Dinner at The Blue Talon Bistro in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

Monday, July 7, continued… As we stated earlier, we were confused about Colonial Williamsburg. It was apparently still an active town with restaurants and shops and other amenities… but apparently you needed to buy a ticket to go into the town? It looked like there was a small section of it called Merchant Square where people could see the historical buildings without buying a ticket. We decided to go there for an early dinner and try to get clarification on what exactly the sightseeing activities in Colonial Williamsburg entailed.

It was about a 10-mile scenic drive from Jamestown. As we neared the town, we drove through William and Mary College, which was founded in 1693. The old buildings were charming. We parked on Boundary Street, the street that separated the college from the edge of town. It was hot and we’d already done a lot of walking, so we didn’t do much exploring by foot. We picked the first open restaurant that looked good, a French restaurant called The Blue Talon Bistro which was around the corner on Prince George Street.

As short as our walk was, it was still pretty with all the mature trees and beautiful old buildings.

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The Moses Myers House and Gourmet Grilled Cheese in Norfolk, Virginia

Continued… From Adeline’s room, we moved into the part of the slaves quarters that was above the utility room. The signs said that the Myers had dozens of slaves over the decades, but didn’t say how many slaves the household typically had at any given time. The guides did tell us, but we don’t remember now. But we do remember they always had several, not only one or two. There was a big binder full of information that we didn’t read. Some of the displays on the walls were bills of sale for the various people. One display showed a bill of sale for a mother and daughter. In the bankruptcy inventory, they were identified as “washer and daughter.” John Myers did allow at least one of his slaves to purchase his freedom. We didn’t go into the portion of the slaves quarters over the kitchen.

View of the back yard from the slave’s quarters. What is now a parking garage was once a creek.
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Repairs and Errands in Norfolk, Virginia

Sunrise on Tuesday, July 1

On Tuesday morning, Eric went back to the hydraulic store in Portsmouth to exchange the fittings. He found fittings with angles that would work better in the space we had. Upon return, he finished installing the transfer pump. Much to his aggravation, one of the fittings was leaking. It was too hot to keep working in the engine room, so he gave up for the day. 

On Wednesday morning, Eric took apart, tightened and resealed both fittings on the fuel transfer pump. Since the transfer pump had fuel in it, it was messy. He captured the majority of the fuel in a bucket and used the oil pads (AKA diapers) to suck up the rest. In great news, it wasn’t leaking anymore! He started the transfer pump and it worked! Woo hoo!

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More Exploring Deltaville, Virginia, USA

Dawn on Wednesday

On the passage, Eric had noticed an issue with the newly fixed radio: it was working fine, but it was complaining about low voltage. He spent Wednesday morning on the phone with the company who’d done the repair to troubleshoot the problem. Eric eventually figured out that there was a knob to adjust voltage on the power supply unit (which was behind the panel), and that knob was in a spot where it could have been easily bumped when the converter box was installed. In the course of the troubleshooting, the “expert” gave Eric some incorrect information, which really bothered Eric.

In between phone calls, Eric changed the generator oil and filter, drained the engine oil, and replaced the O ring in the oil drain hose for the main engine. We also went to the boat yard next door to say goodbye to the family that had been hauled out yesterday. They were a really nice family and we hope to see them again when they return.

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Exploring Deltaville, Virginia, USA

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 – We felt draggy and off-kilter all day. Even though we had a lot of chores to do, we wound up accomplishing very little.

One of the perks of the marina was that it had a courtesy car that tenants could use between 0900 and 1600. We couldn’t go farther than the grocery store, and we were only supposed to be out for an hour, though they’d allow for more time as long as no one else wanted to use the car. They said they’d call if they needed us to return it right away.

We took the car and had lunch at a restaurant called The Galley. At the Galley, we realized we had no cell coverage, which made us anxious about the marina not being able to contact us should they need the car back right away.

The decor was nautical themed and cheerful. As the name implied, it was primarily a seafood restaurant, serving traditional Chesapeake dishes. However, the menu was big and they had lots of non-seafood choices, as well. Eric ordered a crab and lobster bisque, which was great. Keith ordered a barbecued chicken sandwich, which was served with hush puppies. Hush puppies are deep fried balls of cornmeal. Keith had never tried them before and did not care for them.

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