We started the weekend off on Saturday morning by visiting the Williamsburg Farmers' Market, which comes every Saturday morning to downtown Billyburg during the summer. The goods vary from farm fresh peaches and tomatoes to seafood to decadent desserts. Also not to be missed is the man selling soup who has two golden retrievers sitting by his stand with signs hung around their necks: "Please Buy Soup" and "Please Buy Soup, Jr."
We then took a stroll around C-Dubs (we always bring our passes, just in case) and wound up taking a tour of the Governor's Palace because Charlie wanted to see the Kitchens. Well, a little FYI: the Kitchens are not on the 30 minute tour of the Governor's Palace: they are part of the Governor's Palace but you can just walk right into them without going on the tour. Nonetheless, we had not been inside the Governor's Palace and we didn't have to wait long for the tour, so it worked out perfectly.
We barely had time to split our Cheese Shop sandwiches (Prosciutto & Provolone on Focaccia and a Veggie Sandwich with sprouts and lentil salad plus one bag of Chesapeake Crab kettle chips, which incidentally, taste like Old Bay Seasoning) and change into our golf clothes before out 12:48 tee time at Kiskiack. Two Nalgenes full of ice water, two sleeves of Mojo golf balls and a whole lotta sunscreen later, and we were out the door.
Luckily, we were able to play by ourselves, despite the fact that the course was pretty crowded (Charlie's membership has it perks). Charlie decided to play from the Ladies' tees with me for a little "friendly competition." Well, I think I made him sweat a little bit with a three-hole run of 2 pars and a birdie on 5, 6 and 7. Fortunately for him, my brief brush with greatness came to a halt on the back nine.
Oh, did I mention we were walking? Yep, we were walking in the middle of July heat, which wasn't really the problem. We hadn't really considered the fact that we had been walking around CW pretty much all morning, so by the time we hit the 15th hole, we were ti-ti poopers. To steal my Dad's phrase, our dogs were barking. We powered through the last 3 holes pretty solidly and were home around 5:30.
We decided to cap off the evening at Chili's because we were craving quesadilla explosions. Charlie ordered a different salad and instantly regretted it. I didn't finish mine so he was able to have some -- it's really the dressing that makes that salad, I think (and the mini cheese quesadillas). In true Virginia & Charlie style, we finished off the night with some ice cream and a movie (Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest).
Today, we woke up with no plans in particular and threw around some not-so-exciting ideas: Yorktown? Grocery Store/Sam's Club? Pool? Until I suggested we check out Virginia Beach and then we really got the ball rolling. We finally decided on either Charlottesville/Monticello or Kitty Hawk/Outer Banks. I was pushing for the Outer Banks since it was July and Outer Banks is the beach (need I say more?). So, we hopped in the car with Hadley, a camera, and more Nalgenes of water.
I'll let the pictures do most of the talking (click on the picture to get a bigger image). We first stopped in Kitty Hawk which is the location where the Wright Brothers' first successfully completed an airplane flight. We saw the Wrights Bros exhibit at the Air & Space Museum in DC.
This is the Wright Brothers' National Monument at the top of the hill where take-off occurred. I wish we had taken pictures of some the kites being flown around -- there was a kite exhibition going on that weekend in the park.
Hadley gets the most credit for this experience because it's a pretty good hill to walk up and it was a hot day (about 2 pm at this point). She definitely got too hot. Witness this picture: Hadley was so hot that she laid down under the shade of the car (while we were walking back down the hill, Hadley also tried to stay in our shadows while she walked)!
We were able to cool her down by pointing all the air vents in the car at her and blasting the A/C. Also, we were headed to the beach at Kitty Hawk so she could get wet (FYI Outer Banks beaches have very reasonable leash laws: a dog can be off leash as long as the owner can reasonably control their dog and is within 30 feet of its owner).
We were a little worried when we got to the beach because it was very crowded but it actually worked out perfectly. Charlie and Hadley even made some friends (Hadley, ever the socializer).
Hadley quickly wised and realized that if she didn't get her buoy immediately, one of the little boys would go and get it for her.
These were the biggest waves that Hadley has ever swum through but pretty soon she figured out how to jump the waves as she was swimming out to retrieve her buoy. It was as she swimming back to shore that she didn't see the waves coming. Look out Hadley!
The Outer Banks were nice (pretty beaches) but very crowded. The houses were very close together which led to lots of people on the beach.
We left for home around 5 p.m. and stopped for Slurpees at my urging, but Charlie was happy he had one :) All in all it was a pretty great weekend. Hope everyone else's was great!
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