This is a retrospective blog of my seven-week exploration of Virginia along with a journey through the Shenandoah National Park and on down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Cherokee, North Carolina. 'Retrospective' means simply that it wasn't written during the trip, but is being written after-the-fact, a little over a year later. Baaswell Sheep accompanied me and is writing the blog in the way he's done my later blogs, since he's so good with the color commentary. Unfortunately, since I didn't plan for this blog back when I was doing the trip, my pictures are limited to the major attractions, but I'll try to make those galleries a little larger than I do in my later blogs.
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Our quarters for the past five nights have been in one of the two Tavern House inns. Both were originally taverns with rooms for rent, so you're experiencing a real slice of history, only the tavern spaces themselves are now just common rooms, so sorry, no bar to quench your thirst. The rooms are quaint and in keeping with the period, while providing expectable modern amenities like, well, indoor plumbing. The furnishings and decor are, by our understanding, mostly reproductions, but good reproductions, many likely made by the craftsmen right there in the colonial town. And, of course, you're right in the heart of the town, stepping out onto historic Duke of Gloucester Street every morning.
We've gone back to the days of the Revolutionary War, exploring the battles that took place near the village of Yorktown. We're really not war buffs at all, but having heard about Yorktown all of his life and having never had a chance to see it, my companion wanted to stop off for at least a little while. We started out by visiting the indoor museum, then walked over to the village and had lunch down on the riverfront beach. Finally, we got in the car and drove the loop through the various battlefield sites. One of the interesting footnotes of history is that Yorktown also played a role in the Civil War, though of course most people only think about it as a Revolutionary War site.
Yes, there is an actual Yorktown village still in operation, and among its riverfront businesses is The Yorktown Pub, with a strong emphasis on seafood as you might imagine. They were quite busy, but we managed to squeeze in and get a crab cake sandwich for my companion and a coleslaw for me. The food was pretty good and the views quite different after spending a week in the more inland feeling Williamsburg. (All of the pictures are of the historic village, other than the last one, which shows approaching the riverfront area. Unfortunately, we didn't take a picture of the pub.)
We made it to the Chesapeake Bay and got an amazing treat. Back in Salem, we'd gone through a library book of good hikes in Virginia, and had noted one in Grandview on the northeastern edge of the Hampton Roads area. We were coming out this way to drive through the area where some of my companion's relatives had once lived, so we went on out to Grandview, having had no appreciation before for what existed up in this part of the peninsula. When you arrive at the preserve, you park on the street, so your first views are very inauspicious. However, a half mile hike down a sandy path surrounded by marshes brings you out onto the beach facing the bay, which is so large that it feels as if you're looking out at the Atlantic Ocean itself. I can't find a word to describe how amazing the views were that day – everything about them was perfect. It was humbling to walk up the beach about a mile and take in an area that was mostly undisturbed and completely natural. We really didn't want to leave, but they won't let you sleep on the beach, so we had to move on and find a place to spend the night.
Located in the Peninsula Town Center Shopping Center (built on the old Colosseum Mall site), Mission BBQ is a chain restaurant with a streamlined fast casual arrangement, but the food was good. The atmosphere was a little too chain standardized (we're used to family run hole in the wall BBQ places, mind you), but it was not unpleasant and comfortable enough for us to enjoy the meal while getting off our feet / hooves for a while.
Please note that all restaurant and product names are used simply for referential purposes and links provided as a courtesy. Reviews are the sole opinions of the reviewer: no restaurant has paid to be listed here, and no restaurant is being explicitly endorsed. In other words, go out there, try them all, and form your own opinions!
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