Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (September 6, 2015)

On September 6, took my girlfriend Bonnie to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. One of the best discoveries of coming to Richmond, and certainly if you have been following this blog you would know I have been there a few times. I really believe that there is something there for everyone. It is a fine museum which some years ago was greatly upgraded and I think it would be a fine museum in a lot of even larger cities than Richmond.
This statue is of Caligula, one of the most notorious of the Roman Emperiors. He was killed by his down bodyguard and the empire tried to destroy all record of him. Only two statues of him are known to exist. This is one of two.
All sorts of art can be found there from very old art (like this for instance and older) and up to modern times. They have a lot of special showings which often charge admission to see those, but for the very vast majority of the collection admission is free. This is also the same for the Virginia Historical Society Museum which is next door. I visited that a few weeks ago and have a post about that on this blog as well.  

This work is by Andy Warhol...one of the great modern artists. They have quite a collection of paintings and they cover a lot of periods. I am real impressed with their Renaissance collection which is pretty cool to see. If you like sculpture, or pottery, or metal work...heck as I am saying whatever you are looking for you can probably find there.
 

I love this furniture which is also part of the museum collection. You can really see a lot of remarkable things there.
The museum can be found on The Boulevard in Richmond, Virginia (which also has as I mentioned the Virginia History Museum next door). It is open virtually every day but check their web site for hours and information. I think you will find that a trip to this museum is time well spent.
You will find that The Boulevard is a very interestiung part of the city with nearby Carytown, Byrd Park and Maymont also in the area. Its a great area to spend a few days in the RVA.

Rides around Richmond (September 5-6,2015)

 Went on a few motorcycle rides, there are some interesting places in Richmond for sure (and outside of it too). This is Gaines Mill, which I have been to a few times before. Was a Civil War Battlefield of the "Seven Days Battles" in which was a part of America's Bloodiest Conflict. Much of it is as it looked back then..they have done a great job of keeping these places that way. Within walking distance was the much later battle of Cold Harbor which is also a remarkable place. Both are well worth a visit if you are in the area, of course there are a number of battlefields in the Richmond area and just outside of it.  

This is the Oldest House in Richmond, and plaque gives its history. It is the home of the Edgar Allen Poe museum, though the author never lived there.
There is a lot of very interesting places in the area of this house. Not far was the Confederate Navy Yard, also St. John's Church is not far, At St. Johns's Patrick Henry gave his Give me liberty or give me death" speech .

This is the house mentioned above, which is also the E A Poe museum. He lived in Richmond for quite a while, his mother is buried in St. John's Church Cemetery (the church is mentioned above) and a lot of items from his life are found in the museum.
Not a lot, cause the author died poor, but the museum is a nice tribute to him, and there are some amazing things to be found in there.
The building itself is also really something to see, and there are some really nice gardens on the grounds as well.

Finally this is Cary Street, at least a part of it. Cobblestone streets and some interesting sights to see as well. Lot of fun to be found in Richmond, VA/

A Road Trip to Wheeling, WV (August 9-10, 2015)

Wanted to go someplace different, out of the norm, so rolling down the road and headed to Wheeling, WV. My destination was the Wheeling Island Casino...not much of a gambler, and that certainly was proven, but was going more for the destination than the idea of making big money.
I used to live in Louisville, Kentucky on the Ohio River and got this photo of the same river, though quite a few miles away. The bridge was very cool and very old, having been built way before the Civil War.  

From the bridge, got this photo of Wheeling. Interesting old river town, and there was a blues festival there. I wandered around a bit on foot, which is the best way to see a city. Had a great time there as it was a very interesting place to explore.
There were a lot of very old buildings, and some cool things to see. Seemed to be pretty quiet on a Sunday though it seemed a lot of people were at the Blues Festival. That sounded great.

Had a good time at the Wheeling Island casino, which was very nice and a lot of fun. Left on Monday morning, again driving across the old bridge which has a metal grating surface.
Soon I was back on the road, the drive to and from Richmond took me though Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and finally West Virginia. Weather to West Virginia was pretty good, trip back to Richmond came across some scattered showers.    

I did stop to check out a few things. This is Fort Necessity in Pennsylvania. This is pretty much (cause the old fort was excavated) an exact replica of the Fort which was a battle site during the French and Indian War. On July 3-4, 1754 a force of French and Indians defeated a force of British under the command of George Washington! It was the only time that George Washington ever surrendered. The fort was burned but posts remained below ground which gave the layout of the Fort. Nice museum there at the Park  with some good displays.  

Neat place I stopped was Winchester, Virginia. Some very cool buildings, stores and restaurants (plus a Civil War Museum of course). Nice place to get a break from the road, and just some really interesting places to look at.
The trip was a great deal of fun, something completely different with some nice things to see and do. It is good now and then to break away from the norm. I enjoyed the days of, sort of a pre vacation from the upcoming vacation, and glad I got to do this. It is a very amazing and wonderful world out there.

