Last June, we met up again with one couple, Ginny and Eric, at a campground near Schenectady, New York. They had moved into their motor home, sold the house and were waiting to officially retire in September before heading to Oregon. We've kept in touch through Facebook and Blogger. We learned that they were heading south and planned to stop in Richmond at the same time as us. They agreed to meet us at the KOA Richmond campground.
One thing that Ginny and Eric plan to do as they travel is visit all the state capitol buildings. They have visited a number of them already and blogged about it with some really cool photos and bits of history.
Here is a link to their blog: http://walkaboutwithwheels.blogspot.com/
When we got back from our cookie baking/New Haven trip on Sunday, Eric and Ginny were all settled in the campground. After returning our rental car, we piled into their Jeep and went into Ashland for dinner. We made plans to head into Richmond for the capitol tour first thing Monday.
Later Sunday night, we got a visit from our future brother-in-law, Dave Laroche, as he was driving North on I-95 after spending the week with his kids in North Carolina. We spent an hour or so chatting with him and sharing Christmas cookies before he continued on his odyssey up to Philly. This was definitely one of the more eventful and social weekends we've had in a while.
Monday morning dawned a little rainy, but by the time we retired folks hit the road, the fog had lifted and the day had warmed up considerably. Thanks, Eric, for driving us into town.
When we first arrived and started to walk toward the Capitol Square, I thought this was the Capitol building.
This is actually the old city hall. It looks a lot like City Hall in Philadelphia, which also looks a lot like City Hall in Paris, France. It must be a City Hall thing.
We then came across this really cool statue of George Washington. At one point, he was to be buried here. There is even a hole for the crypt.
We arrived at the Capitol Building, which had recently undergone a complete renovation. They added an addition which is actually underground. We arrived just in time for the next tour.
We really enjoyed our tour guide. She was very knowledgeable. We learned all kinds of cool stuff, but capitols are really Ginny and Eric's thing, so you need to go to their blog for the complete story.
After the tour, we were let loose in the Capitol Building to wander around and look at all the governors portraits. One other member of our tour, Dennis Wood from San Diego, CA, agreed to take our photo under the rotunda. Dennis has an amazing camera and has lots of cool photos from Richmond on his Flickr site if you are interested:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denniswood_sd/sets/72157632216740175/
One cool aspect of the capitol building was the old elevator shaft. While the elevator was removed, all the metal work remained and was refinished during the renovations.
After the tour, we wandered over to the Capital Ale House and introduced Eric to Troeg's Mad Elf. His beer vocabulary now includes the word "quad." We are a bad influence.
After lunch, we walked down to the Canal Walk and took in the scenic James River. Here is a little urban art along the walk. Take a close look at those arrows sticking in the target.
After walking off lunch, we stopped at the Museum and White House of the Confederacy. This was not an easy place to find as it was tucked behind and surrounded by the buildings of the VCU medical center. If you go, just follow the signs for the Emergency Room and you'll pass the museum on your right. We didn't take any pictures while we were there, so you'll have to go to Ginny's blog for the low down - http://walkaboutwithwheels.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.