Trip Report: Williamsburg, Part 1, Travel and Activities

In mid-May, we spent at week at Wyndham Kingsgate Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia as part of a special promotion by RCI, the timeshare trading company. Our Trip Report on that trip is divided into three segments: travel and activities, accommodations, and restaurants. This is the segment on travel and activities.

As retirees not tied to a work schedule, we tend to plan our trips to avoid major highway congestion or long, long days on the road. With that in mind, our route from Maine to Williamsburg took us via I-95 and I-495 to I-90, the Massachusetts Turnpike (avoiding I-290 through downtown Worcester), west on I-90 and south on I-87, the New York Thruway (avoiding congested areas like downtown Hartford, Danbury and Waterbury, CT), west on I-84 to US 209 south through the Delaware Water Gap and west on I-80 to I-81 south (avoiding Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, where there always seems to be heavy construction-related slowdowns), south on I-81 and east on I-64 (avoiding the New Jersey Turnpike, Baltimore, the Washington DC beltway and the I-95 congestion from Washington DC to Richmond). A bit longer perhaps, but much, much more relaxing and scenic.

We favor Hampton Inns when we’re on the road and spent pleasant, predictable, comfortable nights at Hampton’s in Middletown, NY and Winchester, VA both coming and going.

Our check-in at Wyndham’s Kingsgate Resort was easy and efficient. For more details on this resort, see the Trip Report segment on Accommodations.

Of our seven days in Williamsburg, it rained all or part of six of them. Several days the weather forecasts included severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. We adjusted our planned activities on a daily basis, thankful we’d been to Williamsburg before and wouldn’t feel “cheated” if we didn’t do or see everything this time around. Busch Gardens was operating on a limited, pre-season schedule when we were there and really didn’t fit well into our other plans, so we skipped it this trip.

We found numerous “dry” things to do on rainy days, including visiting a local crafts fair organized by the employees of Historic Williamsburg, browsing (and buying) at The Book Exchange used book store in the Colony Square Shopping Center on Jamestown Road (very well organized with a friendly, helpful staff) and at the large Yankee Candle complex on US 60, riding the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry (it’s free!) for a relaxing drive through rural Surry County, shopping the outlet malls, and just doing a fair amount of “relaxing and reading” (our two favorite vacation activities) in our timeshare unit. For those who have never visited Williamsburg before, we’d also strongly recommend the Abby Aldrich Rockerfelller and Wallace DeWitt Museums at Colonial Williamsburg, and the museum at Jamestown Settlement as other ways to spend major portions of rainy days. We’d done both of them within the past year and didn’t feel we needed a repeat visit quite this soon.

On the one sunny day we had, we visited the Colonial National Historic Park – the official name for the National Park Services sites at Jamestown and Yorktown. The two locations, over a century apart in time, are connected by a pleasant, leisurely ride down the Colonial Parkway, providing an easy 23-mile drive between the two. The archeological activities at Historic Jamestown and the easy-to-follow, self-guided auto tour of the Yorktown Battlefield were interesting and informative. One of the main attractions of each of them was your ability to enjoy them at your own pace.

We did also manage to spend parts of a couple of days in the Historic District itself. When we visited just under a year ago, we bought a one-year admission pass allowing unlimited admissions, so we felt no compunction to “see everything in the rain just to get our money’s worth”, a real plus when the weather is changing rapidly every day. This year’s specific destinations included the cabinetmaker’s shop, the jewelry shop and lunch at the King’s Arms Tavern. It also was fun just strolling the street of the Colonial District enjoying the horse-drawn carriages, architecture and ambiance. Last year, we also attended several of the re-creations of key events of the time and took the Bits-and-Bridles tour, which provided a very interesting tour of the barns where the horses used for carriages and riders are kept when they’re not actually on the streets during the day.

Even with a week of mostly inclement weather, we found plenty of things to do depending on one’s individual interests. It’s a genuinely interesting area, rich in history, shopping and activities. It’s definitely on our list of places worth a recurring visit from time to time.

Trip Report: Williamsburg, Part 1, Travel and Activities

I enjoyed reading your trip reports and like the way you split into three segments. Your reviews are sure to help other visitors to the area.

Trip Report: Williamsburg, Part 1, Travel and Activities

This is a wonderful trip report!! Thank you so much. I don%26#39;t check the ';Virginia'; forum as often as I should, I%26#39;m so glad I checked today. You made some great suggestions of what to do on rainy days. I hope you will post your report in the Williamsburg forum also. Thank you, Mainer, I really am enjoying your report.

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