Guest Author - Pam Garlick

This year when we made our annual trip to Williamsburg, Virginia we’d already committed our points for our timeshare to another vacation in the future, so we decided to tried something different. We stayed at one of the Colonial Williamsburg hotels that offers all kinds of packages, from Colonial Williamsburg passes, to passes that include Jamestown and Yorktown, to their Romance by Candlelight package for those who want to put a little spice in their lives; or at least a little sparkling wine, chocolates, great colonial dinner,and breakfast. I think you can guess which package we picked.

We also added something special this trip, a carriage ride through the colonial village. It was something I’d wanted to do for years, and this year was fortunate to have the opportunity. It was just the added touch to our special time together.

It was a wonderful trip stepping back in time. Ken and I were the Carters, not the singing group. No we were among the wealthy, colonial elite with servants to do everything for us. -- Except according to our coach driver, I had spend a total 153 months of pregnancy, carrying the 17 babies I’d had. -- Not my idea of great living when you consider the didn’t have epidural in colonial times. -- Ah, but on this beautiful day, we had two of our delightful children on the carriage ride with us on this trip back in time.

The young couple, turned out to live not far from us, in our real lives that is. In fact, Stephanie Carroll and Nick Norton were living in the same neighborhood where Ken had been raised. It made for a really nice ride, waving at the commoners, and talking about present day Ripka Street in Philadelphia.

Of course one does not live by Williamsburg alone. On this trip we expanded our horizons, traveling from our usual haunts near Williamsburg, to a brief stop in Charlotte, North Carolina, where we enjoyed a lunch cruise aboard the Catawba Queen on nearby Lake Norman. It was a relaxing and inexpensive stay. Using Priceline I was able to get a suite at Amerisuites Hotel for a fraction of what it normally would cost and a full breakfast was included in the deal and the cruise luncheon was less than we paid for dinner one pervious night.

From there we went to Tennessee where we spent time with Ken’s daughter, Cassandra and her husband Clint. They were outstanding hosts and tour guides. We got to ride the Missionary Ridge Local, a restored train that took us through the tunnel at Missionary Ridge.

Later that night we went on to a mystery dinner show at the Hampton’s Vaudeville Café. Ken again proved what a great sense of humor he has by actually getting up on stage. Of course, I got into the action too, playing the mother of one of the actresses. I must say I had to have a pretty good sense of humor myself, to actually step into the limelight wearing curlers and a bath robe.




Alas, all good things must come to an end. After joining the kids for church the following morning we started our journey home filled with memories of romance, history, fun, laughter, and good times with family. We were exhausted, especially Ken after being behind the wheel for so much of the trip; but we agreed we can’t wait until next time.

You can plan an inexpensive romantic trip by going to any of these sites: