Colonial Williamsburg Virginia

This is Colonial Williamsburg Virginia where we stopped for a bite of lunch on our trip home last Thursday from Virginia Beach, VA. This town is always packed with tourists, students on school field trips and retirees like Jack and I on an outing. You would not know that the U.S. is in an economic down turn by surveying the scene here. Lots and lots of people doing "the walk" along the Duke of Glouchester Street which is blocked off for cars. When in Williamsburg we usually eat at the Trellis Restaurant pictured above on the right but they were closed for renovations.

So we ate across the street at the Old Cheese Shop. Jack ordered our sandwiches while I hustled a table out front. Hundreds and hundreds of people must have passed our table as we ate. I took a photo of some of our fellow diners.

Doing the walk.

Doing the walk.

Go all the way and you will come to the Colonial Capitol Building.

Lots and lots of shops to entice you to come in and buy reproductions of Colonial Williamsburg merchandise. By the way did you know that it was the Rockafeller family that created Colonial Williamsburg in the 1920's by setting out to preserve all the colonial homes in the town and by recreating from historic records the Colonial Capitol Building and other public buildings and then outfitting the town with lots and lots of folks in colonial dress to tell the story of the place. On this quick stop I saw several little girls in colonial garb and little boys with the tri-corned black hats. At any rate this place is an economic gold mine.

Here's my favorite photo for today's blog. This is the entrance to the College of William and Mary which is located right in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg. It is a great university and it is very hard to get into since its student population is somewhere around just 3700 students. Helps if you can show a 4.0 grade average. Many people don't realize that this is a public state university of Virginia because it reeks of private preppy charm. On this Thursday a class was being conducted under those tall old oak trees.

It is always hard to find a place to park the car in Colonial Williamsburg so we opted to use this brick parking garage sandwiched in between other renovated historic homes with their boxwood landscaping.

Short Video of Kite Water Skiing at VA Beach, VA

Short Video of Kite Water Skiing at VA Beach, VA.

Jack saw the kite and told me someone is flying a kite on the beach. Then he looked again and exclaimed that someone is using a kite to water ski in front of our hotel. Take a look. The guy in the black wet suit goes back and forth. He is a little hard to spot but his kite isn't.

Eagle Cam of Baby Eagles at Norfolk Botanical Gardens

Eagle Cam of Baby Eagles at Norfolk Botanical Gardens.

My World Tuesday = Norfolk Botanical Gardens in Norfolk, VA

My World Tuesday = Norfolk Botanical Gardens in Norfolk,VA

Jack and I toured these gardens on Thursday of last week after the NARFE conference had ended.

There are fountains at the entrance to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and this one features a mermaid since the mermaid is the symbol of Norfolk.

This big gorgeous bouquet of flowers from the various gardens greeted us in the visitor's center.

We were also greeted in the visitor's center by eight week old bald eagles on a live cam. I made a quick and dirty movie that I will share with all of you tomorrow.

This is the first garden on the garden trail. It is the sensory garden.

This is the backdrop wall to the entrance to the visitor's center.
Guess what is blooming in yellow here?

Collard greens!

Look at these big beautiful azalea blooms in the azalea garden.

There are acres and acres of old growth native Virginia trees underplanted with hydrangeas, azaleas and rhododendrons. In this photo are six foot tall magenta rhododendrons.

There are 24 tall marble sculptures in the sculpture garden.

This sculpture depicts a colonial Virginian.

The sculpture garden has a wide alley down the center and eventually leads to the wedding pavilion. Many years ago Jack, the girls and I saw a beautiful wedding ceremony taking place in the gardens

The expansive rose garden has over 250 varieties of roses including old French and new English David Austen roses. Above was a climbing rose on an arbor just bursting out with blooms.

This is a type of buckeye tree.

But not an Ohio buckeye tree.

They called this a horse chestnut tree.

Our train tour took us thru the wet marsh gardens.

This was a green earth garden.

Note all the sedums planted and growing on the roof.

Here is the entrance to the very large children's garden with lots of flowers and birdhouse in view.

At the entrance was a cute group of head start students.

These beautiful deep pink azaleas were at the entrance to the lake and the place where you

took the canal boat tour.

This was my favorite part of the botanical gardens.
The beautiful Japanese garden.

