Colonial Parkway in Autumn

Fall is right around the corner and it's time to take in some of Virginia's more gorgeous landscapes. Looking for that perfect scenic drive? One of our most treasured drives would have to be The Colonial Parkway. It stretches 23 miles connecting the historic sites (also known as the historic triangle) of Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg and the Yorktown Battlefield. As you travel on The Colonial Parkway under the canopy of leaves you can nearly feel the 400 years of American colonial history come to life, as there has been no commercial development to steal your eyes from the natural beauty around you.



The relaxing memorial roadway boasts a colonial experience with a speed limit of only 45 miles per hour. This allows motorists and bilkers alike the opportunity to enjoy the surrounding landscape without the hustle and bustle of more commercial areas. In the fall the leaves provide a myriad of colors, while also offering a diverse environment. The parkway has many open vistas with easy access to hop out of your car and enjoy views of the James and York rivers.

We here at The Vacation Channel who grew up in the Hampton Roads area have rich memories of The Colonial Parkway from childhood to adulthood. As children it was a magical and relaxing trip under the leaves of the pine and evergreen trees whether travelled by car, or by bike. As adults it was always a wonderful place to bring a date, or to go and have an afternoon picnic. Some things will never change. So, if you're looking for a special way to tie up the afternoon, or evening, after a long day of taking in the rich sights and history of the area there is nothing more rewarding, or appealing than The Colonial Parkway.

Help Out the Virginia Living Museum!

As you may or may not have heard, this weekend's crazy weather has caused some damage at one of our favorite spots. Even though flood doors were secured,The Virginia Living Museum sustained damage from some substantial flooding. During the storms, water overtook the entire lower level of the main museum building and the Wason Education Center. This is the second time this summer the museum has flooded.

Despite all of that, there is plenty of good news. First, none of the museum animals were hurt. Second, clean up started immediately and is progressing nicely. There was a great effort Monday at noon as well with a lovely group of volunteers that showed up to pitch in. And, finally, the last piece of good news - their are still ways to help. Go to  http://www.thevlm.org/Flood-donations.aspx  and donate to help them raise the money to cover the $50,000 insurance deductible.

The upper levels of the VLM will be open Tuesday at 9 AM, so you can also head down there and show your support simply with the price of admission. See you there and thank you for supporting one of our local treasure!

Enter to Win!

We have a great contest running right now! If you haven't signed up, you are missing a great chance for one of three gift certificates from Quirks of Art in Williamsburg. Here's the deal...

In March, we implement a social media presence for the Vacation Channel. With about a hundred fans on Facebook, we started working on reaching our great fan base in a number of new ways. We have since created a Google+ and Pinterest presence, this blog, and vamped up our Facebook and Twitter presence.

Now, as the summer winds down, we have more than a 400% increase in fans on Facebook and are nearing the 500 mark. Overall, we are pretty excited with the progress and we want to celebrate.

So in honor of our nearing the 500 fan mark, we are giving a great opportunity. Go to our Facebook page, like it and share our photo. Spread the word and as soon as we get to 500, we will select three people who liked and shared and give out Quirks of Art photos. So go to our page and win!

New Town Dining

In our weekend adventures through New Town in Williamsburg, one of the things that we loved about the area was that there was no lack of good food. So many options! Although we couldn't hit all the amazing restaurants in New Town, we managed a culinary experience at quite a few spots...

If you are looking for an easy, familiar and low-priced meal, there is a Panera Bread at the end of the main street. Want something high class? Opus 9 came highly recommended by several people we encountered along the way. Ichiban, right next to the theatre has an amazing atmosphere, great food, and all you can eat sushi during lunch. Z Pizza is right across the way, if that is what you are craving.

Cogan's Sports Pub came highly recommended as well. We opted for a stop at Buffalo Wild Wings so we could catch up on the Olympics while we were there... Later on, we discovered the Green Leafe - a friendly, local watering hole. Great service, great drinks.

Our favorite part of the culinary experience were the dessert portions! The fro-yo at Sweet Frog was incredible. The do-it-yourself set up was fun and the flavors and toppings were delicious. One of there newer shops was Williamsburg Cupcake. Best cupcake ever.


