Will Reports on Petersburg

On the first full day here, I finished school early and did some basketball drills and some running before Mom and Zina left for Marshalls to find some new clothes, as hers were getting too small. In Marshalls, I found a gadget that will hold my Dad’s phone for him, so that Mom wouldn’t have to hold the phone while navigating. After going to Marshalls, we punched in “Nearest Museum” and the house of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate General in the Civil War. The house had tons of antique artifacts from both the Civil and Revolutionary Wars. After explaining some history and what the artifacts were used for, our guide took us outside the house to see the 2nd largest Magnolia tree in the USA. It was ENORMOUS. The branches from ~40ft up were touching the ground. You’ll see in the pictures. After we said goodbye to our guide, we went back to the trailer and relaxed for the rest of the day. The following day, (Thursday) we went to the Petersburg Battlefield to learn more about the siege of Petersburg. In the Siege, the Confederates were pushed back into Petersburg, which was near Richmond, the Confederate capitol. The Union was able to cut off all rations flowing into Petersburg, and the Confederates were forced to surrender Petersburg. After the Confederates lost Petersburg, General Lee evacuated Richmond and that marked the beginning of the end of the Civil War. After walking around the battlefield, we went to a church to see light reflecting off of its stained glass, but it was closed, so we then went to Walmart to go shopping. It was here, where I felt some of the most disrespect that I have ever felt in my life. Zina really wanted a slushy, so Mom gave me her card and we entered the SubWay in the Walmart. The cashier gave us both free slushies because we were both “UNDER 9 YEARS OLD”. I took this blatant slap at my appearance and dignity in stride, handed the wrongly given slushy to Myra, and moved on. After loading all of the groceries into the car, we went home and ate dinner, and then went to bed. On the next day, we went to Jamestown (Location of the Powhatan Tribe and where Pocahontas was kidnapped) with the Lundgrens. First, we looked around the museum and read about the history of the area and tribe. Next, we went outside to hear a ranger talk. The ranger was very knowledgeable and taught us the importance of women in the tribal lifestyle. Men and women were equal in tribes at this time, and the women ran the house, prepared all the food, and did a good portion of the gathering as well. After the talk, we headed back to the car for lunch. Beckham was being a very happy boy and waving to everyone that we passed. We ate lunch and drove to a place in which they were glass blowing. They were using a very old method, but it looked very nice nonetheless. We purchased Lucy’s birthday present and then packed up and headed to Yorktown.Yorktown had a very nice museum and gift shop so that we could pick up more stickers to put on the wall. By this time, it was time for dinner, so we drove a good amount to get to a restaurant called The 2nd Street.

I had the salmon, and it was very tasty. Mom was very adventurous and ordered something with bison in it. After dinner, we made sure that Zina got her weekly heart factory reset, so she had a churro doughnut for dessert. After she finished, we said goodbye to the Lundgrens and went home to go to bed. The next day, we did nothing until about noon. We went on a commemoratory bike ride for our deceased Uncle Michael; about 4 miles long. When we do this at home, there is always ice cream at the end, so we indulged in such after we finished. The ice cream shop looked abandoned, but the vibes were good inside, and the peach cobbler ice cream was amazing. After we finished eating, we went home and… did nothing/relaxed. It was a good day. Due to the fact that we forgot to fast last week, we fasted this week to make up for it. It was also Mother’s day, so the youth handed out gifts to all of the mothers in the ward. The YM Quorum was very welcoming and we had a good lesson together about the status of the second coming of Jesus Christ. After that, I spent the rest of the day baking a cake  so that Zina would feel included in the Mother’s day celebration because it was her idea. Myra made a great stir fry, and it was a fitting end to Mother’s day. That will be all for now. Next: Washington, DC. Overall Rating: 8.3/10