Richmond Day 4 - Monument Ave. and Riverfront Canal Cruises

An updated version of this site can be found here

August 13 2015 (Thursdays)

Lombardy Park

Today we headed downtown.  I dropped off Sarah and the kids at Lombardy Park in the Fan District to play at the playground and left the car there.  The park is at the intersection of Lombardy and Park one block from the Stuart monument.  I got a parking space between the park and the monument!

My mission was to photograph the monuments on Monument Ave. (the rain had cut us short on Monday).  The monuments start one block from the park with J.E.B. Stuart.  Walking away from downtown you next come to the

Robert E. Lee monument.  I walked up as far as the President Davis monument admiring all of the amazing architecture and the monuments.

 It took me about 20 minutes to walk from the Stuart monument to the Davis monument snapping pictures.  By this time I wanted to check in on the family so I turned around there.  In addition, my parking was for 1 hour and the parking enforcement officer  was actively checking.

General J.E.B. Stuart Monument

First English Lutheran Church, Stuart Circle, Monument Ave. built 1911

St. John's United Church of Christ, Stuart Circle, Monument Ave., built 1928

Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, between Stuart Circle and Lee Circle

General Robert E. Lee Monument

House on Lee Circle, built 1929

This cannon marks the earthworks of the inner defenses of Richmond

President Jefferson Davis Monument

When I returned I gathered everyone from the playground and we headed to the canal.  We were able to park for $6 (all day) at the end of Virginia St. and walked to kiosk for the Riverfront Canal Cruises.  We bought our tickets and then used the restroom in the Southern Railway Taphouse.  We waited next to the boats for about 20 minutes, the kids enjoyed playing on the grassy slope and looking at the boats.  Tickets are $6 for adults, $5 for children and Fionnuala (3) was free.

Riverfront Canal Cruises, Richmond

At noon, our tour began.  It lasted 40 minutes and Rusty was our guide.  We were surprised by how short (in distance) the trip was.  It was good to hear the information he gave on the short stretch of the canal that is open for use, but a lot of his talk was on general historical events and not specific to Richmond.  I would have enjoyed more Richmond information, but we were fortunate enough to see a Blue Heron up close as well as six turtles.  Liam (6) lost interest about half way through the trip, largely because you are not allowed to move around while the boat is moving and he wanted to look over the side at the water, etc.  All in all not a bad trip.  I chose this because I thought the boat would hold the kids interest, but it was slow moving and the guide didn't engage the children.  I think that the Trolley tour probably has the Richmond information I would like and might be just as interesting to the children.

Blue Heron we saw on our trip

One of many turtles we saw in the canal

The Lucky Strikes smokestack

When we got off the boat, we ate lunch at the Southern Railway Taphouse.  The food was very good.  It's not a bad place for kids, but also is not cheap.  We ordered 1 chicken tender appetizer, 1 pretzel appetizer, 1 Great Return sandwich, 1 grilled chicken wrap and 1 chicken salad sandwich for a total of $46.56.  They do have a mind boggling selection of beers though.  After a while, we boxed up our extra food and we went back to the car.

We paid a visit to the Robinson Street Laundromat next.  It was great, with an attendant and air conditioning which is rare.  It was also cheaper than laundry in Farmville!  While the load was in the wash we headed over to Plaza Arts across from VCU to get supplies for tomorrow's grave rubbing project.  The people working at the shop were incredibly helpful and got us loaded up for our outing.  Then it was time to move the laundry.  Sarah put the clothes into the dryer and then we got drinks next door at Starbucks.  We took a walk around the block while the clothes dried and then packed everything/everybody back into the car and returned to Lombardy Park.  We stayed until the children had to use the restroom and then returned to the hotel about 5 PM.

Side of Kuba Kuba at N. Lombardy St. & Park Ave.

For supper, we ate leftovers from lunch with the fruits and vegetables that we already had.