Hot Saturday in the RVA

 Another very toasty Richmond day, so got out for a bit between Olympic events on tv. Visited the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (also known as the VMFA) which is located on The Boulevard in Richmond, VA. It is a huge and outstanding museum with a lot of really great displays and some interesting things to see, no matter what your interest. Not hard to find something that you will enjoy, and there is a lot to cover. Check out the museum web site for more information. While some of the museum has a charge for certain exhibits, most of the museum is free of charge...seven days a week.

There is a lot of art covering all time periods. I liked this Renaissance era art work....very cool religious period art work. The museum has a number of floors and all sorts of periods and forms of art are covered. If you like painting, sculpture, furniture, Tiffany lamps, Egyptian, Indian, Asian, modern art, ancient art, silver, Native American art...you can find all that and more there. There are even a number of art works to be found outside of the building. There is a small charge for parking in the garage, but it is usually not hard to find free parking on the street nearby. The museum is located in one of the most interesting neighborhoods in Richmond.    

This was from one of the "pay" displays in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, but was outside of the admission area. This display is called "Maharaja-The Spenders of India's Great Kings". This carriage, made largely of silver, was built in 1915. There were some 200 items on display (from a collection based in London, England) . This would be a really fine way to get around back in the day. At any case had a really great time there, have made a number of visits to the museum, always see something new and different on display, many of the displays change from time to time.

Speaking of new and different, also made a return visit to one of my favorite motorcycle shops in Richmond-Velocity Motorcycles. They do sell new bikes, the India made Royal Enfield, but also some unique and classic motorcycles as well. Never know what you will see there, and have never had a bad visit to this very interesting and friendly shop. It is located on West Marshall Street in  Richmond...check their web site for more information.
After a short visit up West Broad Street in the Short Pump area of Richmond, went to dinner at Buz and Ned's for some of the best barbeque in Richmond in my opinion. Back in to watch some of the Olympic action after a fun day in Richmond. During the summer, not a lot goes on (though there is a lot coming up) but was fun to do some old favorite things on a hot humid day in the RVA.  

Birkdale Village/Lake Norman (July 22, 2012)

 Nice motorcycle ride in the Huntersville, NC area....there are a whole lot of interesting things in that city which is sort of a suburb of Charlotte, NC. Photo at left was taken at Birkdale Village, which is both a retail place with stores, restaurants, a movie theater, and also has apartments(maybe even condo's, not sure how its set up). There are a few places like it in the Charlotte area, but this is the biggest and the best. I rode out to check out a new place I read about in the Charlotte Observer: good food and tasty beverages were found at Big Daddy's Burger Bar. I had a nice time there!     

Just down the road, is Lake Norman. I am told this was a man made lake, to provide cooling water for the nearby nuclear reactors of the power station there. It is a very popular place for fishing, boating, and there are some remarkable houses along its shoreline. It is one massive lake-really something impressive to see from the air. Huntersville is really a big retail area, with a number of shopping malls, but also a lot of neighborhoods, and a large number of apartments. Traffic in that area can be really bad, though they have expanded the main access roads-that construction just completed this year in fact. It is a nice place to visit on an early Sunday, and I enjoyed being there near the water before the activity really got going. 

Belle Isle /Tredegar Iron Works (July 15, 2012)

 Hot day in the RVA....more of the really hot weather (100+ heat indexes) has rolled in, but not for a long time. Belle Isle is a popular place for Richmond locals to cool off, I spent some time just wandering around there, which was fun. I got to see finally, the hydroelectric plant, thanks to some new signs there. It was pretty impressive. On this very hot Sunday, there were a lot of people getting in the river, from the rocks, which seemed like a good idea. I just decided to walk around and sweat off a few pounds! Great history there (dating back to Indian history), and a fun place to visit.

Tredegar Iron Works is nearby, it was a major armory for the Confederate States of America, and made a lot of the cannon as well as the armor plating for the CSS Virginia. It survived for a long time after the Civil War, but today is one of the big Civil War sites in the Richmond area. It has a rather nice museum (also one you can pay to go though, but the National Park Service site is free...I have been though both in the past), but enjoyed my return visit today. Pretty toasty in there today, but very interesting and the Park Service guides have a lot of good information. It is a very good part of Richmond history, and well worth a visit.
Later in the day, cooling thunderstorms broke out, and were very welcome. Thought to bring some water, and that was a very good move on this day.

