Tails of Williamsburg

[hildy89]

You are a black cat, stubborn yet friendly, you
stick to your values and preferences, and no
one can convince you otherwise! You are the
legendary cat of mystery.


What color of cat are you?
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So I survived the long weekend with the Parental Units, even though I was feeling dreadful, mostly nice painful sinus headaches caused by the changing weather. We actually left on Friday reasonably on time, only to hit a massive backup on I-95, which added another hour or two into our arrival. Plus it tried to rain somewhat. Trying to navigate through that and darkness was so much fun. We made do with small pizzas at the Library.

Saturday was the bad weather day, cool, overcast with some rain. This happen to be the day we picked for the Mariners Museum. Theoretically that makes perfect sense, except that Dad wanted to see the Monitor. My father is a certified history nut. He is fascinated with submarines of any shape and persuasion and from nearly any war, from Civil War ironclads to German U-boats to Russian nuclear wessels. He has followed the recovery attempts on the Monitor and Hunley with a great deal of interest. The last time we had visited the Mariners Museum they had brought up the engine. Now they had brought up the turret, dunking it in a chemical bath with some electrolysis to clean off the gunk. Dad had hoped to get a good look, but with the overcast day, however, all we saw was the dark bilge of water.

When someone asked about the remains of the sailors, our guide, an ex-Navy man and Civil War naval reenactor, reassured us that all the human remains had been removed and they were attempting to confirm their identities. However he did tell us about one other they may or may not find.

Most ships had a mascot. The Monitor reportedly had a cat. Apparently the night the Monitor went down off Hatteras, the cat was cold and scared and wet. The seas were rocky in the storms. One of the sailors, Francis Butts, thinking he could help, reportedly caught the cat and stuffed the poor cat into one of the Dahlgren cannons for safety. Then the storm came and the ironclad went down.

My father has a twisted sense of humor, bless him, we were looking at a cannon later, and he poked his head in and said "Here kitty kitty." And you wonder where I get it from?

We also spent part of the day going to Haus Tirol, the needlework store. I didn't spend nearly as much as last time, but I didn't go in looking for anything special. The ironic acquisitions of the trip came when Dad needed a CVS Pharmacy which I found right next to the Books-a-million. So I went inside, thinking I'd just check their manga section, since I was having no luck at my local B&N/BDaltons in the DC vicinity. When I mention this on certain forums, they suggest special ordering, which I protest I shouldn't have to do for new stuff. All three of the new volumes I was waiting on were at Books a Million. Knowing my luck, they'll show right up at my local shops tomorrow.

Saturday was the disastrous dinner at Yukon Steak. They had a weird gift shop with Indian/Alaskan stuff and Civil War memorabilia. My mother and I are still working that one out. The 45 minute wait was half the time at the Outback, but they managed to screw up both my parents orders, so everyone was in a bad mood when it was over.

Sunday turned into actually a pretty nice day, all things considered. We went over to Colonial Williamsburg. My mother only wanted to do the Merchants Square shops, rather than the full Willamsburg experience. I happen to like the colonial half of things, so I was delighted when we were too early for the shops, so we could enjoy a long walk up and down Duke of Gloucester street, seeing the sights. As far as I was concerned, that was the best of both worlds, even if I couldn't "see" everything. We dutifully waved to the William & Mary campus and went through the college bookstore. Then we had an adequate lunch wherein my father was shocked to discover the Redskins game was at 1pm. We left him at the hotel to explore the wonders of I-60, namely the outlets and the Candle Factory. If anyone tries to tell you there is a needlework store at the Candle Factory, correct them that, despite the name, there is a quilting shop with some needlework supplies along for good measure. I actually remember having really good luck at the Ben Franklins in Newport News, which we, alas, did not stop at this time.

The Redskins lost, not surprisingly. We opted for a dinner at Marino's Italian restaurant next door to the Library. The one trend we noticed in Williamsburg was waffle houses. Everywhere they announced they had pancakes and waffles. Even Marinos changed its sign in the mornings to become Marino's House of Pancakes and Waffles. I don't know why but this provided endless amusement for the weekend.

Monday was another nice day. We actually made good time coming back up with a brief detour at Ikea where Mom bought some wine glasses. My only complaint was Ikea did not provide any kind of box lid or protection for the glasses, just some wrapping paper. You bagged your own stuff, so hopefully you knew enough how to wrap them correctly to avoid breaking. After a so-so lunch at TGIFridays, we unpacked the bags at my apartment and their hotel. Again Mom and I left Dad to his devices and we set off for Target so I could find some tray tables. I seriously lack table space. I lack space period, but that's a different issue entirely.

The only major headache was dinner. My blessed parents never bothered to inform me until we were pulling up that they wanted to do Mediterranee restaurant because the restaurant was doing a wine special. Which was fine, except I willingly admit to be one of the world's pickiest eaters. I could not find anything on that menu I particularly liked. I was not in the mood to hassle the waiters/chefs with a special order. If I had known ahead of time, I might have suggested go without me. Instead my father got upset and groused the entire way to Pulcinella, our Italian host and McLean backup plan. We sat in front of my painting and I had my pizza and looked askance at dessert with Mom and her cannoli.

And I have another week of this, plus work. Think positive thoughts, please?