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/