A Day in Richmond ---

I spent the first leg of my drive spending time in Richmond! Wednesday was such a beautiful day for a drive, and there were places that I’ve always wanted to explore.

When I travel by car, I try to add a bit of extra time in the itinerary to make room for beautiful “must wander” days like this!

I knew I was going to try to make it a bit past DC the first night, splitting my drive to CT in half---and I also knew that I didn’t want to get to DC between 3pm and 8pm because traffic is just a real unpleasant bugger! So I hung around Richmond and filled my afternoon full, heading for DC after dinner time.

Where did I go?

How about the Civil War Center!

If you ever have a chance to go----GO! It is found right along the James RIver, and there are walking trails, lots of information sights, overlooks over the river…Just such a wonderful place to spend an afternoon.

I walked out to the river to get some pics:

There are several rapid areas…and suspension bridges…and detailed information about just WHAT happened here during the civil war.

Here are some more buildings:

You can spend quite a bit of time here at the Civil War center….the musuem part is awesome as well.

Lots of area to walk and explore…even just seeing the “remains” of buildings that used to stand here is just an awe striking feeling.

Can you imagine the hustle and bustle that was here in those days? If these walls could talk!

There are wonderful paved walking paths that go down along the canal for MILES…and I mean MILES!…By my calculations, I hoofed it about 4 miles that day, seeing and exploring! The way is plainly marked with signs like this that point the direction. Which way do you want to go?

More cool old buildings down along the canal! Look at that lovely blue sky! It got up to about 70 degrees! I love old buildings like this, and ALMOST being able to read what the advertising sign on the side used to say….

Just keep walking…..I never knew Richmond had this canal system before, I’d always bypassed this area of town on my way north. There are really nice downtown areas built around the canal system, and from the hooks and things in the sidewalk, I can bet people have boated in, tied up, and enjoyed a meal at a nice restaurant, and then floated down some more. NICE!

My walk took me through tunnels with historical markers, like this one! It reads:

The canal trails took be out all the way down “Tobacco Row” Where all the tobacco factories were. Most of them hold loft apartments and condos now….but the buildings are still awesome.

The path goes along this old train trestle as you work your way down to Tobacco Row…I loved the pattern these crossed girders made ad-infinitum down the track….It just looked like they crossed on into forever!

At the end of my journey in Richmond, I treated myself to a yummy Pho dinner at a Vietnamese place…..upon using the rest room, look what was on the wall?!?? LOL Those Quilted Northern Quilters are still at it! Good thing they aren’t still being advertised as quilting with knitting needles anymore! LOL!

Yesterday completed the second leg of my drive up to Connecticut! I tell you what….Crossing the George Washington Bridge at night time in crazy traffic is not for the faint of heart either!! I white knuckled it through NYC, breathing a sigh of relief when I-95 thinned out as we made our way into Connecticut and away from the Big Apple.

A good night’s sleep, and here I am ready to meet with the Heritage Quilters of Wallingford CT! I’m being met in the lobby in a few, so I better get a move on! It’s going to be a busy busy full day!