Visit to Yorktown and beyond (February 20, 2016)

 Beautiful day finally after all the snow, rain and cold of the past few weeks...we got upper 60s. I checked out the motorcycle and took it down the road...that road being VA 5 which is one of my favorites. That took me to The Colonial Parkway which is also a fun road to ride and that took me to Yorktown, VA.
Love going to Yorktown, which was in its off season. Was not real crowded (but a lot of motorcycles...go figure) and had a great time there.
Took this photo of the Yorktown Victory Monument, which Congress funded not long after the great battle. At this site (or right near it, the battlefield is preserved and well worth seeing) The Revolutionary War basically ended with the surrender of General Cornwallis to General George Washington. The monument is pretty impressive and is a favorite stop. The motorcycle seen in the photo is of course...mine!

 This is Grace Church which is very old dating back to before the war. One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence is buried there. I enjoyed wandering the city, visited a favorite pub, saw some of the old buildings, and of course wandered along the beach.
I like to take this ride and to visit this place. It is easier and closer than Virginia Beach (which is also very cool) and usually show up there at least twice a year.
Being the off season it was not very crowded but most of the businesses were open and there was a lot to see.  

This was perhaps my favorite photo of the day. I asked permission to get this photo, the lady was very nice but I was most impressed with the dog in the hoodie which I thought was cool. The beach is actually located on the York River which is a big river. Heck, back in the 1700's at the Battle of Yorktown the French Navy was shooting at the British army from that river.
Left around mid afternoon and headed down the road toward Hampton. Another favorite place to visit in the area, which has a lot of aviation history and also some cool Civil War history. Like with Yorktown it is also one of my favorite stops.  

 Does not look like much, but this is NASA Langley. One of the oldest of the NASA research centers, and was a big player in the Mercury spacecraft program which first put American men into space. Being a government facility I did not want to try to get on it.
As it was getting late in the day I did not spend a lot of time in Hampton, but instead headed back toward Richmond via I-64.
The highway was very heavy with a lot of traffic and also some road construction. I think they are going to widen it. Overdue as I noted that traffic heading for Virginia Beach was basically parked.

Heading down the road I stopped in a small town (didnt get the name) for food and fuel. Heading on toward Richmond I stopped at the Virginia Aviation Museum. A favorite place to visit, it was closed when I got there a bit after 5PM but do have two planes outside..an A-7 and this F-14 seen at left. The F-14 is the same type of plane (this is not the one) that was featured in the movie "Top Gun".
After that rolled back onto I-64 and back into Richmond. Wandered around Church Hill section of Richmond and stopped in at a friends house who lives in that very interesting part of Richmond.
 

Went out in the Shockoe Bottom area of Richmond with him, his wife, and some friends of ours for a few hours. Nice walking trip to see some places and share some laughs. I also got to walk a few places.
After that, headed out to the bike and back on it stopped to get this photo from Church Hill of the city of Richmond and got back home right around midnight. Put the bike to bed, and then myself shortly after.
It was a wonderful and amazing day in which I covered right around 180 miles and enjoyed myself from beginning to end.  

Visiting Richmond Museums (February 13, 2016)

 Been a cold few days...very cold in fact. On Valentines Day in fact it snowed and the city dealt with that on Monday morning. Anyhow on Saturday before I went to the Virginia Historical Society. Richmond has a lot of museums, this one covers the wide range of Virginia history.
It has been reworked and in fact was closed for a year. I like what they have done with it though and remains one of my favorite museums in the city. A perfect place to spend a few hours on a bone chilling Richmond day.  

This Statue outside the museum is called War Horse. It was dedicated to the 1.5 million horses killed during the Civil War.
I have posted photos of the museum in other blogs here but there is a lot to see from the very early history of Virginia to modern. Always something new to see...I noticed Patrick Henry's eyeglasses and a life mask of George Washington during this visit. Of course there is a lot of Civil War items and many of them are very interesting. Admission is free still and if you are in the area it is well worth a visit.

Right next door is the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Like the Virginia Historical Society admission is free though some special events can draw an admission charge. There was a special display of art works by Rodin which brought in a huge crowd to the museum, but the rest of the galleries (and there are many on three levels) are free. It is a very fine museum and once again is one of my favorite museums in the area. The fact that two very good ones are side by side is a huge plus.  

Many displays there including this mummy mask which is the big item and jars which were used to hold internal organs prior to making a mummy. Got a kick out of that cause jars such as that were a big part of the movie "The Mummy" which I saw on Sunday night.
Anyhow a great time. Though the last few weeks have been sort of nasty here (we had one remarkable snow storm a few weeks ago) starting to get signs of Spring. Spring is a fantastic time here in Richmond, and it is just a few days away. Hopefully winter is winding down at last !