BREAKFAST this morning is at the Poolside Cafe in the hotel.
The breakfast is part of the package and includes anything on the menu.
We both order really, really big breakfasts.

We had originally planned to spend today at Busch Gardens theme park. One of my best friends from work, Jamie Yip, is taking several children from her daughter's school on a weekend trip to Busch Gardens and we had joked about the possibility of running into one another. They would be arriving sometime tonight. Now that we've extended our trip another day, it looks like getting together might actually be possible, so we decide to wait until tomorrow to visit Busch Gardens and see Jamestown today instead. We spend the whole day there, mostly at the Jamestown Settlement (nee Festival Park), where the colony and a Powhattan Indian camp has been recreated, with demonstrations of 17th-century life. Two of these are given by people who, like those who delighted us at Yorktown, do actually manage to relate to the visitors. The guide aboard the ship "Susan Constant" is very informative, and the team who drafts "all able bodied men", including your humble author, into a pike brigade give us a great time.

After visiting Jamestown Settlement, we drive a short distance to the site of the original colony, stopping first at the glassworks. This is a re-creation of a glassblowing industry attempted by the colonists (we also visit the preserved ruins of the original site). This attraction (or actually the one before it, which burned in 1974) is one of Linda's most vivid memories of her visit here with her family when she was eight years old. At that time, she got a hand-made glass paperweight (long since lost), and she wants to see if they still make them. Hers had the dates "1608-1971" embossed on it, and as she looks at the new ones, marked "1608-1991", it occurs to her that it has been twenty years since she was here! Of course, with my characteristic sensitivity and tact, I couldn't help but mention that the young girl working the cash register, probably all of nineteen, wasn't born yet when Linda was here! Somehow,  the world's most patient and forgiving wife restrained herself from bludgeoning me with a glass paperweight.

As we walk through the old ruins of the original colony, accompanied constantly by an annoying swarm of buzzing insects, we learn that these are the ruins of the "extended colony". It seems the site of the actual fort lies about 150 feet out into the river (due to 350 years of erosion). Also, Linda notes, most of the foundations we see are not protected from either visitors or the elements, and are therefore likely to be only reproductions of the actual ruins. This takes some of the flavor out of the area. We do see some skinny-tailed squirrels, and a couple of blue jays which are brighter than those at home (both have blue/black/white wings, but ours have purplish bodies and these have bright blue bodies). We also see a doe and fawn, which run through the park, leaping over hedges and ruins.

Back at the hotel, we order Dominos pizza delivered and wait to hear from Jamie. She finally calls, about 9:45. She had had trouble finding us, due to a mix-up in phone numbers, but she persevered and got hold of us at last. It turns out their plans have changed and they are not going to Busch Gardens until Sunday. We arrange to go out tomorrow night to the Comedy Club instead.