Sunday Concord Ride (July 8, 2012)

 Before the temperatures got back up in the 100 degree range, got out on a quiet Sunday morning on the motorcycle. Thought it would be fun to get one more ride on the motorcycle before heading back to Richmond, VA. Stopped and took this photo at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Very interesting place and have had a lot of fun there at races and other events, and this is a nice place to visit. It was going to be the site of a DNC rally, but apparently that is now not going to happen. It will be the site of the fall NASCAR race, and sure to be some other events held there as well this year.  

 While I was out went also by the Concord Regional Airport and also (seen at left) Concord Mills Mall. Concord Mills is the #1 tourist attraction in North Carolina. It is a big massive thing, but I am more impressed with the beaches and the mountains-but to each their own. It is quiet at least on an early Sunday morning. Not only is the actual complex huge but there are all sorts of strip malls around it, so if you are looking for something to buy, or to eat, or just something interesting to do, chances are you will find it here. Really was a big change to the area when they built this monster a few years ago, but it has been a good thing for the area.  

Wandered down some country roads (easy to find those in Concord, before heading to Union Street. Union Street is pretty cool; lots of really old houses and its a big tree lined street. In fact the house that was built by the founder of Cannon Mills (which is now gone, but was the giant mill complex in Kannapolis for many years) is for sale. Photo at left was taken in downdown Concord. Lots of good places to eat there, and again some fun things to do can be found there. It is a lot calmer (and on this Sunday morning mostly closed for a few more hours) than Concord Mills, but pretty neat and interesting. Overall, it was a really good ride, got in before the heat got really brutal, and enjoyed one last ride on the motorcycle before I wrap things up here, and head back to Richmond, VA. Almost time to get back to work once again!
 

Back in Kentuckiana (July 1-5, 2012)

 Made a visit to Louisville and Southern Indiana during July 1-5. Like with Charlotte, and for that matter Richmond, it was still all during the period over 100+ as the heat wave continued. Took this photo of Louisville, Kentucky from the Indiana side. Many people comment about how much Richmond is like Louisville (and like me, a lot of people from Louisville came to Richmond via Concord, NC) but this is a nice photo of the city. In front of it, is a barge, still a popular way to haul freight in the area. The river is an important route, and was a big reason why Louisville was founded. 

This is The Silver Dollar, a former Fire Station (and a very old one at that). Like with Station 2 in Richmond, Louisville recycles old buildings, and in fact has a large number of them in the city. Jeffersonville, Clarksville, and also New Albany have a great many old buildings that fine new uses, as does Richmond (that is not so much the case in Charlotte, which likes to tear down old buildings and put up new ones). Anyhow, now The Silver Dollar is a restaurant/bar on Frankfort Avenue. Used to live in that neighborhood, which has grown substantially since my days there. Still saw a lot of things that brought back a lot of memories, it was a fun place to live with a lot of interesting things to see. It was as is my current area of Richmond, a great place to walk and explore. Good to see the area is doing so well.
The area changes, but not a great deal over time. Many of the new things stand out among the old, but that is nice knowing that no matter how long I am gone, can still find my way around.   

 Louisville Papa John Stadium is the home to the Louisville Cardinals football team, U of L is a huge deal in Louisville, they also have a very large and new basketball arena (which replaced Freedom Hall) on the river (and you can see a portion of it in the first photo at top on the far left). Not just football and basketball, they also have a first class AAA Baseball team, the Louisville Bats, and Slugger Park in downtown Louisville is a state of the art facility as well, and in my opinion, one of the best baseball parks in the US (at least on the AAA level). Charlotte is building a new field for the AAA Charlotte Knights-will be fun to see what that turns out to be.

This is a look at Churchill Downs, which over the years has grown to be one massive complex. It has been greatly added on over the years. In this photo you can see the famous Twin Spires, and some of the new additions. Believe it or not, even from a distance, this is not all of it, there is more to the left not seen in this photo.
Nice visit to Louisville, and we had a great time. Traffic is a huge mess-for years they have wanted to build more bridges, but a number of lawsuits have stopped those, and now with growth and time that has really come to roost in the city-traffic is a total nightmare. They are planning to start work on two bridges, hopefully that will happen. Some great places to eat there, and a lot of fun people, plus a lot of interesting things to see and do. The Derby City is a great place to visit, and always close to my heart!