Chesapeake Bay separates Maryland from Virginia along the coast. Rather than taking a ferry like we did across the Delaware Bay, we were able to use the Bridge / Tunnel route this time. The same 30 km distance was covered in 20 minutes, shaving more than an hour off our previous ferry ride. It is an engineering marvel, completed in 1964. It is primarily a highway built on concrete trestles and also includes 2 different one mile tunnels that facilitate a passage way for large ships to enter the bay and access ports. Tunnels through mountains seem a lot safer than a 50 year old one mile tunnel under a significant amount of water.....somehow we survived.
Once we were back on solid ground we drove straight to Williamsburg where we have spent most of the past week working on American history in the colonial era (1700's). Within historical Williamsburg (3 days) about half of our time was spent on interactive events including a fabulous "Conversation with Thomas Jefferson" conducted by an excellent actor who was very knowledgable on his TJ history and quick on his feet to deal with various questions from the audience in a town hall type meeting. The 90 minute long afternoon re-enactments.....different each day.....were also entertaining. We took a short drive down to Jamestown, the first established town in North America (by the English in 1607)......apparently the Vikings just drank and ate in Newfoundland then left??? More importantly though it is the home of Pocahantas (the one before Rhonda) so we had to check whether her life was nearly as interesting. Apparently it was.
Today, that vicious weather from the west arrived, dropping the daytime highs from 80F to 50F and rainy so we did some shopping and went to see a movie (Rum Diary) at a new theatre called the Movie Tavern. It is a very interesting concept. They have 10 theatres that each hold 100 people.......10 terraced levels with a long countertop in each row and comfy office type chairs on rollers. You can pre-order reasonably priced meals (good food) and drinks ($4 pints) and they deliver it to you while the movie is on, including a second beer 30 minutes later. They now have 15 of these in the eastern U.S. and hopefully the trend will continue into Canada.
One more day in this area and then we will be heading back to the coast to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.
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