From the Motorcycle Ride (March 16, 2016)

 Great time on a wonderful day to ride to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a good ride and I have a few more photos on my "Racing with the Wind" page, but these are some different ones.
This was the site of an old farm, not the original buildings but they are not replicas either but rather of the period. Big building is a barn and the smaller building to its right is a "Bear proof pigpen".
Being early March the Visitor Center was closed but the farm was still open and I enjoyed exploring it and seeing what life was like back in the day!

 Course the wonder of the Parkway is the amazing views. Sure not the color of fall, but nice to see the mountains again. It was an 80 degree day and best of all was the fact that only a few cars and motorcycles were there. I pretty much had the mountains to myself...though did get to enjoy it with the handful of people there.
The road goes way far...close to 500 miles if you want to ride the whole thing, and it runs into North Carolina. It was in that state that I first discovered the joy of riding the Parkway. Glad to say the Virginia section of it is also remarkable. I do hope one day to ride the whole thing, as there are still many sections I have not seen in both states.  

Made a stop and wandered around after taking to the roads again to the University of Virginia. A beautiful school (and had been there before in a previous visit). This is the Rotunda which was designed by Thomas Jefferson and is undergoing repairs (which is a good idea considering it is almost as old as the US itself).
The school is well worth a visit, as the campus is old and just amazing to check out. Following my visit I wandered around a bit more on the motorcycle finally deciding to stop and get a little lunch before riding back to Richmond.

Had lunch at the Downtown Mall, and some of the thing I like are the non chain restaurants to be found there, and the fact that there is a lot of seating outside. Being a college town the fact that prices are not too high is also a big plus.
After the lunch and a bit of exploring (saw that the Drive by Truckers were playing at the Jefferson there that very night...wish I had known that earlier) headed back toward Richmond.
From Richmond, The Blue Ridge Parkway is right at 100 miles, so it was a long ride there and back.  I rode the parkway a bit and of course put a few miles on the bike wandering around Charlottesville which is right on the highway (in my case) on the way back.
80 degrees though on what was the warmest day of the year so far...even made a little night ride after a break around Richmond. Just a wonderful day of exploring some old and new favorites in the area of the Blue Ridge Mountains.