It's off to Boyne Mountain tomorrow

We check in to our Condo at Mountain Run at Boyne tomorrow afternoon. George and Heather will drive up Saturday evening after work and we all go to Mackinaw Island for the day Sunday. This adventure will feature life at Mountain Run. Stay tuned for more.


- Posted from my iPhone 4

Bluegreen Parkside Resort Williamsburg

Parkside Resort is one of Bluegreen's newest resorts. Ownership was finalized in June 2009 but went "on line" for rentals just 6 weeks ago. It is an affiliate resort with Bluegreen owning about 50% of the time slots and RCI points the other 50%. When we visited the resort today, all 31 units were full (but we got to tour one of the units because the occupants checked out early.) Let me say at the outset that the staff are the friendliest we have seen yet. They were doing everything they could to make us happy, even though we were walk-ins (we are registered at Patrick Henry Square.) Parkside is adjacent to Williamsburg Country Club. Parkside has an agreement with the CC for use of the golf course if you are staying at Parkside.

This will soon be the new check-in desk

The development right now includes the rental building (31 units) and the clubhouse (which is so new it isn't finished and still smells of fresh paint.) The main floor of the clubhouse is the check-in and the second floor the "clubhouse" with projection screen TV/movie system and a bunch of dining tables - not much else yet. Plans are underway to add exercise equipment, games, etc.

The main feature right now is the outdoor pool "system" of interconnecting waterways, pools, hot tub, etc. We were invited to try it out, but declined (due to time.)

View of pool area from clubhouse

Clubhouse second floor "great room"

View over to Busch Gardens from the clubhouse deck. Guests can sit out on the deck and watch the nightly fireworks over at Busch Gardens.


This is the 31 unit guest building. All units are accessed from the balcony system (there are stairs as well as an elevator) which faces Busch Gardens and the parking lot. Unit balconies face the other direction (north) overlooking the golf course. We were fortunate to have a guided private tour of one of the units (that had been vacated early) and photos below show the unit we visited. This is a two bedroom unit (half of the 4 bedroom complex) which had been cleaned, but was waiting for inspection, so some of the furniture/cushions aren't in the final position.

Kitchen and dining area

View across dining area to "living room"

Master bedroom

Second bedroom

All units' balconies overlook the Williamsburg Country Club, which is in the process of rebuilding. The greens appear complete and the fairways are being rejuvenated. The balconies are on the north side of the building, are deeply inset (have walls between units for privacy) and nicely shaded.

The balconies (landings) on the south side (parking lot side) face Busch Gardens and are large enough to watch the evening fireworks.

As I said at the beginning, this resort is new. It is not fully owned by Bluegreen, however Bluegreen is the operator. As new weeks ownership occurs in the future, it will become a full Bluegreen resort (at least that's the plan.) Bluegreen owns land along the east edge of the Country Club and lakeshore on Willamsburg CC Lake (a rather large impoundment.) In 2011, construction will begin on 5 new single family home style units on the lakeshore. We were told that recently one of the Bluegreen Mtc workers caught a 5 pound bass from the lake! He was bank fishing. Bluegreen plans to do a lot of lake cleanup (both the lake and the lakeshore.) Following completion of the 5 buildings, construction will begin on a new multi-unit building like the existing one.

If you are planning to spend time at Busch Gardens, Water World or the Atlantic shore, this is a best bet.

Yorktown

Yorktown can arguably be called the birthplace of our independence since the battle that led to Lord Cornwallis' surrender paved the way for American independence. The battle at Yorktown was the last major battle of the American Revolution.


When the British looked out from their defensive line they saw the Allies colonists had set up a new siege line (October 17, 1781) over the previous night.


Park Service interpreter tells the detailed story.



Colonist reenactment.


- Posted from my iPhone 4

Jamestowne

Today, it was to be Jamestowne and Yorktown, but that would be biting off more than we could do. So we spent most of the day exploring Jamestown Settlement - a rich recreation of an English fort, a Native American village, and the ships used to sail to the new world. We then explored the National Historic Park site at Historic Jamestowne. This is the suspected site of the actual fort and settler's buildings as well as the early capital of the Virginia Colony. We had a long discussion with one of the Archeologists charged with uncovering the old site. It has proven very difficult since part of the site was destroyed during construction of Confederate civil war battlements.

One of the small ships that frequented early Jamestowne Colony.


Scenes from within the reconstruction fort. This reconstruction simulates life around the time period of early Jamestowne.

This is the suspected location of the actual first fort, based on extensive archeological investigations. The process is long and arduous and fraught with dead ends. First the Confederate soldiers stripped the site to provide fill for battlements. This destroyed the integrity of any artifacts. Then there was an old church built nearby and many bodies are buried here. Are they settlers, or later period bodies? Through this long process, enough information will emerge to perhaps be able to reconstruct much of the actual first settlement. Not all - for river erosion has removed a lot of the site, but certainly parts of it.

More Patrick Henry Square

As I promised, here are some views I've never seen before of Patrick Henry Square. As I mentioned before, the new facility where owners stay, is also a Bluegreen preview center.

This is the view shown in the binder images because it is the main access to the new facility. The rooms with the nicest views (as well as the quietest rooms) are on this side of the building.

In this image you can see the over-all view with the entrance to the preview center (on the right). This whole complex is across the parking lot from the older Patrick Henry Inn, where Bluegreen houses visitors who are coming for a preview visit as well as off-the-street guests (like a motel.) I suppose anyone could stay in the older section if you really wanted, but why?


One does not really want to stay on the back side of the Patrick Henry Square. The view from backside rooms is of the parking lot and this fence. On the other side of the fence is a set of train tracks where long trains hauling coal go through every so often.

The tracks are less than 100 feet behind the fence and the train is loud - like a helicopter landing in the parking lot. So when reserving units, ask for the street side, which is very quiet.

Today it was Yankee Candle Company

The Yankee Candle Company in Williamsburg is one of 2 "flagship stores". As such, it is like a small village inside, with each department presented as if it were a separate store around a village green. We have been planning for over a year to visit this store, so the shopping list was long! Even so, we found more stuff to purchase than we had planned. With the Bluegreen cash card from the owner update, and with a second card from a previous excursion, we reduced the bill quite a bit. Following are some of the images from this excursion -




And then just to remind everyone that we are on the short side of the half-way mark on our way to Christmas....

We're Pooped!

Not a great image, but this shows the whole palace promenade. Today we walked from the visitor center to the north end of the palace grounds, around the gardens and through the palace. That's an amazing testimony to opulence and waste.

Above are some of the Governor's guns and cutlery collections. No such thing as gun control back then!

The volunteers use real food products to cook various items which are left on display for days. Just imagine - no refrigeration for raw materials or finished products. My guess is there was lots of sick folks over the years.

The palace gardens are awsum. There are beautiful walkways, English formal flower and herb gardens, boxwood hedges and topiary, water features, etc.

After touring the Palace, we took the shuttle back to the van and we did lunch and rested up. In the afternoon we went back to the Market Square area and walked some more. All in all, the many miles walking, and the intense heat (over 100 degrees F. on the thermometer today!) really did us in. Tomorrow we're looking for a less intense day.