill up the gift bags with everyone's gifts to the staff.  Since we only needed five gifts from each set and I had brought six bags of Garrett's popcorn, we shared the sixth bag.  Everyone loved it!  Of course.  I let people know who are traveling through Chicago on their way home that there's a Garrett's at O'Hare.

   Oh, which reminds me that Chris is traveling through O'Hare back to San Francisco area- we started talking and we're on the same flight from Richmond.  Then we found out we're sitting next to each other!!  How big of a coincidence is that?!  I really like her (she's the runner) so we'll have good conversation.

   For dinner, after a series of complicated logistics and shifting of restaurant choices, it ended up being me, Minnie, Minnie's friend Margaret who used to live in Hawaii and now lives in Williamsburg (her husband is a Naval officer), Daron (but he'd already eaten so he just drank), Robin, Chris, Alli, and one of the Jennifers.  We ate at Bad Dog Tavern, a brand new restaurant.  It was really good!  We were all so excited to be able to choose from more than just three menu options!

Chris (CA), Alli (MA), Jen (CA), and moi, all being geeky

    A few from the group went to Chowning's, as I'd said earlier.  Robin and I left them there and went to our rooms.  Tomorrow night a group of us is going on a ghost tour.  Ooo....ooo.....ooooooooo......

   Breakfast isn't till 8:30 tomorrow!