Exp;loring Richmond with Patty (Day 2)

Patty and I spent a second day exploring Richmond on Sunday August 30. Started out with an early morning at the Capital. Nice place; the Capital itself was designed (I am told) by Thomas Jefferson. The big Washington statue is impressive as well as some of the smaller ones. Got by the Governor's Mansion; kidded with the guard there that "you can tell the governor we are ready for brunch'. She told us he was at church, and before we left saw him walking back (with a lot of security) from church.
We left there, and went to Canal Walk, and then walked out to Belle Isle. I had seen it many times, but was the first time to visit it. Great view of the city from the walkway, and the island itself was remarkable.
John Smith was an early visitor, and it has been (among other things) a Indian village, a civil war prison, power plant site, various factory sites, and is now a very, very popular site for people to hike, bike, swim and play. It was a wonderful place and I will be back for sure!
Patty and I took a hike around the island, and enjoyed that a great deal. If you have not been there yet, it is a for sure must see destination. I am now somewhat pissed that it took me so long to go there; would have been there many times by now if I had known what all could be found there.
Following our hike, went to Shockoe Bottom. Patty and I have been there before, myself quite a few times, and also with her in her previous visits to Richmond. We went to "Bottoms Up" and really enjoyed the pizza there. Very good and went well with her tea, while I enjoyed a "frosty cold beverage". Service was very good too, and had a good time. While there checked out a very fine looking motorcycle outside (as I am kind of a bike fanatic) and after a short while, headed back to the apartment for the day.
Patty had a great time, will be leaving later today and I will be heading to work this afternoon. I forgot to mention in the last post (which also deals with her visit) that we had also eaten on Saturday at Buz and Neds. Liked that too, but of the three places I have been to this weekend, that one I had been to (and liked very much) before...so it was not a surprise that it was good as I had prior experience.
Have enjoyed with my buddy Keith and especially Patty showing some of the sights of this very interesting town. Was great seeing some new sights with my wife this weekend, and makes me wonder what else I will discover during my upcoming two years in Richmond, VA.
On this cloudy Monday as I write this, enjoying the almost fall weather outside my open apartment patio door. Having a great time here today with a few more hours with Patty!

Exploring Richmond with Patty (Day 1)

My wife Patty has been to Richmond four times now, but thanks to my weekends here, this trip actually knew some places to visit. Our day of exploring ended with dinner at The Boathouse which was a first time for both of us. It had come highly recommended, and have to say (though I am no food critic) that it was very, very good. We got there early, but it filled up quickly as does Sunday Park parking, so a word to the wise. We enjoyed the food there, the service was also very good, and it was nice being out by the water. Another plus was that the rains held off all day long, though had a good rain chance (as we do today as well).

Had a great time exploring "The Boulevard/Monument Avenue" area. Made a tour of the Virginia Historical Society Museum, which is a really neat place to see the history of the area. It is also (until tomorrow anyhow) free to check out. Patty really liked the monuments on Monument Ave, and enjoyed a drive around Hollywood Cemetery. We got out to check out the views, and see some of the notables of US and Richmond history taking a long dirt nap there. We also did a short sort of preview tour of Richmond, will be heading back there today to check out a few more of the sights of the city. Looking forward to lunch at Bottoms Up today in Shockoe Bottom.
So far, she has had a great time here, and have enjoyed checking out the sights. My wife being an avid quilter, we also checked out some quilt shops on Midlothian Turnpike and in Chesterfield...so we covered a lot of ground on her first day here.
Will post on day two in the area tomorrow.

Concord Motorcycle Ride (August 22, 2009)

Had a great visit to Concord, though short on Saturday the 21st and Sunday the 22nd. Got some rain (told there was a lot more in Richmond) but had some really nice weather.
Took a short ride around the area on Sunday; finally got to see the Great Wolf Lodge which opened a few months ago. Told its pricey but has a great water park inside. I just went by the front and took this photo of the "wolves at the door". Will check out the inside on a future visit. Looks like a very interesting place though.



I also rode by Cannon Village. It as were the streets on an early Sunday morning really quiet. Traffic is light and few people are out (though many are in church). Went by the statue of Dale Earnhardt in the town; he was from Kannapolis, NC and they put up this tribute to him a few years ago. The company he founded (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.) is in nearby Mooresville, NC and is (or maybe was by now) quite an operation. Many people think of NASCAR teams as small companies, but they are now massive high dollar undertakings. I like to visit the race shops, many of which are located in the Concord, NC area. NASCAR has even been the driving force in the local airport, which has grown over the years by leaps and bounds. Many of the teams have aircraft based at the Concord Regional Airport.
Anyhow, though a short visit had a great time with family and friends. Big weekend coming up as my wife Patty will be spending the weekend here. Always our plan to explore the city of Richmond together, and will be sharing some of my discoveries here with her this weekend. Looking forward to showing her some of the amazing sights I have seen here. We are also planning a dinner at The Boathouse; I was very happy with the view, and have been told the food is good. That will be the feature of a future post coming soon!

Sunday Park Tour (August 15, 2009)

My wife Patty will be making another visit here this month. Today I did some research to find "The Boathouse" (it is our anniversary and want to have something both a bit special and local for that food wise). I first made a stop at Harley-Davidson of South Charlotte (because not only am I far away from my wife, but also my motorcycle) and thought that was a good place. This was the second stop, and I was most impressed. Enjoyed a few breathtaking views around the lake at "Sunday Park". Really enjoy sea food, and can't fault the views at all. I liked this photo of the lake and the sky reflected at left.

