Richmond Day 9 - Capitol Square and the Science Museum of Virginia

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August 18, 2015 (Tuesday)

Today breakfast was iffy again -- the eggs and sausage on the buffet were cold.  After breakfast, we headed downtown to Capitol Square.  Capitol Square is a nice park that contains the Capitol building, Governor's Mansion and a bunch of statues and monuments honoring some of Virginia's greatest citizens.  We were able to park for free on the street right in front of the guest entrance.  We looked at the monuments around the park, decided against the 20 minute tour of the Executive (Governor's) Mansion (we weren't sure the children would make it enjoyable for the parents).  The first building we went into was the bell tower which houses the Visitor's Center - the ladies inside were very eager to help and offer suggestions.  They convinced us to go into the capitol and look around without doing the tour (again due to concerns about the children losing interest during a tour).  I am so glad that we did.  The kids enjoyed walking around looking at the building, and there were lots of restrooms.  At the end of our visit Liam got a state flag in the gift shop (I was so proud).

Washington Statue

The only statue for which Washington ever posed 

The Civil Rights monument

The Executive Mansion

The Virginia Capitol Building, home of the oldest continuously operating law making body in the Americas (1619)

The Capitol housed both the Virginia and Confederate National Legislatures from 1861-1865. 

Liam with his Virginia flag

Then we went to Carytown and ate lunch at the Galaxy Diner.  Carytown is an area full of locally owned eateries, artisans and shops and an interesting day in itself.  The Galaxy Diner has a B Grade alien movie theme and a fun vibe.  We very much enjoyed the Galaxy Diner, but I started feeling badly -- my back and head were hurting a lot -- before we got our food so we didn't linger.  The portions were large and delicious, I wish I had felt better!

Our food at the Galaxy Diner in Carytown

Since I was feeling poorly, we went back to the hotel so I could rest.  The kids and Sarah went to pool, and after a while I went down and used the spa and sauna and that helped loosen up my back.

Once my back started to feel better we headed to the Science Museum of Virginia (it is next door to the Children's Museum and shares a parking lot).  Housed in the old spectacular train station, it was a big hit. We stayed for 2 hours (closing time) and the kids weren't ready to leave.  The exhibits are designed to be interesting for adults as well as children and include predominately hands on exhibitions.  After we closed down the museum we headed back to the hotel to eat.  For supper, we ate leftover pizza and our leftovers from lunch.

The foyer of the Science Museum

August 19, 2015 (Wednesday)

For our last morning we skipped the hotel breakfast and headed to Krispy Kreme to get the kids hot doughnuts.  If you have never been, when they have hot doughnuts ready each customer gets one.  They are good and not to be missed!

Enjoying Krispy Kreme

After breakfast we returned to Monument Avenue to retake the pictures of the monuments we saw in the rain.  When we were finished we returned to hotel, packed and left for home.  Another great vacation is concluded.

The Arthur Ashe Monument

The Stonewall Jackson Monument

Richmond Day 8 - Maymont

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August 17, 2015

Virginia is for Lovers!

Breakfast was great again!  After breakfast, we headed over to Maymont Park.  We thought that the kids would enjoy the Children's Farm.  The farm is great and is free to visit.  At the farm there are pigs, goats, chickens, a donkey, sheep and some other animals that we didn't see like cows and horses.

It was very hot (in the 90s and very humid) today and Liam (6) was not enjoying the walking.  Most of the farm as you would expect is not in the shade and it cut our visit short.  The kids really enjoyed feeding the goats though.  The farm also has a large garden and while we were looking at the crops, they gave us a bunch of tomatoes and peppers!  (to Fionnuala's delight).

Irish (Gaeilge) at Maymont Park.  Your cow might be black red or dun (brown).

