Easter Sunday Ride (April 16, 2017)

I like Easter Day rides and at least for the second time in the last couple of years it was a good day to ride. Certainly it was breezy but it was fun,.traffic was light and the ride was very warm with temperatures in the upper 80's. There was also a zero percent chance of rain.
All those factors make for a remarkable day. I went to South Park Mall. Went to see something in a store but the store was closed as was around half of them.    

Went to West Broad Village (near the mall) and stopped at Carolina Ale House. I had lunch earlier at Zaxby's but did stop in for some refreshment. Cruised around a bit and also made a stop at the Anchor Bar. The original store is supposed to be where Buffalo Wings were invented. Tried some and liked them.
Got home around 4;30 pm, Mileage was not real big around 46 I think but it was a very nice ride on a very fine day.

Hampton Air Park (April 14, 2017)

While on a Good Friday motorcycle ride (more photos on my "Racing with the Wind Page" to the Hampton Roads area saw many things. Stopped by the Hampton Air Park where I saw this F-105 Thunderchief. It was a Vietnam era fighter-bomber flown by the US Air Force. The museum is one of my favorites.    

I have been here many times and enjoy the collection of aircraft, rockets and spacecraft found there. It is on "Mercury Boulevard" right off a I-64. Found it once a few years ago and have been there a few times.
This place at left is an F-100 Super Sabre which also saw action in the Vietnam War. I think it was the first US fighter that could go supersonic in a straight line (if not in a climb). I always thought this a very beautiful aircraft.  

This is an old air defense missile which was designed to shoot down Russian bombers. Like many of the weapons there, it never (thankfully) did that role. I could see that many of the weapons have been repainted and cleaned up, and there is still some work to do as can be seen at left. Still it is a very cool to see all the items in the park and you can't beat the price which is free. There is also a small museum inside a building there but it was closed for the holiday.    

Photo here is of a T-33 trainer. It was based on the P-80 Shooting Star which was the first real US Air Force jet. The P-59 Airacomet  was the first plane with a jet engine but was not put into production. The P-80 (later F-80)  and both were developed in World War II. Neither flew in the war. The F-80 did see action in the Korean War. The T-33 was the most widely produced version and was in use for over 20 years. It was considered the best jet trainer in the world.
I had a great time (as always at this museum) Wikipediia has some more information on this museum (just punch up "Hampton Air Park") and usually make it a regular stop when I am in the Hampton area. It is a great area to see aviation items with another museum - The Virginia Air and Space Center - which is the official site for the NASA Langley Center which is local to Hampton. Langley Air Force Base is also in the area and usually (but not this year) puts on a really good air show. I have some photos in a previous post from last years show. Fun city for an aviation fan, as is nearby Oceana Naval Air Station. Oceana will be putting on it's air show this year and look for photos of that (weather permitting) in a future post this September 16-17.    

Visit to Charleston, SC (March 30-April 1, 2017)

 Great time during my visit to Charleston, South Carolina with my girlfriend Debbie during my vacation. We did not pick the best time to go, as there was a huge flower show in Summerville, South Carolina and also the Saturday morning bridge run which brought a great number of people there. We had to stay in nearby Moncks Corner at the Moncks Corner Inn. Great thing was that turned out to be a really good hotel and enjoyed it.
We did get out to the South Carolina Aquarium which is (as it has been been in past visits) nothing short of remarkable. It remains my favorite one to visit and we enjoyed it a great deal. The visit to the aquarium lasted almost three hours. It is a can't miss stop if you go to Charleston.
We attempted to go into Charleston to see some of the sights. Never have I seen the city so packed with people and cars. There was literally no places to park and just a huge mass of people there, We did drive around to see a few things and had hoped to take a carriage ride around town but the long lines made that something to do for another time in the future.

We did get out on the bridge which is a remarkable thing. Have ridden on it before but as always impressed and a huge change from what was there a few years prior. It is a beautiful bridge.

We did make a lunch trip to Shem Creek. Stopped at RB's which is a favorite stop of mine. Good fish and the service is really good as well as the view there. No dolphins were playing in the water this time, but a number of pelicans were and enjoyed watching them. While it was really busy there, it was not too awfully bad and after a short 25 minute wait we were able to get a table and enjoy some fish.
After that, headed back to Moncks Corner and visited with Debbie's Cousin and her family there. It was a wonderful time.

While the drive to Charleston was gray and gloomy the ride back was very nice. Made a stop at a Harley-Davidson dealer (Debbie was looking for some t-shirts) and as for myself really enjoyed the visit to North Carolina. Stopped at this rest area and checked out the art work there. It is called "Dive Bomber Duck" and was made by the late Vollis Simpson. Mr. Simpson is the official Folk Artist of North Carolina.
Trip was without problems on the road and we got back right around midnight of what I guess would be April 2. Looking forward to my next visit to this great city.  

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.