Monday, May 8, 2023

Flights, Jamestown, and Cry Witch

 Well after years of waiting it is finally here! The 2023 Kualapuʻu East Coast Trip has begun. After five Mokulele fights from Molokai to Maui, we all flew on American Airlines to Dallas, Texas on a redeye. With a two hour layover in Dallas and time to get some food, we did a two hour flight to Richmond, Virginia. 





















As soon as we landed we got all our bags. Knock on wood again, we have continued the streak of not having lost any luggage on the way here. We met with our Trip Guide Aaron Mertig and his son Ben in baggage claim. Aaron was our very first tour guide in 2007 and the tradition continues! This time his now adult son is working with him. Then got to the bus for our favorite driver, Jamal. Jamal is another one that has been with Kualapuʻu over the years. They treat us so well and we are so lucky. They had already picked up our preorders of Chick-fil-A to eat on our way to Jamestown. 



Jamestown is famous for being the first successful English settlement in the United States. There had been attempts before, but Jamestown stuck. Even thought it is called a success, many people that came died due to starvation, disease, and war with the native Powhatan Natives that lived there. 

Jamestown had three main groups ofpeople that lived there. First were the native Powhatans that were already there. Second came the English settlers that originally came looking to get rich and came looking for gold. Finally, the first African American slaves came. No, the settlers did not find gold. But they did find that tobacco grew really well in the rich, Virginia soil. 

We got to meet with reenactors dressing the part of the original people. Learned how the Powhatan people lived. Got to go in their homes and see games they played and how they cooked. We got to go aboard ships that would have transported the English across the Atlantic. I canʻt even imagine leaving England in December and not getting to Virginia on one of those until the next May. But they did and it worked out! We then went to Fort James to see how the English lived. 

















































Of course, more exciting than anything is the sight of the infamous squirrels. I love it. Everybody goes wild for the squirrels. Every single trip they are a hit. About five minutes after Aaron said yes there are squirrels but we donʻt have time today to screw around with em.............whoʻs the first to be feeding them?!?! So squirrel feeding commenced for a few minutes. Was great. 








After Jamestown we went to dinner at Blaze Pizza. Was a pretty cool place were each person got to order their own custom pizza. Many had pizza, salad, and breadsticks. Not a bad dinner. 















Then on to the final event of the evening. We were jurors in a witch trial. It is an interactive show called Cry Witch. It was based on the actual witch trial of Grace White Sherwood of Princess Anne County, Virginia. She was accused of being a witch and stood trial. In the real story, we donʻt know the outcome as the court records were destroyed in a fire. But we did learn she went on to live for 30 years after the trial so there is that. No photos were allowed during the show. She was found overwhelmingly innocent by us jurors. With the exception of our seven boys that seemed pretty convinced she was a witch. They all raised their hands to proclaim her guilty! It was a great show were we, the jury, could ask questions. Great job Sophia of being the only student to ask a question!









And that is that for today! After 10 hours of flying. 2 hours of a layover. 50 minutes of driving from the airport to Jamestown and some driving in-between places. We are here at the hotel to get some sleep, and rest up for tomorrow. Some did sneak down to the pool so I hope they are super duper well rested for tomorrow! 

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