The goats waiting to be fed by visitors

Produce from the park's garden

Liam (6) was really sagging and both kids said that they were hungry so we headed back to Short Pump to the Whole Foods.  When we had visited here before we were very impressed and decided to eat lunch there today.  The kids and I had pizza and Sarah had a salad.  My pizza was the best I've had at a Whole Foods.  An added bonus was the window next to our booth that allowed us to watch the cakes being made.  Fionnuala (3) was so excited by it that she was clapping and jumping.  They also had a water cooler in the dining area, which I had never seen in any of the other Whole Foods I had visited before.  It was nice to not have to buy a bottle of water that the children wouldn't finish.

Sarah wasn't feeling very well and the kids had really struggled with the heat, so we headed back to the hotel to relax.  We didn't do as much today, but the kids had fun and it allowed Sarah some much needed comfort.  We spent some time at the pool once we returned to the hotel.  After we finished at the pool we ordered some pizza, french fries and salads from Picciotti's Pizza off of Broad Street.  Everyone enjoyed the pizza a lot, we were very happy that we decided to give them a try.

Richmond Day 7 - Three Lakes Park

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August 16, 2015 (Sunday)

This morning was the first blip in a week of breakfasts - I went to the buffet to get scrambled eggs and sausage and they were both cold.  There was a family reunion and wedding party in the hotel this weekend as well as a bunch of families taking students to the University of Richmond.  I assume that the full hotel led to the drop in quality.  The milk for cereal ran out and they also had trouble keeping up with demand for half and half.  We were still fine, but it was not the excellent breakfast experience that we had the last six days.

Coin Laundry

We needed to do a third load of laundry today.  We did learn a lesson though, we have been going to the pool almost every day and the children have been going through two sets of clothes each day (before swimming and after swimming).  We ended up at the intersection of Skipworth and Broad at Coin Laundry.  Once our clothes were in the machines, we headed to Cheswick Park to use the playground.  It's a great park, but we almost missed it.  The entrance is across the street from the hospital (Henrico Doctor's Hospital) so make sure to slow down or you will go right past it.  It has great wooded trails through the woods, a nice large playground, picnic pavilions and nice clean restrooms. When it was time to pick up our clothes, the kids enjoyed the Ms. PacMan and other arcade machines in Coin Laundry.

Cheswick Park

Wildlife in the park

Trail in Cheswick Park

We dropped off our clothes at the hotel and decided to return to the Panera where we ate on our last visit (2010) in the Willow Lawn Shopping Center.  We all had more than we could eat so we packed it up to eat for supper tonight.

When we finished eating we dropped the food off at the hotel and headed to Three Lakes Park.  It's about a 15 minute drive from the hotel.  This wonderful park contains three small man made lakes, wonderful wooded nature trails that circle each lake, has multiple restrooms and a great nature center all of which is free!  We began in the Nature Center which hosts a small aquarium.  The kids really enjoyed seeing the animals (mostly fish, snakes and turtles).  We spent about 30 minutes inside then another 5 or so minutes on the deck over the lake.  There were so many turtles that you could see them all the way across the lake.  The kids also enjoyed seeing the fish that they had seen underwater from the deck above.

Aquarium at Three Lakes Park

Exploring the Nature Center at Three Lakes Park

Wall to wall turtles on the lake

Next we headed across the parking lot to the great playground where the children played for a long time.  It was a very warm day so we headed back to the hotel and then to the pool.

The playground at Three Lakes Park

For supper we ate our leftovers from lunch.  It was nice day even with the heat, but the places we visited all had enough shade that it never felt that bad.

Richmond Day 6 - Henricus Historical Park

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August 15, 2015 (Saturday)

Today was move-in day at VCU, so we decided to do something outside of the city until the roads were fully open and less crowded.  I was very happy with our choice, Henricus Historical Park.  Henricus Citie was the second settlement in the New World (1611) and until this park opened there was nothing to mark it.  This was actually the site of many of the crucial historical events that are associated for most of us with Jamestown (Pocahontas, John Rolfe's tobacco discovery, etc).  It was also home to the first hospital and college in the English colonies.

