Travel & Vacation – Exploring Colonial Williamsburg
Our wild crew at Colonial Williamsburg in front of the Governor’s Palace!
We had a chance to explore Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia on our recent road trip up the East Coast! It was our first big stop an our road trip. After driving to the area the day before we spent the night at a local hotel and were up early the next morning with our picnic lunch packed and ready to explore the area.
Jake had to work on Friday so for the most part it was just the girls and I exploring Colonial Williamsburg. He did get to join us for a little bit over his lunch break though which was really nice. It was a lot of fun seeing so many neat historical places. The girls did the quest exploration and scavenger hunt. My phone didn’t work in all the areas so we didn’t finish all the quest activities, but we did get our prize for completing the scavenger hunt.
Last year in school the girls studied a lot of about the American Revolution, Civil War and more in Social Studies so this adventure really ties into some of the items they have been learning about in school. Colonial Williamsburg is like taking a step back into America’s past during the time of the American Revolution. There are hundreds of restored buildings, exhibits, homes, government offices, trade shops, museums and more to explore.
We’ve made it!
Hiking along the path to the next location to explore! This was a neat bridge with a stream and path running underneath it, nice and cool on a hot summer day!
Brina and Karlie outside the Governor’s Palace!
Beautiful display of pistols with the family crest in the entry way of the Governor’s Palace!
Standing in front of the fire palace with a small portion of the weapons on display in the palace. The Governor’s Palace had impressive displays of muskets, pistols, swords, curve-blade sabers and more! The hundreds of weapons visible once stepping into the house was meant to both wow and intimidate you.
More weapons displayed on the stairwell. Brina really thought they did a great job hanging the guns!
Touring the gardens at the Governor’s Palace!
Jake with his girls near the palace greens!
George Wythe House and gardens!
Exploring inside George Wythe’s house!
Wow, he was studying some really cool scientific items.
Playing the game of “Pick up Sticks”
Watching him hand-make cedar shingles for a building at Colonial Williamsburg! The fresh wood shavings smelled awesome!
Oh no! Brina and Karlie in the stocks, what did they do?!
Touring the print shop! Wow, there are some BIG books! Karlie loved it!
Brina all smiles!
Grinding up seeds of grain. This is going to take forever if we want to make some homemade bread!
Outside the capital building!
We had a blast exploring Colonial Williamsburg! The girls were ready to stay for a week and explore even more. We only had the one day at Colonial Williamsburg along our road trip, but we packed in a ton of activities into that one day. Thankfully, we started early and were able to get through a large portion of the items that the girls wanted to do. It was really neat learning what it would be like to live there during the time of the American Revolution. All the people were very friendly, helpful, and it was a great day with the kids. We were all exhausted by the time we got back into the car later that day and headed back onto the road towards our next destination.
Travel & Vacation: Chowmahalla Palace – Hyderabad, India (part 2)
This was a really neat room, it had the various weapons that had been used on display
I am continuing my pictures from our trip to the Chowmahalla Palace in Hyderabad, India. Jake and I packed in several amazing events, learned a lot of great history, and toured the city of Hyderabad. This one one of the neat places we were able to see that day. In the picture above you can see a wall of weapons. It was pretty fascinating to see the various weapons on display. Many of them were made by hand and were used by royalty or famous people in India. They had two huge rooms from floor to ceiling with displays.
More weapons….ouch!
Jake had to explain to me what these seat / basket looking items were
I cannot remember the official name for these….yes there is one, but these are the chairs royalty would set on when riding on an elephant.
Garments and hats worn by royalty
It’s hard to tell from this picture but the royalty wore a lot of gold in their clothing. They would weave threads of gold throughout the pieces making them sparkle in the sun. I have noticed that the people in this area really do like brightly colored and gold items, they wear a lot of “bling-bling”.
Nizam’s Rolls Royce Silver Ghost Throne Car
It was a beautiful canary yellow car (only driven 356 miles)!
Story behind the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost Car
Pretty cool car. They had someone in the display hand washing it when we were there. It is a fun and cheerful colorful, it would be cool to go for a spin in it!
Royal stables with a bunch of old carriages
Pretty flowers in the courtyard at the palace
Bright and beautiful flower at the Chowmahalla Palace, one of my favorites in India!
I had a blast touring the Chowmahalla Palace in Hyderabad, India. It was filled with amazing glimpses into the history of India and it’s royalty. One piece of advice for anyone traveling to this area from USA or overseas, you will probably get stopped a lot, asked questions, pictures taken, and hands shaken.
The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Explore with a good attitude, look for fun, and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