And that, friends, isn't even all of the places there. That means that there is a trip back to New Town Williamsburg in our future to finish exploring... Until then, check it out for yourself and let us know what we missed!

New Town: Shopping Edition

So now we move on to the important stuff: shopping. It's an essential for every vacation. Or everyday really, but that may be an opinion. And if you had to pick the most prominent feature of Williamsburg, you would probably say... well, history, but after history, you would definitely say shopping! A lot of awesome shopping venues around town, but we submit to you New Town as our top pick. There is literally something for everyone in that vein too.

If you want to find unique shops, be sure to check them out. Paisley, The Nautical Dog and The Mole Hole were some of the specialty shops we wandered in, but we also found a music shop, jewelry store, stationery shop, candy store and a cigar shop - all of which were delightful!

We also had the chance to pop in a great variety of old favorites including Ann Taylor, White House, Black Market, Victoria's Secret, and Joanne Fabrics. We even popped in Barnes and Noble to browse, borrow the wi-fi, and grab a cup of coffee.

One of our absolute favorites was a store that just opened called Charming Charlie's. If you need accessories, they are the store for you. It was absolutely amazing. And apparently you can hold private events there too!

After exploring, we checked out the movie theatre in the center of town. It was the perfect addition to our visit. And we definitely enjoyed The Dark Knight Rises for a second time. All this to say and we haven't even gotten to the dining experiences yet! So stay tune for more adventures in New Town...

Painting the New Town Red!

This weekend's adventure took us to New Town in Williamsburg. If you haven't had a chance to explore New Town, you are missing an adventure! We definitely didn't get to make it to all the stores, but we managed to take in quite a few. There was way more to do than we could discuss in a single blog post, so let us start with the basics of what New Town has to offer.

New Town is Williamsburg's premiere living, dining, and shopping central location. It is conveniently located in the middle of Williamsburg, just a few miles from the historic Colonial Williamsburg area of town, as well as near a great number of hotels, resorts, and other vacation rentals. One of the best parts about New Town is that you can stop in for a few hours to do some shopping or take in some of their other entertainments, or spend a whole day there and take in some of their dining options.





If you are a local to the area, you have the opportunity to live in this delightful neighborhood. The shopping and dining options are interspersed with lovely townhouses, condos, and house that make a charming little village. With New Town being so, well, new, there are still some houses being built, but also availability in some of their completed dwellings as well, so be sure to check it out if you are in the market. Also, they have a post office, banks, medical offices and daycare right there to make it even more convenient!

All that to say, New Town literally has it all and whether you have a few minutes, hours, days or a life time, there is plenty there for you to do, so be sure to stop by. And stay tuned for more blog posts about some of our favorite shops and dining experiences!

Beat the Heat: Water Park Edition

In previous postings, we have discussed some great ways to handle the Virginia summer weather including the heat! Well, as we battle another bout of it, we are checking out a few other ways to manage to have the best vacation ever while keeping cool.

So if you have been here on certain days you will ask yourself if it is possible to keep cool by staying in the water all day. We assure you it is... Try one of our fabulous water parks! While you might be heading to our area with dreams of historical discoveries, epic roller coaster rides, and lounging on the beach, don't forget to make a trip to one of local water parks. If you are headed to Busch Gardens during your stay, you may want to look at adding Water Country when you purchase your passes.

Want to make it easier? How about sleeping at the water park? You read that right. Reserve your room at Great Wolf Lodge and enjoy their onsite water park. Best part: you don't even have to step outside in that heat to enjoy it. Great Wolf Lodge features a spectacular selection of rides and water adventures with the luxury of being indoors. Check out GWL's other amenities on their website.

If you already have a place to stay, but still want to enjoy a water park, one of our favorite options is Ocean Breeze in Virginia Beach. Ocean Breeze offers 16 different water slides and well as pools, playgrounds and other attractions. They have some great events too! Our favorite is Dive-In Movies on Fridays during the summer. Be sure to explore season pass options and look at purchasing corporate discount tickets online. And make sure your check out their birthday options if you are having a party this summer. Go to their website for deals on tickets and other opportunities.

So plan your water park trip today!  And no matter where you end up making a splash, just make sure you stay cool and safe!