We Took A Little Vacay...(Part III)

Part III took place in the Hampton/Norfolk/Virginia Beach area.

Day 6:

The Hubs and I spent Day 6 being tourist/history nerds. We love early American history, so we took a trip to Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg. If you're ever in that part of the country, both are a must-see.

We began the day at Jamestown Settlement, a recreation of the first permanent English settlement in the United States (est. 1607). They also have a great history museum on site, which we spent a good amount of time touring.

Recreation of a Powhatan Indian home.

Blacksmith in the Jamestown Settlement

I wish I would have taken more pictures, but there were SO MANY elementary kids running around, it was hard to get pictures without them in front of you.

After we left Jamestown, we headed to Colonial Williamsburg. We grabbed lunch at a cute little sandwich shop in the square before walking around the historic buildings. It was neat to see all the people in costume performing various tasks around the town. Honestly, we didn't spend nearly as much time here as we would have liked because it was just so darn HOT - even for this Texas girl. I didn't even take any pictures. Just. Too. Hot.

Day 7:

On Friday, we headed over to Norfolk to do a tour of Naval Station Norfolk. It was neat to see the worlds largest naval station and some of the ships based there.

The Hubs wished we could have gotten a tour of the actual ships, but there's this thing called National Security and they don't just let anyone on board.

We spent the afternoon in Virginia Beach, enjoying a casual lunch out on the Lynnhaven Pier and doing some sightseeing. We made one last lighthouse stop at the Cape Henry Lighthouses.

Old Cape Henry Lighthouse

New Cape Henry Lighthouse

Day 8 aka Mike & Erin's Wedding Day:

After a late night on Friday, we spent most of Saturday being lazy. While The Hubs slept in, I went to Erin's to see if there were any last minute things I could help with. At 5:00, the beautiful bride walked down the aisle to the waterside ceremony. It was perfect!

Mr. & Mrs Mike Sage!!

The reception was held at her parents house under a huge tent decorated with paper lanterns in shades of brown, green & purple. GORGEOUS!


The evening was perfect until this...

A HUGE storm rolled in bringing a torrential downpour for the last two hours of the reception. Before long, the floor of the tent looked like this...


Luckily, Mike & Erin's family & friends know how to have a good time despite a little rain. Everyone took off their shoes, rolled up their pants and danced the night away anyway.

It made for a more than memorable wedding. We loved every minute of it!

Day 9:

After 8 nights away from home, it was time to head back. We left Hampton early Sunday morning to make the 4.5 hour drive back to Greensboro, NC to catch our flight. We got to Durham around lunch time & decided to find a place to eat before we turned in the rental car & checked in for our flights. On the recommendation of a friend, we ate at Foster's Market. Um...I AM IN LOVE! If I lived in the Raleigh/Durham area, I'd eat here every week. I'll write more about it later (I'm going to do a food/restaurant post), but it was a mix of restaurant / gourmet shop. And delicious! It was the perfect way to end our time in NC.

But our trip wasn't over quite yet. The Hubs & I had a 3 hr layover in Chicago so we did what any foodie would do and hailed a cab to the closest pizza place...our favorite Giordano's - home of the stuffed deep dish pizza!

YUMMY!! We even took the leftovers on the plane and had a mid-flight snack. The other passengers were slightly jealous.

Overall, our trip was wonderful. Its always nice to visit new places and see new things. Now I can start planning our next trip...