Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Mini-Break Day 1

Georgetown had spring break last week so we took Caleb out of school on Friday and headed south for a quick and even more fun than we had planned vacation.  We had a loose plan for Friday and after hitting inexplicable traffic on I-95, decided on the Children's Museum of Richmond as our first stop.  We ended up staying until they closed for the day.  It was THAT fun.  It is not a terribly large space, but it provided plenty of enjoyment for hours.
 
They picked apples.
Climbed on dinosaurs.
Serviced cars.
Rode to the rescue.
Milked cows.
Rolled up their sleeves.
Did whatever this is called, for a long time.
Hugged trees.
Played newscaster.
Dug for bones.
Erected, um, stuff.
Went to school.
Got artsy.
Loved every minute of the 5+ hours we were there.  In fact, we had such a great day, we bought an annual membership to ensure we'll be back again, and often.

On our way out of Richmond we drove down Monument Avenue and looked at the...Monuments, obviously.  There are several and they are smack dab in the middle of a very large, heavily trafficked road, so we weren't able to photograph them all.  Okay, so we could have pulled over and crossed the street and waited in between traffic lights to get the perfect shots, but, we didn't.
 
I took this picture of Stonewall Jackson's monument hanging out the driver's side window just as the light was changing to green.  I'm sure the locals looked at my DC license plates and shook their heads in disgust.  No one honked though. 
 
 This monument to Arthur Ashe reminded us that he was from Richmond.  The juxtaposition of this monument alongside those devoted to the heroes of the confederacy is either a testament to real diversity in America or just really ironic.
Further along the Avenue is a grand homage to Jefferson Davis and a much more modest statue honoring J.E.B. Stuart.  Finally, there is this, massive monument to Robert E. Lee.  It's huge.  60 feet tall in fact.  For this shot we did actually pull over.  It was too impressive not to stop for.

Richmond is a lovely city and the perfect place to start our weekend getaway.  I suspect our next visit to Richmond will include not just the Children's Museum but also stops here, here, and here.  We could easily have spent the entire weekend in Richmond and will likely do so, very soon.


2 comments:

Cassidy said...

So much fun. Glad that Matt and Nance could join you. Maybe next time we can all make it. Darn my schedule. On the way home, Matt told Nancy that they were going to call my dad to wish him a happy birthday, and she only wanted to call Kenny. She talked about all of you all day on Sunday.

Adrianne said...

Sucha fantastically fun weekend! MAkes me jealous that I'm not close to all the wonderful things the east coast has to offer - not the least of which is YOU!

 

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