As a former sailor (US Navy) always feel good around boats and this view was really nice. Will be fun for a pre or post-dinner walk, and did see a lot of activity there. There were people riding bikes, and saw a guy with his border collie sitting in a chair by the water. Talked to him for a bit, have a warm place in my heart for border collies as I have two of them waiting to play frisbee with me in North Carolina. I think its a pretty nice area, and sure did not know it was there. Not sure how good The Boathouse is going to be though I am told a lot of good things about it, but will for sure be returning to this place in the future just to relax.

Really enjoyed the views of the water, and headed back from there to find Glory Days also on Hull Street for a refreshing barley pop. That was also a very nice place, servers were very friendly and of course liked the sports theme of the place (the bathroom is well worth checking out as well). Good food and liked the little tv sound things at the tables. Get the number on the tv (there are many around) punch in the number and presto...you have sound. Nice touch in my book.
Took a quick view of Hull Street some weeks ago, but today was a bit of a deeper look. I was pleasantly surprised and for sure feel this area is very worthy of some much deeper study. I will be returning to this area in the very near future.

Hot Weekend in Concord, NC (August 8-10)

Got back to Carolina this weekend, the warmest of the year. Took an early morning motorcycle ride on Sunday, which is a great way to avoid traffic and the heat to a point, out to Harrisburg, NC. Rode mostly some backroads, though did roll down NC 24/27 (nice road that rolls into Charlotte later on) but went only as far as Harrisburg. There stopped and checked out the cabin at left. It is being restored, and is said to be a "Pre-Civil War" structure. Like Virginia, North Carolina is one of the original 13 colonies and dates way back in US History. One of the great things about both places is that I am a real history buff, and enjoy that part of the area(s).

Building at left was near the cabin, and also is an old restored building. There is a small train that apparently runs around the building. This old stuff is "sort of new", so I am not sure exactly what it will be (or what its like when its open) but enjoyed it.
At any case a good Sunday ride. I also rode on Monday with a buddy from work (Steve, who took early retirement from the job that brought me to Virginia) , but that was the warmest day of the year. Nice ride in the country, but we cut that one short. Partly due to the heat, also due to things I needed to do to get ready to come back to Virginia for two weeks. On top of everything, had some car issues to deal with while I was home, luckily that turned out well. I also got the required NC auto inspection, so good for another year with the state.
Getting back to Sunday, Patty and I did a little exploring. Went a number of places, including a first look at Ikea which is new to University City, NC just outside of Charlotte, NC. Ikea (for the few that do not know) sells furniture; and really enjoyed checking out the store. It is wildly popular and I could see why. Prices and many of the items they sell are creative, interesting and very inexpensive. Plan on spending a good amount of time there, as the crowd is huge at the store. They also have some interesting food there with (by the look of it) Swedish meatballs being very popular. The University area was very packed on Sunday, in addition to being the home of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (aka UNCC) it also has a great number of retail areas.
It was a very good trip home. Using a bank vacation day, made it a three day weekend. That makes it more worthwhile, but still a short visit to me. Enjoyed time with my wife, son and the two border collies who never fail to keep me laughing. Patty will be here at the end of the month in Richmond, looking forward to showing off some of the town sights I have seen so far, we are also going to explore the food choices here. I have found a few local places of interest, but looking for some more; and that is my project for this weekend. I think when you go to a town the more interesting places to eat are the local ones rather than the national chains. That search will be the focus of my next post!

Along the Midlothian Turnpike

Nice low key weekend in the Richmond, VA area. Spent the weekend here, took some time to do a little exploring along the Midlothian Turnpike. Wanted to take a look at it, basically its my backyard, but have been wandering on my weekends here more downtown and also around Petersburg. Plus, my wife Patty will be spending a weekend here with me at the end of the month, and there is a quilt shop in Midlothian that she wants to see, and I thought it a good idea to find that. Turned out to be fairly easy, the quilt shop is behind Crab Louie's in a bright yellow building, and looks like a good size place.
On previous visits I went to the Midlothian Mines which is sort of neat; something remarkable about very old abandoned ruins; and have been to the big mall just past 288. This trip I went to Lowe's (for research on a project I am working on back in North Carolina), and took a tour of the Chesterfield Towne Center which was a return trip. Made a first visit to Hooters; hoped they would have another bike show, but no such luck this visit but enjoyed a tasty barley malt. Rode up to the big mall after finding the quilt shop, passing a string of strip malls. Again have been to a few of those (really liked the Richmond Music Center in one of them) but relatively nameless commercial sites. A string of car dealerships from one end to the other.
At the big mall, many of the buildings are empty, but a few places of interest in there. Stopped for lunch at CiCi's Pizza. I like it, and even like the "Welcome to CiCi's" greeting you get at all of those. Cheap eats and sometimes some really good surprises in there. Went by Books A Million for a while, nothing like a bookstore.
Drove on up, went past some country roads. Came across a Civil War sign, so turned down a very twisty road found an old Confederate graveyard. Out of the 250 or so graves, only 92 were identified. Nice little monument there, find a great many of those sort of things here. Circled around and got back on 288, rode back down Midlothian Turnpike and back to the apartment. Rented a movie at Blockbuster before going to the apartment; Watchmen was pretty interesting with some great music and a rather different sort of story. Have to say I enjoyed it, not your typical superhero movie at all.
Today have pretty much stuck close to home. Did get the laundry done at the laundrymat; one of the joys of apartment living. Always an interesting group there though; its a real multicultural experience. Cleaned the apartment here, and have been watching X-Games and the occasional drizzle outside under very cloudy skies.