We arrived about 10:30 and were greeted by a friendly worker after we used the restrooms.  The park starts in a re-creation of an Arrohatek (part of the Powhatan) village.  There are a few houses, totem poles and some of the craft work and tools of the natives.  There was also a period dressed interpreter making clay cooking pots and beads that interacted with us and was a big hit with Fionnuala (3) in particular.  The kids really enjoyed the village.

The kids explore a native canoe

Arrohatek Village

Next we entered into the rebuilt representation of the fort (much smaller than the 7 acre original).  There were a few more interpreters inside that fort that happily inacted with us.  I found this to be much better than the Jamestown Settlement.  Our children were a little younger than the optimal age, but they very much enjoyed exploring the protective platforms and watch tower as well as the pig, cats and goats.  Inside Rev. Whitaker's house was an especially good interpreter that explained the transition that Pocahontas had to make to become English.  Another interesting thing we learned is that a lot of (if not most of) the furniture that they used is from The New World.

The kids celebrate with dancing on the gun platform at Henricus Citie just as they did in Quin, Ireland and Málainn Bhig, Ireland last year.

Henricus Citie

I wish that this had been built when I was in school as it gives a better idea of what life was like for the early colonists after the starving times in Jamestown.  Our visit was an hour and a half, but we didn't visit the bluff overlooking the river.  The site is also located inside a nature conservatory and contains about 3 miles of trails through the woods.

The kids picked up an item each in the gift shop, which I thought had a really nice selection of items.  Then we headed to Chick-Fil-A in Chester where we ate lunch and the kids played in the playground.  We then headed home and took the kids to the pool in our hotel.

After we finished at the pool we ordered food from Olive Garden again.  The food was so good last time and it is so convenient to the hotel that we decided to get food there again.  It was just as delicious as last time.  We are still amazed at how good the food was!

Richmond Day 5 - Old Blandford Church and Cemetary, Petersburg

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August 14, 2015 (Friday)

Today we headed to Petersburg which is about 40 minutes south of Richmond.  Our goal was the Old Blandford Church and the Farmer's Bank building.  We arrived at Blandford Cemetery and set up the John Herbert tombstone for a grave rubbing.  The tombstone is from 1704 and commemorates one of my first ancestors to come to America.  His original grave site was about 3 miles out of Petersburg on his plantation, Puddledock.  About 1895, the family had the tombstone moved to the churchyard.  If you leave town headed toward Fort Lee you will pass Puddledock Road which used to lead to the estate.  Near his tombstone are the graves of an American General from the Revolution and a British Maj. General from the Revolutionary War.  As you might imagine you won't find this elsewhere.

Old Blanford Church, Petersburg, VA

Sarah did the rubbing while I took the children around the graves nearest to church.  They offer tours that focus mostly on the stained glass windows in the church and have a nice office with friendly people.  It took about an hour to complete the rubbing.

John Herbert Tombstone, Old Blandford Church

Gen. Joseph Jones Grave (Revolutionary War General)

Maj. Gen. William Phillips Grave, British General during the Revolutionary War

John Daly Burk's Grave.  He published the first comprehensive History of Virginia

After we had packed everything up it was noon, so we headed to Lee Park for a picnic and a playground.  I chose this park because it has a picnic area, playground and restrooms.  This part of the park wasn't fancy, but was okay.  We were able to eat our picnic at a table in the shade and the kids were able to play on the equipment with some local children.  We used the restrooms on our way out, and they were basic but clean.  We were all a little tired, so we headed back to the hotel to relax.

Lee Park

For dinner tonight, the kids asked for Chinese.  So, we ordered take out from Hunan East about 7 minutes south down Broad Street.  We ordered Hot & Sour Soup, Egg Drop Soup, Chicken & Broccoli and Teriyaki Chicken.  The soups were good, the chicken and broccoli was good, but Sarah and I weren't crazy about the teriyaki (we had never had it before).