Well, I have to say that our experience yesterday
(Sunday) was really delightful.  I don't know if we
simply were the beneficiaries of two days of working
out the kinks, but I came away from the event filled
with particular appreciation at the smoothness of the
whole operation.  The shuttles from parking to the
main Anniversary Park, the merchandise tents, getting
food, shuttles over to Historic Jamestowne, shuttles
back to the parking after the closing fireworks (when
the crowds hit the buses all at once)--all of it ran
beautifully and the various staffers were all
incredibly pleasant despite their frenetic efforts.

We did have the advantage of foregoing some of the
more popular areas (e.g. the Archaearium) because our
proximity means we can go back some other weekend to
visit, so maybe that bought me less hassle than others
may have experienced.  The only thing that didn't make
much sense to me was the conversion to the scrip (or
"script" as many vendors' signs had it), and that was
only because I couldn't really understand the logic of
it--the actual exchange from cash to scrip and back to
cash was simple enough to do.  I later learned from my
sister who had volunteered over the weekend that one
of the reasons for it was because they didn't want the
vendors having to contend with that much relatively
unsecured cash.  Not sure if that was enough of a
reason to make the switch, but at least it's not
absolutely unreasonable.

We spent the bulk of our day over at Historic
Jamestowne, enjoying a thoroughly entertaining NPS
ranger-led tour (not least of all because of his
willingness to take on the orthodox interpretation)
and then hanging out by the archaeological digs--and
with their enthusiastic archaeologists--for quite a
while.  Bill Kelso's overview of the archaeological
efforts was really marvelous, most especially because
he got so emotionally overwhelmed when he tried to
explain how important it all was to him; the audience
gave him a standing ovation for his efforts through
the years, which couldn't have been more deserved.

But the mid-day ceremonies and closing ceremonies
were, I thought, appropriate to the occasion and were
enthusiastically received.  And heck, any fireworks
display that introduces me to fireworks I've never
seen before is okay by me.

All in all, we had a great time and saw and learned a
lot.  Surely I could have wished for an even larger
and more extravagant event, but I fear that that is
less an issue with the organizers and more of one of
(misplaced) modern priority at large.

Cheers,

--Eric

Eric Johnson
[log in to unmask]


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center.
http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/