It reminded me of the famous Japanese garden in Portland, Oregon that we saw in 2007.

These bonsai trees were between 20 and 30 years old but less than

two feet tall.

A koi pond with Japanese shrine in stone.

Another view.

I liked these weird shaped and curving maple trees.

That's all folks.

Please go visit some other My World Tuesday memes by clicking here:

http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Two Hour Naval Base Cruise At Norfolk

Wednesday afternoon after the NARFE conference concluded Jack and I took a two hour cruise of the Norfolk city harbor and was able to see over 80 Navy ships plus commercial ships, a sailing ship that can be rented for cruises plus lots of tugboats and speedboats. The 8o some Navy ships in dock on Wednesday included destroyers, frigates, cruisers, aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships and one submarine.

Our tour boat, the Victory Rover, had a GPS system that allowed us to follow our journey around the harbor.

The grey domed building in the distance is the oldest naval hospital in the land. (You may need to click on the photo to bring it into view.

In this photo are the new naval medical buildings plus the old naval building. This complex of buildings makes up the largest naval medical complex in the whole world. (Again you may need to click on the photo to see the complex better.

Here is a pic of downtown Norfolk with the modern day sailing ship in the foreground. Later in the tour we saw this sailing ship heading out for a run with tourists.

The Norfolk harbor has ships being repaired in "drydock". The big white ship on the left is the Norwegian Cruise Line's Enchantment of the Seas that was getting a spring repair job in anticipation of the summer season of Caribbean cruises. It also was in port to meet the very thorough annual inspection of the U.S. Coast Guard. I find it interesting how they drive these ships up out of the water for repairs and painting of their hulls. The black material covering the hull is to help keep down dust from the repairs and to keep paint from smearing the work dock. The ship to the right is a Navy ship in for needed repairs.

Another view of the Enchantment of the Seas.

Above: two enormous Navy warships.

They have enormous price tags too!

Our guide pointed out that these can cost up to more than two billion dollars apiece!

See the two car ferries in this photo. On the side of each ferry it says Hawaii. These were very fast car ferries between the various Hawaiian Islands but they were recently required to cease operations because they were going so very fast that they were hitting and killing whales. The U.S. Navy might buy these ferries if they can find a use for them.

On the side of this cargo ship it says CMA CGM. Jack and I saw this same ship the day before coming into the harbor at VA Beach. It went cruising right by our hotel. See the blue ship cranes for lifting. Guess where they are made? Shanghai, China that's where. How come the good old USA can't make these? Your guess is as good as mine. I sure wish they made them along with a lot of other things like clothes, shoes, toys, housewares, cars, etc.

Here's another loaded container ship in the harbour. In the middle of the ship is a beige "building" that might be where the sailors live on board this ship.

More made in Shanghai, China ship cranes with lots and lots of colorful containers on the land. I wonder how many of these containers have merchandise headed to WalMart.

Our guide pointed out this 25 story office building at the marina. He told us to remember it when we get to the aircraft carriers in the harbor. He said that each aircraft carrier is 25 stories tall from flight deck to the very bottom of the ship.

Saved my best picture for last. There were two aircraft carriers docked in the harbor: the U.S.S. Harry Truman and the U.S.S. Enterprise. I believe the one in the above photo is the U.S.S. Enterprise. I hope you will click on this pic after I tell you some amazing facts about aircraft carriers.

********

Some Amazing Facts

1.The flight deck of a carrier is over 1000 feet long and with the width it covers over four and a half acres.

2. You could have four football games taking place on the flight deck at the same time with room to spare for spectators.

3. There are four massive airplane elevators that can bring up on the flight deck an airplane

within a matter of a few seconds.

4. Over 6000 sailors can be on board at once which means that over 18,000 meals must be prepared each day.

5. Each flight carrier is a complete city with restaurants, shops, libraries, medical hospital, fire department, maintenance shops, etc.

Skywatch Friday = VA Beach, VA = NARFE Conf. = Part III

Skywatch Friday = VA Beach, VA = NARFE Conf. = Part III

Newly Elected VFC President Bill Shakelford

Here at the podium is Bill Shakelford giving his remarks to the delegates and guests as our newly elected VFC president. Bill's federal career was spent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and he is a fairly new retiree. Bill will be a great president and I know my husband Jack will enjoy working with him. Let's all support our newly elected president for NARFE in Virginia----Bill Shakelford.

