My wife and I were married 9 years ago today on Sept. 11, 1999.  Therefore the anniversary of 9/11 has never been hard for me to remember.  Some of us think back on this date with sorrow, anguish and fear while the rest of the world just thinks of the tragedy at the twin towers.

We were on vacation the week of 9/11/2001 and enjoying Colonial Williamsburg.  We had just crawled out of bed and turned on the news while they were showing the smoldering first building and still speculating what had happened. Witnesses had reported a plane hitting the building but they didn't have any confirmation. While they were discussing it, I saw live on camera the second plane hit. It was obvious at that point that this was no freak accident.

We watched most of the morning then realized that we couldn't spend our vacation sitting in a hotel room watching the news. Actually, housekeeping was pestering us to the point where we couldn't sit in our hotel room watching the news all day. So we got dressed and headed out.

Our planned destination that day was the site of the battle of Yorktown where an aide to Cornwallis surrendered to an aide of George Washington. On the drive down to Yorktown, our first clue that things were difference happened while passing a Naval Ordinance station. The day before as we passed it, I remarked that here was a facility with a big sign that reads "Naval Ordinance Depot" with a wide open chain link gate and not a sole in sight and how that would be a target for terrorists.  This morning, however, as we passed the gate just 2 hours after the attacks, the gate was now fortified with sandbags and mounted M2's and was manned by Marines,

Then, when we arrived at Yorktown, we were told by a National Park officer that the battlefield was closed due to national emergency.  Since it is a huge field on the edge of town with a few historical markers and a monument, we decided to be defiant and look at it anyway. I mean, you really can't close a field from view and if an American can't be defiant at Yorktown, where can he?  We then drove to the Yorktown Victory Center. This  facility is ran by a historical society instead of the government so it was open that day. They had a nice museum and in the back they had a re-enactment of a Revolutionary War camp set up with costumed actors. As there was almost no one there, we received a lot of personal attention as we walked around the various displays and I got to participate in firing a cannon. Any time I get to fire a cannon, I'm going to. It is just too cool.  At the gift shop I bought a Gadsden Flag on reflection of what had transpired that morning.  For those who aren't historically savvy, this is a Gadsden:



Standing on the spot where are country truly gained our independence on a day like 9/11 was kind of surreal. Perhaps I'll go there  again in a year or two.