After one night in our “historic room” in Williamsburg, Virginia, we were doing OK. The temperature proved to be comfortable, and it was a treat to wake up to a delicious breakfast that I had not cooked.

We walked through the lovely old campus of William and Mary, taking photos along the way. It was pretty warm by the time we reached the information center for Colonial Williamsburg, but a soft breeze cooled us down. Mike purchased two-day passes for us, which included shuttle service to and from different areas of the park.

It took us a few minutes to get our bearings and decide what we wanted to see first, but we finally made a selection. When the shuttle dropped us at the settlement we were impressed that the buildings were in an excellent state of repair. In fact, there were many occupied residences on the property. When I asked about it, I learned that over 500 buildings make up Colonial Williamsburg, and the park rents many of them out.

After strolling around for quite a while, we were getting a little hungry so we stopped in at a tavern for lunch. This was truly like going back in time with the wait staff in period costume. I ordered the shepherd’s pie, which wasn’t too bad once I added a little extra seasoning.

Musicians sang and played rousing period tunes while we enjoyed our meal. The place was really crowded, so we opted to share our table with another couple that lived in Dallas and had visited several times before. Mike and I enjoyed our day because we both love history, but I can’t see us going back again and again.

After our late lunch, we found a shuttle stop and waited for a ride back to civilization. I thought a nice afternoon nap in our rather small, but comfy room might be in order before we went out for the evening, and Mike agreed. Soon we were retracing our steps through William and Mary’s campus, discussing evening plans.

The B&B came into view, and soon we had climbed the stairs to our second-floor room and turned the key in the lock. When the door creaked open, heat spilled out into the hallway.

“Mike, the air isn’t on! It is really hot in here, and the thermostat is in the adjoining room.”

“I’ll call and see if the owner can take care of it for us, Honey.”

Mike’s patience and kind voice must have made an impression on the owner, because he immediately upgraded us to a much larger and more comfortable room on the third floor. We repacked our things and climbed one more flight of stairs to a stately room with its very own thermostat.

Once we settled down in our new room with the air blowing cold I snuggled under the beautiful yellow and blue quilt. Suddenly, a wonderful thought came to me … I’ll bet two flights of stairs might burn enough calories to splurge on dessert!

Jan Penton Miller can be reached at lilsisjan@yahoo.com.