Old timey fun

Hey y'all! After seeing three of the big cities (New York, Boston, Washington DC), we have ventured into the South, where we've been exploring two smaller towns in Virginia - Richmond and Charlottesville. We've had the pleasure of staying with two lovely and hospitable American families in their homes. To give you a ridiculously quick generalisation of this state, Virginia is beautifully lush and green and full of early American history.

We had a great day at a colonial city called Williamsburg, which was one of the first areas settled by Europeans. It's a total trip back in time! All the buildings have been restored to how they were in 17th century America and everyone working there is dressed in character. All the characters there are also skilled tradespeople, so it was effectively a working museum - be it gardeners, blacksmiths or carpenters, they would only use equipment and technology available in the 17th century. We were impressed!

Looking down the street in Williamsburg

Me earning my keep on a ridiculously large saw

Jess and I enduring some public humiliation for our crimes

Then today we went for a bit of a hike and an explore around Thomas Jefferson's house and gardens. Such  beautiful grounds! Honestly, it's been a new experience for us to visit tourist sites that hold a lot of interest for Americans, but aren't something that Kiwi's would normally hear or care about. We've been surprised that we've enjoyed it as much as we have! We came here with very limited knowledge of US history, but Americans are really good at packaging their history in a way that is interesting. A little bit of old-timey costume goes a long way!

From the gardens looking towards Thomas Jefferson's house

Where the dude himself was buried

Beautiful lady in beautiful Virginia

Believe it or not, of all the cool things we've seen one of our highlights has been a bed! If you aren't familiar with Sleep Number beds, they have this incredible technology that allows you to choose how firm you want (pick a number from 0-100) the mattress, with both sides able to be changed independently. Simply amazing! It was the best sleep ever. The problem is that we still have six months of travelling. Every other bed has been ruined...we peaked far too early!