The next morning we slept in. A lot. Then Joe headed off to Urgent Care. He had been powering through a bout of gout since Charleston and just couldn't power through any longer. While he was out, the kids watch TV and I wrote my last journal entry and update links on each of the previous ones. When he returned, we headed off to grab some lunch. The town of Emerald Isles is tiny and thus has a handful of food choices. The first couple of restaurants we stopped by were packed and had long waits. Finally, we found Lazzara's Pizza. It was busy, but we opted to order and take it back to the hotel rather than wait for a table.
After lunch, it was beach time! I cannot begin to tell you how absolutely lovely the beach was. It was warm, busy but not packed and seashells are everywhere. We spent the whole afternoon building sandcastles, sunbathing, swimming and seashell hunting. It was the most relaxing afternoon we could imagine. When we finally getting hungry, we stopped by the pool for a quick swim in calmer waters. After taking showers (boy, was there a lot of sand in our swimsuits!), we headed back to Hwy 55 for dinner. We couldn't pass up another delicious burger and shake. We ended our second day in North Carolina with another movie night and early bedtime.
The next morning, I woke up bright and early. I was already sad to leave such a beautiful place and just couldn't start packing without another trip to the water. I headed out solo, while everyone else slept and took a two mile walk down to the pier and back. It was so calming to watch the sunrise and enjoy the cool breeze and peace and quiet. I collected perfect seashells, watched birds find their breakfast and just listened to the water. It was the perfect way to end our time there.
Next, we headed north to Virginia. It was another 4 1/2 hour drive, so we expected to get there around check-in. This was, by-far, the best drive of our trip. The roads wound through small towns, fields, forests, near the coast and finally into cities. Because there was so much to see, the drive went by quickly. We pulled into our Williamsburg resort around 3:45, with check-in being 4pm.
I need to backtrack just a bit. Williamsburg was another stop without a lodging plan. We spent the two days before heading there, looking for a place to stay. For the first time, we were struggling to find a place. We found one, booked it, then the next day were contacted to say that they had overbooked and we no longer had a place to stay. This was while we were sitting on the beach, 24 hours from our stay. We quickly found another and had the same thing happen. At least this time it was almost immediately canceled by the owner. We started to panic. Finally, right before turning out the lights for the night, we found a listing in the Greensprings Vacation Resort, which is about 20 minutes from Colonial Williamsburg. We booked it, expecting another canceled reservation.
Fast forward to check-in and we were told that, not only did we have a room, but that the timeshare owner had requested that we get an upgraded room. And the clouds parted and there was light across the land! We walked up three flights of stairs to a two bedroom, two bathroom, full-kitchen, balcony suite. It was sooooo wonderful. It took mere minutes for us to decide to go to the store, make dinner in and stay put for the night. Another much-needed night of rest. While we are having the time of our lives and are not nearly ready to head home, we are feeling travel exhaustion here and there, and these moments of rest and relaxation are keeping us going.
The next morning, I woke up early to read on the balcony. A perfect start to our busy day. Before everyone else woke up, I started making a real breakfast. We have been living on bagels, yogurt and fruit for most of the last two and a half weeks and actually making breakfast felt so good. After eating, we headed to Colonial Williamsburg. It was so much fun. We spent hours and hours wandering the streets, talking to the actors, taking tours and reading a lot about the history of the town, the area, the government and the people. The kids loved helping to make bricks and especially loved that their names would be in their bricks forever. Even though we spent nearly seven hours there, we didn't see everything. However, between the walking, the 95 degree weather and the humidity, we were all ready to head back to the resort.
Again, we opted to stop at the store and eat in our room. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the balcony with a cool beverage and my book. After dinner, we were off to the pool for a cool-down and some fun before we starting winding down for the day. The resort has two pools. We started with the indoor pool since we had all seen enough sun for the day. After the sun went down a bit and the outdoor pool was in the shade, we switched. On our walk back to the room, we found two little friends, who hopped right up to the kids. It was another relaxing night from then on- ice cream, TV and lots of resting.
After Williamsburg, we are off to D.C. and all that it has to offer. I hope we survive the humidity. We have been hearing about it for weeks.
Details and Links:
Hwy 55 Diner
Islander Hotel and Resort
Lazzaro's Pizza and Subs
Greensprings Vacation Resort
Colonial Williamsburg *Teachers get a huge discount with their school district ID!