Skywatch Friday = VA Beach, VA = NARFE Conf. = Part II

Skywatch Firday = VA Beach, VA = NARFE Conf. = Part IIVirginia Beach Resort Hotel & Conference Center

2800 Shore Drive

Virginia Beach, Virginia

This is where the NARFE conference was held from Sunday to Wednesday of this week. Jack and I stayed on the top floor and from our balcony had a great view of all the ships cruising the bay near Fort Storey. Click on the above photo to see workmen on the scaffolding repairing the stucco and paint on the building. All of Virginia Beach, VA is sprucing up for the coming summer beach season.

This side of the Conference Center faces the bay head on. Monday night Jack and I attended a cocktail reception with heavy appetizers on the ground floor near the blue and white awning. When the evening rain shower blew in with some lightening and wind it was fun to watch the action on the bay


These very young and handsome marines were the Marine Color Guard that kicked off the NARFE conference. They were led by Sergeant Daniel Flippo and they were Detachment D from the Norfolk Naval Station.


This is a little out of focus but I still want to share this pic with all of you. Did you know that many states like Maryland have a specialty or vanity license plate that is for NARFE? The Virginia Federation of Chapters would like to follow the state of Maryland in this endeavor that would be a great marketing tool for NARFE. We will need 350 drivers to sign up to accomplish this.


The lady in red is Margaret Baptiste, who has been the National President of NARFE for the last four years. She is the widow of a federal employee. Spouses of federal employees can belong to NARFE and can run for any office in NARFE since they are entitled recipients of spousal earnings. Margaret has been a great role model for women in this regard and has also revitalized NARFE at the national headquaters in Washington D.C. Also more has been accomplished in the last four years than in the previous 17 years due to Margaret Baptiste's leadership. Good job, Margaret Baptiste! But since the national president can only serve two consecutive terms there will be a new national president chosen later this year at the National NARFE Conferenceto be held in late August in Grand Rapids, Michigan.


This is Bill Martin the outgoing VFC President who chaired the conference. On Wednesday morning Bill turned the gavel over to the incoming VFC President. Now that Bill is "retired from duty" I think that Bill should become a standup comedian. He is so very funny. For example, Bill loves to introduce himself as the southern country boy who hails from Bumpass, Virginia.

(Watch how you pronounce that town's name!) And where is Bumpass? Bill says that it is just down the road from Cuckoo, Virginia and that you can get to Bumpass by going down Pottiesville Road. You think I am making this all up? No, I am not. There really is a Bumpass, Virginia on Pottiesville Road that is not far from Cuckoo, Virginia.


I had a hard time getting a photo of Ann Collins who is a past VFC president and past president and current member of the Springfield, Virginia chapter of NARFE but here is a profile shot of her. She is a very dynamic woman in NARFE for the state of Virginia. Her federal years were spent in government finance and accounting


These two Kentucky ladies came to the Virginia conference to explain how Kentucky and Ohio are creating NARFE chapters in federal buildings to encourage active federal employees to join NARFE. They are Marlene Button and Noreen Morgan and they have created "Lunch and Learn" workshops. Want to learn more? Go here: firstships@aol.com

All but one of the candidates for national office with NARFE used their own funds to travel to the state of Virginia to campaign for office. The one candidate who didn't come was Joseph Beaudoin who is from Virginia and who was attending the state of Maine's conference that was also being held this past week.

The lady at the podium in the above photo is Martha Leiker, one of the candidates for National Vice President of NARFE. I don't think you could find another woman in all of the United States with a more unusual work history. For seventeen years she was a Roman Catholic nun that was in an order that required silence. She then left the convent and began working for the Central Intelligence Agency. She spent over 20 years working for the CIA of which six were in Africa. So Martha Leiker went from great silence to great secrecy. Now guess what. She has written her memoir and it is about to be published. The title of her soon to be published memoir is FROM SILENCE TO SECRECY. I can't wait till this book gets published because I surely do plan to find a copy and read it.

Later today I will do my third and final NARFE conference blog and introduce you to our new and very dynamic new VFC president.