Good Karma Adventures: Visiting Yorktown

You know you are old when… fill in the blank.

When your friends compliment you on your new alligator shoes and you’re barefoot.

You wake up looking like your driver’s license photo

Happy hour is a nap.

We had our own version this morning.

You can't see me...

Rusty has been having trouble with his back legs, they are sort of giving out. That "party trick" we called getting in his small dog house no longer works. He can’t bend himself in two in order to turn around to face the door of his doghouse any more.

No more dog house... poop

So we removed his dog house this morning while he was on his morning ~~walk~~ limp. We put a sheet over the dining table to make a little fort since he has been sitting under the table anyway. So now his new “house” is the space under the table! We’ll see what happens. On the good side, we have more room in our salon!! It feels almost spacious now.

Back to the adventure.

We have pretty thoroughly addressed the Virginia Historical Triangle in the last week or so. We visited Yorktown, Jamestown, Williamsburg, and the Shirley Plantation. Most of this visiting took place in clouds and rain, significantly reducing the crowds and making the visiting really fun. Now we have heat and heavy humidity so it is much harder to go out and visit. It is easier to read by the pool or work on the computer in the air conditioned comfort of the boat.

Yorktown

There are two parts to Yorktown, the village and the battlefield. Yorktown was the site of the final big battle between the British and Americans in the Revolution in 1781. British General Cornwallis took over Williamsburg then moved towards Yorktown looking for reinforcements from the British navy. George Washington was following right on his tail. Washington came back into Williamsburg and took over. From Williamsburg he planned the battle of Yorktown with the French General Rochimoud

The battlefield is arranged around the original redoubts dug in by the British, French, and American troops. The battlefield Visitor's Center occupies the section held by the British. The French and Americans circled the British and drove them into a tighter and tighter circle until finally Cornwallis gave us.

He surrendered, sending his subordinate to negotiate terms with the Americans. He was heard to say, "King George will not be happy about this." He even skipped the final arms throw-down, claiming to be ill and sending his subordinates to the humiliating experience. What a guy.

The battlefield is laid out with flags marking the American and French troops with cannons spread out on display. This mortar has a sign on it indicating that it was manufactured in 1681. The battle was 1781. That means the mortar was already 100 years old when the battle took place. Isn't that funny?

These days it seems that technology changes so quickly but back in the day technology changes occurred in century long phases.

The French encampment

The redoubts remain from the original

The British encampment

The American encampment

The National Park Service offered a neat demonstration of cannons. I was the timer. This team loaded and fired the cannon in about 25 seconds!! A record!!

We wandered around the British encampment and took in the scene.

Other critters walked around with us!!

It was an awesome site.

Yorktown the town has been in the same spot along the south side of the York River since 1681 when it was founded as one of the original eight shires. John Smith liked this spot. He was one of the founders.

John Smith had a place here

The town has a historical district with rebuilt homes used as businesses or offering tours. We didn't do any tours, just wandered around.

We visited twice, both Saturdays to see the Farmer's Market. We were not alone. There were a gazillion folks who had the same idea.

This past Saturday was so hot there were hundreds of people coming to Yorktown to swim in the river in these neat swimming areas carved out of the river with rock formations for blocks, like in the picture below.