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 !

Christmas and the New Year (January 3, 2016)

 I have never enjoyed a Christmas time as much as I enjoy Christmas in Richmond, VA. The famous "Tacky Light Tour" as they call it brings out people in cars, buses, touring limos and even one night for me, on my motorcycle! Some of the houses are just nothing short of remarkable and I have four examples here for your viewing pleasure. Take this one at left for example.....  

This is on a small creek, and is always (or at least has been for the time I have been here in Richmond) a very beautiful sight.  

These houses are owned by two related families, and is one of the most popular stops on the tour. Just an amazing sight and one that I have been a few times during the holiday. There is just so much to see that it is hard to take it all in on one stop. I cant imagine what the electric bill is on these houses.  

Finally there is this house near me in the Oregon Hill section of Richmond. If you get the chance say in December (many of them do not light up till early December though some are as early as Thanksgiving) I can really recommend you check some of these out. You can find a list at the Richmond.com website under the "Tacky Light Tour".
I do hope that everyone visiting these pages had a very good New Year and that 2016 is a wonderful time for you and yours.
Looking forward to bringing you some good photos of this very interesting city in the year to come.    

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.