Virginia Historical Society (August 2, 2015)

This has always been one of my favorite museums in Richmond, but it has been closed for the last year undergoing a makeover to the tune of something like $30 million.
They had some amazing things to see, such as this display. These are the bones of actual Civil War soldiers shot by the actual rifles of the day. It was amazing the caliber of the guns used.
The war started out with almost Revolutionary War tactics but the weapons had been greatly improved. Later in the war they learned and adopted what would later be used in WW1...Trench Warfare.
There was a lot of Civil War history, and I am glad to see, some good comments about the "Lost Cause"  which according to the museum was created to defend the undefendable. The Civil War was about the end of Slavery, not for some sort of State Rights (well, except for the right of states to own slaves). The war ended all of that, and brought the US up with most of the rest of the world.



This is the inside of the museum, showing some of the displays and some of the cases. I have noted some old familiar displays and some exciting new ones. They have done a remarkable change for the better to this museum.

I love aviation and loved this display. The planes at top were used in windtunnels for testing at NASA in Hampton, VA. They have a big research center there and have since the early days of spaceflight. NASA though is also about aviation.
The flight suit and helmet beloned to Francis Gary Powers who was famous for being shot down in this U-2 over the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
All in all it is good to have this museum back, and I had a great time exploring it, and you can be sure that there will be more posts about the museum in the months and years to come.
As for the day, it was a rainy morning so I took the car there for this trip. Later in the day it dried out and I got to ride the motorcycle.
That event is on my Racing with the Wind Page, for that went to another favorite event.

Redskins Training Camp (August 2, 2015)

 Not a fan of the Washington Redskins ...my two favorites are the Chicago Bears (grew up with them) and from my time in Carolina the Carolina Panthers. Still though, a chance to see football again which is my favorite sport and to check out training camp is a great thing indeed.
These are the Washington Redskins which practiced in what is known as a "Walkthrough" which was kind of neat. Not a lot of action, though later this week in a practice with the Houston Texans there was a fight that broke out. This was a nice day for football though and the practice was really good.

This is RG III, the quarterback for the Washington Redskins. As I said it was a pretty laid back practice, but did enjoy it. Parking has gone up to $10 so I parked the motorcycle (and enjoyed the ride) on a side street just a short distance away.
I also got a good brunch at a booth by Croakers Spot which to me is some of the finest fish in the RVA. The crowd for this was really light and had no problem getting good food or getting close to the team.
It was a really good time, and being early in the morning (well, around 10 or so) it was not yet hot and humid.
Last year when I went to this, it was wet day with drizzle so this was much better. I do plan to follow the team, as well as the NFL. I am also looking forward to college football which will also be starting up very soon. Will be glad to see Fall which is one of the best seasons of the year.  

At the Dragon Boat Races (August 1, 2015)

 Went to the Dragon Boat Races held at Rockett's Landing in Richmond, Virginia on August 1. Event has been held for six years, this is my second to go. Had a very good crowd at the event as you can see in the photo I took at left, and there was a lot of things to see and do. In addition to the races there was food, beverages, dancing, and some really good music on some very loud sound systems.
It was a hot day but not real humid and this event is held at a very beautiful place. I was very glad I went and actually think this will be an annual event for me.  

The racing is of a type that I used to see when I was in the Navy and stationed in Thailand. It is sort of a cross between olympic boat races and the movie Ben Hur in that there is a drummer at the front to keep time.
There were a lot of teams there and they were really excited. It does look like a lot of fun and teams were made up of both men and women which I thought was cool.
This was part of a motorcycle ride today (as it turned out a big part) and I have some more photos on my Racing with the Wind blog.  

Richmond Railway Museum (July 18, 2015)

 Interesting Saturday during the motorcycle ride, as I went to some local places. One of note was the Richmond Railway Museum.
The museum used to be an active train station. I believe it was replaced for the most part by the one now in Shockoe Bottom (the Main Street Station) though I did overhear that the station was in use until around 1955.
One thing of note in there was they had a very large model train layout and it was very cool. This is just a very small portion, as it was an open house was very hard to get around it but I did get to see a lot of it, was cool.    

They dont have a huge collection of rolling freight but did have this steam engine and a few other cars.
My favorite train museum is the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina..that is one amazing place. I am sure there are better ones than that, but not that I have ever seen. If you are ever in the area that is worth a stop. That museum also has a lot of cars, other transportation items and even some aircraft. Another big plus in Spencer is that they have train rides there which is a lot of fun.  

However I enjoyed the visit to the Richmond Railway Museum which is located on Hull Street very close to downtown (in the Manchester area of Richmond). . If you are in the area it is well worth a stop, I enjoy visiting the Manchester area and this was a very worthwhile and for that matter new addition for me.