Church Hill Irish Festival (March 25, 2017)

One of my favorite events is the Church Hill Irish Festival. I tend to go early, and catch the opening parade. Always a good time with a lot of good food, tasty beer, and you get to see guys and gals in kilts play bagpipes and beat on drums. Not the typical thing to do but a whole lot of fun.
Weather was perfect for the festival..t shirt weather for the rest of us, and not a cloud in the shy. Even had a bit of Irish dancing at the festival as well as some really good bands.  

Nearby is St. John's Church. In the graveyard is the mother of Edgar Allen Poe and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
The church is famous for the speech given by Patrick Henry just before the Revolutionary War which ended with the epic line "Give me Liberty or Give me Death". Learned a few things including that the church is much bigger than it was back then, but it is still the original building which has survived as long as America...and then some.

The Valentine and the Poe Museums (March 12, 2017)

 Got out for a while today and got to see for the first time The Valentine Museum. I read that it is either the first or one of the first museums in Richmond, VA. It was founded in 1898, I enjoyed checking it out, and there were many interesting things inside the museum which is focused on the history of Richmond, VA. Nice first visit and plan to return in the future to check out some more of it. There are also other parts of it scattered around the city.  

As for the Poe Museum, I have been there a number of times. It focuses on the life of Edgar Allen Poe, one of my favorite authors. Of note, he spent most of his life and wrote most of his books in the city of Richmond. The house the museum is situated in was never a residence of his but is the oldest surviving house in the City of Richmond. It is a very interesting museum which tells the story of a very interesting man. Well worth a visit if you are ever in Richmond, VA.

A Walk in Manchester (March 11, 2017)

 Warmer day then expected..not warm enough to really enjoy a motorcycle ride, but got in the car and rode to Manchester. Forget the British flag, this is a suburb of Richmond...though Richmond itself was once British property...hence I think the name. Took this photo from Legend Brewing which is both local in my case and my favorite brewery in Richmond. I go to a lot of them in the region, but this is my go to pub for lack of a better term. This view is from the beer deck.

I purchased by current ride at Scoot Richmond which is a 2016 Triumph Speedmaster. Yeah, that is a British motorcycle. This is another British motorcycle, a 2017 Triumph Bobber. A few months ago I went to a special showing of this motorcycle, and now they have one for sale (believe they have another). I had traded in my 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan Classic and had learned it had been sold. Stopped by the shop to see the Bobber and to hear about that.  

This bridge is a nice walk. Opened a few months ago and runs from Manchester to downtown Richmond; specifically Tredegar Iron Works which was the big armory for the Confederate States of America in the Civil War. While much of Richmond got burned down when the Union troops took it over, Tredegar largely survived. Walking on this bridge you get to see some of the bridges that were burned back in the day (some of the stone work remains) and a nice river view.    

This is at Tredegar and that is yours truely standing by a Civil War cannon. I really enjoy visiting this place which just drips with history. Also near there is The Virginia War Memorial and Belle Island. Both of those have been visited and will be many times in the future by me, in the past. Nice living close to these areas and also enjoy visiting Hollywood Cemetery which is the home to "two and a half US Presidents" as I like to say and the Oregon Hill neighborhood.
There is a lot of things to do in this area and on a rather cool day in Richmond this was really a fine day to spend it doing some exploring. There is always something new to see here.    

On the way back across the bridge, got a photo of this bird which I had seen flying around for a while. Neat thing is to see all the nature along the James River as well as people enjoying all the nature along the James River.
Made after the walk a quick stop at Legend Brewing as noted. Did not eat but the food is pretty good too, though my favorite thing is the beer. They have been doing this for a long time and it is first rate.
Spent a few pleasant hours there and look forward to future stops in that neighborhood. It has had a lot of nice changes and development over the years and is one of the fastest growing areas of the city here on the Southside of Richmond, VA  .  

Visiting Apollo 11 (March 5, 2017)

Drove today to the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center, the "annex" to the National Air and Space Museum. The main museum is in downtown Washington, DC, this is located in Chantilly, VA. Amazing collection there, and this is my third visit to the museum which is one of my favorite places in Virginia. All sorts of planes there, such as this WWI aircraft. German in this case, and was typical of planes of that era. Wood, wire can canvas. No parachutes for the pilots either. It was a very tough way to fly and to fight and the toll in that war was high on planes and pilots. Another one of the planes in the WW2 collection, again this is a German aircraft. There are many though from all eras of flying including some rare Japanese aircraft, some British and some amazing American aircraft.

Big reason for this trip was to see Apollo 11 which is getting cleaned up for an upcoming four city tour during the next couple of years. This is the Command Module from the first crew to land on, and walk on the moon.
The very vast majority of aircraft and space craft are the planes and spaceships that made history. There are all sorts of things to see, as well as rockets, and personal items from many of the pilots and the era. I always have enjoyed my visits and certainly am looking forward to the next one.

Seen here is a later day WWII Navy plane, and an F-100 from the early Vietnam era. The museum is open most days and admission is free though parking is $15. The museum is located near Dulles Airport, which came in handy when the Space Shuttle Discovery landed on the back of its 747 carrier aircraft a few years ago. I have posted photos of that amazing spacecraft in previous posts on visits to this museum.