Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Tuesday Spring Break Day 4



Wow!!! Wow!!!! Great Plan!! Long Drive! Disappointment! Disappointment! Disappointment! Drive! Fun at last a park with teeter totters, swings, benches, places to run and grass. I guess that would be the summary of the day.



It's interesting and somewhat sad when you plan everything out in advance and nothing works out as planned. It could bring you to tears but instead you try to make the most of it. I wonder why didn't I know before and we would have just stayed here and found our own toys to play on. We started out on a journey to Richmond. First we would go to the white house of the confederacy then to a park that happens to be on an island in the James River and then finish up our trip by visiting the capitol building. Awesome plan.



The White house of the Confederacy is in the middle of this medical college. To find it is a totally frustrating adventure. I kid you not it is at the end of a dead end street leading into a parking garage. we pulled up in front of the building Bill went in and found out that it was 12$ each. We decided not to go crazy, but we have seen the inside of many of the same types of buildings and Jessica is very tired of civil war history. Disappointment #1 Still everyone was in good spirits and we were glad there was more to come.



On to our lunch and Bell isle park. The highlight of this misadventure was counting the number of train cars on the Barnum and Bailey circus train that we walked by in order to get to the park. However, among the many paths we walked we are not certain that we ever made it to the island or could have made it to the island because of the flooding of the James River. We did find a bridge that led to something but the water was covering what ever piece of land may have been there earlier before the rains. We had carried our lunch for at least the mile and found a cement spot, retrieved the sandwiches, stood and ate our lunch among the trees, poison ivy and the running water. It was pleasant because we were together but it would have been a little scary if it had only been one of us. I do hope that Richmond has some nicer areas than the ones we saw near this park. We are glad that we were there in the day and not at night. Disappointment #2





I guess the circus had come to town. There were 25 train cars. All we saw were two clowns coming off the train. Other than that we didn't see much movement.






This snake greeted us as we came back to our car. The boys thought it was way cool.


















By now we were hot for the humidity had creeped up and we were more south than we had ever ventured before. But why not see the capitol. Indeed a trip to Richmond would not be complete without seeing this wonderful building. After going around and around following the GPS we located this building. The kids were tired no one really interested in walking around or seeing the inside we pulled up into the driveway that goes around a statue that is at the side of the building. Stopped long enough to snap a couple of pictures of the statues, forgot to take one of the capitol building and then we took off towards home. Disappointment #3. At least we can say we've been to Richmond saw the capitol the white house and the James River. Right now I think I will never go there again.










It's interesting that a stop along the way can make the day right again. That no matter what it was great because we played. We stopped off in Fredricksburg. We love this town!! It's so full of history. We stopped to see the grave of Mary Washington, George's mother and then down the hill to the park!! The kids all had a great time on the swings and the teeter totters. We played it was a great way to end our misadventures.




Bill couldn't take it any more. He felt bad that he had taken the day off and was disappointed. In my opinion a day with the family is better than a day at work. I hope that he felt that way as closed the day together.






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