Yorktown!

Hi everyone. We have just been to Yorktown today - both to the battlefield and to the historic town of Yorktown. It was very neat - probably our favorite historic site here so far. One thing about this site is that it's very expansive - there are multiple fields and roads that make up the official national park area, and it's one of the more open, scenic parks I've been to. The fields have cannons set up everywhere, in a manner in which they'd have been found during the Revolutionary War. Roads wind down through woods and fields, and wildlife is extremely abundant - especially deer, which were out in the open even in the daytime but are even more abundant at dusk. The only thing that we didn't like about our trip to Yorktown was that the place we ate lunch/dinner was very weird and gross. We are notorious for having weird dinner experiences, so this will be added to our list of restaurant adventures. Otherwise, our trip was wonderful. Here are some highlights of the trip...

First of all, this is me (Jenny) at what I call a "baby cannon":

I only sustained one injury from the cannon - see below. ... Okay, just kidding. The red stuff on my arm below is, unfortunately, bird poop. Somehow, when I leaned on a cannon to pose for a picture at some point, I ended up with what looked like berries or blood all over my arm. It was extremely disgusting. (Ben was amused, but I was not!)

Below is Surrender Field. This is where the British troops marched in to a line of American and French troops in late October 1781, and Lord Cornwallis surrendered the Battle of Yorktown. This began the peace negotations which eventually ended the war two years later.

Below is the Victory Monument:

Below is the Moore House. This is where the peace negotiations took place that ended the Battle of Yorktown:

This house below is the Nelson House - a famous historic house in the Yorktown town. Thomas Nelson, Jr., who inherited the house from his father, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a famous politician and businessman in the town. (Hopefully I am remembering these historical facts right!)

In the outer walls of the Nelson House, there are two cannon balls lodged in the bricks. Here's one of them:

Cannon overlooking one of the Yorktown battlefields:

Below is a deer bounding across the road in front of our car:

We got really close up to this deer family - the fawns were precious!

This little guy was busily munching away on some brush:

This guy below appeared to be having some private time on a log out in the creek - and he did not seem to notice us snapping photos from behind!

Peek-a-Bunny:

This cottontail was a little less shy:

Fields of deer can be seen at dusk at Yorktown - they're everywhere.

Below is a beach you can walk to on a steep Yorktown trail - a great view of the York River: