Richmond Renaissance – Day One

Hello? Anybody home?

Yes! Still here and hoping to catch you up on everything that has been going on in July. This month has been ridiculously busy for our family. I have been traveling of sorts for 3 weeks this month, visiting family, driving my children to summer camp, celebrating birthdays, cleaning and updating the house and garden, preparing our homeschool curriculum for next year, etc. etc. When I think about my July, the phrase that comes to mind is the famous bumper sticker, “Sit down, shut up and hold on.” I have been running so hard and fast that I hardly have time to think. I just go.

For the past two weeks, I have been spending time in Richmond, Virginia while my children attended a wonderful summer camp there. Is it crazy to drive over an hour each way to summer camp? Yes, perhaps. But I have learned that I am far from the only homeschooling parent who goes to such lengths. One mother told me that she and her daughter spent a week camping so that her daughter could attend a special camp in another city.

To keep the cost of the camp manageable for our family, we needed to commit to commuting two hours each day (one hour down and one hour back home) to attend the camp. It would be too expensive to stay in a hotel for 10 days or to spend the gas money to drive back home after dropping off the children in the morning. So, I end up just hanging out in Richmond for the entire day with my son.

Depending on your perspective, this either sounds marvelous or exhausting. It ends up being a little of both. It’s not quite like being a tourist because there is no hotel room (or bathroom!) to use as a base. It feels a little more like being a homeless person. All we have is the car. So, if the weather is either incredibly hot (as it tends to be in Virginia in July) or rainy, we are left to shelter in the car, outside or in the occasional museum. We try to keep our expenses down on our entertainment so we look for a lot of free or cheap events and pack our lunches.

Through this experience, I have learned that “hanging out” is a muscle that has to be exercised. It is easy to get in a pattern in your life where you run your routine day after day. Once you strip all that away and there is “nothing to do” it can be a little daunting. Add in a strange city you are not as familiar with and the challenges multiply. But if you open yourself to the challenge, you can have some amazing experiences.

For the next several days, I will walk you though my first 10 days in Richmond. I have another 10 days to go in August for a different camp so I will feel a bit like a Richmond native by the time I am done. I find Richmond a fascinating story. When I first moved to Washington, Richmond was in transition. It was not a particularly great city. It seemed a bit run down and crime-ridden. Fast forward to last year when I spent my first year “hanging out” in Richmond during summer camp and the city completely shocked and surprised me. Richmond was revitalized. There was so much to see and do. Most areas of the city gleamed due to recent investments of money. There were a lot of construction projects going on and a general buzz of excitement to the city. I am pleased to report that this trend continues. There is a lot to be excited about in Richmond.

So, come “hang” with me in Richmond!

Day One

Last year, I hit all the major kid-friendly tourist destinations in Richmond, i.e. The Children’s Museum, the Science Museum, the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. We toured the Capitol, walked the Canal Path, explored Maymont and took the bridge to Belle Island, All of these are very cool things and are worth repeating but this year I wanted to dig a little deeper and see what else we could come up with.

So, day one, after camp drop-off, I headed to the Visitor’s Center at the Richmond Convention Center to pick up some ideas.

I chatted with a kind woman manning the desk who gave me two excellent maps of Richmond highlighting tourist destinations and gave me some ideas for some of the lesser-known sites. We discussed Richmond’s Renaissance and she indicated that a huge factor in this process was the city attracting young people who wanted to live in the downtown area. Millennials finally get some positive cred.

Another great free resource at the Visitor’s Center is the 2013 Richmond Visitor’s Guide. The “Attractions” section lists all of the museums, hiking trails, etc. including indicating the hours of operation and whether an admissions fee is charged. While there, I also picked up the latest issues of The Richmond Voice, Style Weekly and the Guide to Virginia’s Civil War.

On our way to our first destination, we drove through the city’s Jackson Ward neighborhood and saw this heartfelt sign about the Trayvon Martin case.

During our drive down to Richmond that morning, I just happened to flip the radio through Steve Harvey’s morning radio program. He explained how hurtful he found the jury’s verdict and the impact it had on him as a father of three teenaged African American sons. “If you didn’t have to have a conversation with your sons yesterday about how they need to act and what they need to wear so as not to be perceived as a threat to society, count yourself lucky.” It was a very sobering conversation.

Our first stop was at the Confederate War Chapel. I needed a quick stop since I didn’t have much time before I had to pick up my youngest daughter who was only attending camp half day. We admired the Gothic Revival architecture.

A man on break from his job at the art museum next door told us that the chapel was closed but that we could peek in the windows on the back side if we wanted to. While we were peeking, a policeman came walking by. “What the heck…” he said, “Would you like to take a peek inside?” He was apparently patrolling and had keys to the chapel. We, of course, said yes!

Inside, the chapel has simple architecture with some amazing stained glass windows.

While we were chatting with the policeman, I noticed he had not a Southern accent but an English one! Naturally, I had to ask how he ended up in Virginia. He then went on to tell me this incredibly romantic story about how he was stationed in Italy with the British military when he was younger and met a wonderful American woman. They lost touch, married other people and then, years later, she just happened to look him up on Facebook. The timing was perfect and then ended up getting married soon after. We both agreed it was a story worthy of a romantic movie.
At that point, we had to leave to pick up my youngest daughter.

After picking up my daughter, we drove toward what I thought was Maymont but the GPS dropped me at the North Bank trailhead instead. We decided to roll with this happy accident and go for a hike. We ate our lunch in the car and then loaded up for our adventure. As luck would have it, it was about 100 degrees outside. I hadn’t really planned on hiking but knew we needed to carry water with us. We had a flat of water bottles in the car for emergencies. I improvised a water-carrying solution that would leave my hands free to wrangle my son.

The previous week it had been raining hard in Virginia, drenching us every day. It didn’t feel very much like summer. The trailhead warned us that the river level was above 9 feet and that the trail was soggy and closed to bikes. Undeterred, we pressed on.

A little way in, we saw a sign asking us to choose between the path to “Texas Beach” or the “North Bank Trail.” A fellow hiker, a middle-aged man carrying a cooler, advised that we should take the path to Texas Beach. We headed down that route and noticed that the man kept waiting for us around every corner. Some might find this creepy or weird, but you had to have been there. It was more of a friendly vibe. As we got to talking, I learned that he was a veteran and was coming to meet his buddies. They regularly meet to keep in touch with each other and look after the trail.

We walked across a railroad bridge.

And down a set of stairs that had interesting graffiti on the walls.

Typical Virginia forest jungle began to emerge.

The trail was a bit moist but nothing to worry about . . . . until we hit this.

A mud pit traversed by wooden railroad ties with an enormous tree stump in the middle appeared. The difficulty level of the trail went from 1 to 10. Our veteran hiking friend went across first. I started across with the children. They liked the idea of walking a balance beam in the middle of the forest. At the midway point, I instructed my daughter to climb the tree stump and wait until I could get to the other set of railroad ties.

Here is where I appreciate that the South’s greatest export is its gentlemen. Our veteran set down his cooler, walked back across the railroad ties to the tree stump, picked up my daughter and carried her across safely. “I have a daughter who is 23 now,” he said. “I know how it is.”

We walked a little further down the trail and began to see the James River.

The river was very high. The veteran pointed out where Texas Beach is as well as some harmless water snakes. I couldn’t tell if the beach itself was submerged but the path to the beach area definitely was. He advised that we should pick out one of the little cleared spots along the water further down the trail. We found a good spot and parted company.

My children enjoyed throwing rocks in the water and watching butterflies.

My daughter collected some river stones and pointed out their unusual texture. They are very smooth and clay-like.

As we were sitting enjoying the river, a visitor appeared.

At first, it was just a pleasant novelty to have the goose swim so close to us. But then the goose got closer and closer and eventually walked onto our little beach!

It was not a small goose. It seemed to be in search of food. I had to tell the children not to throw rocks in the water because the goose seemed to think we were throwing food. The goose nibbled at a few plants along the shoreline and generally would not leave. I did not feel altogether comfortable with this large goose around my children so we packed up and walked on down the trail.

The vegetation got a bit thick in places but it really helped to keep the temperature cool.

Each small beach we passed was occupied by young couples basking in the water. Apparently this is where you go to take your sweetie on a romantic summer picnic. The dress code along the trail was interesting to note. All the men were bare chested with long shorts or swim trunks, sneakers and tattoos. The women wore swimsuits, bikinis, tank tops or maxi dresses.

We reached a difficult scramble of rocks and decided to head back. It was hot but the children had done marvelously on the hike. At one point, my son was behind me and kept pushing me to go faster. He loved to run on the open trail.

His sister made sure he was well hydrated.

We wondered if we would run into the goose on our way back. We did. The goose, however, had moved on up the river and was now perched on a rock right in the middle of one of those romantic summer picnics. The couple was staring perplexedly at this uninvited guest.

We attempted a self-timed photo on the trail and this is what we came up with.

We got back in the car, picked up my eldest daughter from camp and headed home. It was a great start to an interesting week.

*I am not affiliated with any product or service mentioned here.