Where to Stay

The first night in the Williamsburg area, just after we drove down from NJ, we stayed at a Quality Inn ($59) on the far western part of town, on the man drag, Rte 60. I've stayed in better places. The air conditioner was '60s loud. With the weather outside 95 degrees and 80% humidity, it was on all night. I was up pretty much all night. The shower had a broken shower attachment, but you could put the thing on with a little diligence. The continental breakfast was nice.

We headed to Borodino and Fort Monroe to stay at the Hotel Chamberlain. Days later, after our day-long exploration of Colonial Williamsburg, we stayed at a Hampton Inn ($75) on the east side of town on Rte 60. That is a far superior place.

Where to Eat

In between the two hotels lies a strip of restaurants, more hotels, and stores. About in the middle is a place called Red Hot and Blue, with a logo of two piggies with shades strumming guitars. This BBQ place, Memphis pit so they say, proved to be a good choice, offering good ribs (sweet sauce is my recommendation), casual atmosphere, and good prices. The only thing that threw us was that water and ice tea are served in mini-pitchers--we mistakenly asked for glasses and had to look around to other tables to see that you did indeed, as the waitress stated, stick a straw in the pitcher. I recall the selection of draft beer was the usual American crowd except one, so I had that and found it good enough for a second pint. This place is well recommended.

The other dinner we had in Williamsburg was at Mirabella's Italian Grille, within walking distance of the Hampton Inn, or about a one-minute drive behind the Pizza Uno's and a half block down the street. Mirabella's offered excellent Italian fare, with a tasty sauce, generous portions, and good prices.

The only caveat is that the bar is smack dab in the center of the restaurant, and has open sides all the way around. As we settled down in the no smoking section, the smoke drifted through the openings and into the no smoking area. We asked to be moved and they accommodated us quickly, posting us to the far corner where we had an excellent meal. This place is also well recommended.

One other note. The above restaurants put coupons in those tourist magazines, usually good for 10% off. We found Red Hot and Blue and Mirabella's by initially driving by them and thinking they looked good. Later, in our hotel room, we looked up restaurants in the tourist magazines and yellow pages to see what else we may have missed. Many sounded good, but we went to these because, well, they looked good in person and on paper.

And one idiosyncrasy of ours: we may eat fast food for lunch, but we always eat a nicer dinner, preferably at a place that is local, not a chain. If these were indeed chain restaurants, we had never heard of them in NJ.

Where to Play

Pirate's Cove Mini-Golf is about a block from the Hampton in the other direction, opposite the K-Mart and next to the Wendy's. It's $7 per player, but the courses and decor are impressive as they wind up to the top of a 50-foot hill and down again. Each hole offers some challenging configurations.

The caveat here is that if your ball jumps the curb, it's pretty much gone. Somewhere around hole 12, my ball hopped over the curb and underneath the net, to be swept away in one of the many waterways. The last I saw of it was disappearing over a waterfall into the big moat.

For mini-golf enthusiasts, this is a great little spot. Two courses are available, each of 18 holes.

More Colonial Williamsburg

Introduction
Governor's Palace
Into Town: Shops
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Museum
Arms Magazine Area
Where to Stay, Eat, and Play

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