Random Bits of Virginia

On our trip to Lake Phoenix, we did some other things. I went looking for geocaches, which was harder than I thought it would be. The town of Blackstone is about half an hour away and promised to have almost a dozen geocaches. Unfortunately, some of them were no longer active (why don't people take them off the web site?). I did visit Schwartz Tavern which dates back to 1798. It's a museum now but the museum was not open when I visited. The geocache under the porch wasn't there either!

Schwartz Tavern

Across the street from the tavern is the Harris Memorial Armory, which also was not open. It does look like a cool building.

Looks older than the tavern, huh?

After the first evening of diving, we went to a Japanese restaurant called Narita. I had a box dinner, which included California rolls, tempura, and beef teriyaki. Yummy!

A satisfying dinner

On our way home, we stopped in Richmond for lunch at Capital Ale House. I had a lovely bourbon cask-aged porter along with the frittata off the brunch menu.

 

Darkest beer ever?

Hash browns and frittata

We walked over to capital hill where the state government is located.

A small tower on the way to the capital

The main building is getting a face lift so the area had construction equipment and fences galore.

Capital building

The Virginia Women's Monument is a tribute to famous (First Lady Martha Washington) and not-so-famous (seamstress and author Elizabeth Keckly) women who have had an impact on the state and the country at large. 

The Virginia Women's Monument

Ready to join the ranks

Printer Clementia Rind and Martha Washington (seated)

Nearby is the Virginia Washington Monument, with George Washington on horseback and several Virginia founding fathers (like Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson) around the base.

Washington monument

Across the street is the Old City Hall which looks very fancy.

Old City Hall

Another monument on the north side of the Capitol is dedicated to Doctor Hunter Henry McGuire. He was an American Civil War-era doctor who was physician to General Stonewall Jackson. After the war, he founded a medical school in Richmond and provided medical service to the indigent and to the freed Blacks. 

Hunter Holmes McGuire

The next monument is the Virginia Civil Rights Monument. It is a four-sided granite block with statues on every side representing the struggle for school desegregation in Virginia.

Barbara Johns led one of the protests as a teenager in 1951

The civil rights lawyers who took the case through the Virginia legal system

A great quote from Thurgood Marshall

The final side of the monument

Nearby is the Virginia Executive Mansion where the governor lives and works.

Executive Mansion

Just down the hill is an office building for various government departments along with the Lieutenant Governor's Office.

Offices

Another view of the Capitol

Fenced-off front!

A comprehensive list (slingshots?)

On the way back to the car, we spotted a small plaque commemorating the location of a building where Edgar Allen Poe once lived. The original building is gone.

Sinister angle courtesy my daughter

Hopefully we'll get to visit the local Poe Museum on another visit to Richmond!

Cool Kid Pix January 2020

More pictures that didn't make their own blog post...

On the way home from Christmas in Florida, we looked for a Mass along the way in Virginia for January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. We thought we had a sure thing in Richmond, but the church had their 10 a.m. Mass at one of the satellite locations. We were on Church Hill and saw the church where Patrick Henry gave his famous "Give me liberty or give me death!" speech.

Saint John's Episcopal Church as seen from behind the gates

That church was closed so we didn't get to look around (and thus, no blog post). Nearby was the Church Hill Bank which does look like a church.

A bank!

We wound up at the noon Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. It was still decorated for the Christmas season!

The front of the basilica

Inside the basilica

Someday I'll go and do a proper photo shoot of the basilica. And we will go to Richmond and see a bunch of stuff there.

My youngest son had his first Pinewood Derby with the Cub Scouts. His car came in third for the den, which meant he went on to the final round. He came in twenty-first there (out of twenty-one entrants). He had a good time.



I went to what turned out to be the final game of the Baltimore Ravens' season. They were the number one seed in the playoffs, so they had a bye-week. Then they played against the Tennessee Titans, who had beaten the heavily-favored New England Patriots.

Ravens Stadium at night

My church was selected to help hand out programs and flags to everyone coming in. I was stationed at Gate B. We had a few minutes before the gates opened so we went into the empty stadium to see what was going on.

Pre-game stadium

The gates open just over two hours before kick-off

The volunteer coordinator came and selected two of us to go work at the Media Gate. The gate is relatively small and is used by media to get in before the game starts. Most of the media were already in, so we handed out items to the regular patrons savvy enough to use the gate. The lines were pretty short.

The flags we handed out

Since it was a playoff game, it was sold out so volunteers didn't get free seats. I hung out till half-time when the score was 14-6 favoring the Titans.

A fuller stadium

The game wound up at 28-12, a Ravens loss and the end of their Superbowl hopes. There's always next year.

We visited mom's workplace and had a little break in the cafeteria. We brought some stuff to entertain us during a meeting.

Backgammon and 3DS!

My eldest had a several performances at his school's coffeehouse fundraiser. Here's the video!