Local Tourist

I took a small tour of Colonial Williamsburg today. If you live here you can obtain a “Good Neighbor” pass. Present a utility bill and pay $10.00 and you can get into CW all year long! Sweet deal!
I went for the sole purpose of seeing the Governor’s Palace and gardens and maze. I was told by my friend, Selena, that the center of the maze is a portal. She attended W&M in the 1960‘s and would climb over the brick wall to the gardens and discovered the maze’s “secret”. (I found the wall the climb over too!) I endured the guided tour of the Palace itself with the usual amount of parents, precocious (or bored) kids, and annoying photographers. Take time to look folks, instead of taking pics! (Yes, I forgot my camera.) Finally getting out to the gardens, I strolled along. I went into the maze (it’s small) and wandered the whole thing. The hedges are about 7’ high. One cannot really get lost in it, as over the years, shortcuts have been walked between the established paths, through the hedges, and it’s almost difficult to tell is a path or is it a shortcut? I stayed in there long enough to know I was the last one in there, despite what some kids said as they were running out: “We’re the last ones in there!” [no, you’re not]. I had a few moments of quiet in the maze’s center. I took some appreciative breaths and gave thanks for many things, with a few wishes and hopes. I would enjoy the maze and gardens on a moonlit night, but alas I doubt CW allows such activity!
After I left the maze, I began wandering the gardens, taking paths I believed to be less traveled. I discovered the pond by the Palace and the path around it. A great find! It was peaceful, sunlit, green with late summer. I saw a turtle sunning itself on a branch in the middle of the pond. Tree limbs brushed the water. Dragon flies galore. Plunks at the water’s edge from frogs or fish. Benches along the path invited quiet time. This is a place where parents do not take their children. No one on a schedule to see CW would come here. This is a new favorite place, and with my Good Neighbor pass I can come back anytime and watch the seasons change.