Richmond, Virginia - Managing the Past and Future, while still enjoying the Present

Our journey this summer is an interesting blend of the past, future and present. Let us explain. While we type this blog, we are trying to remember all the details of the things that we did a week (or more) ago. We're always behind in writing blogs because it takes some time to go through pictures and then find the time to write about what we did. It takes a considerable amount of time and motivation to get that done. (There's not appropriate pictures to go with this narrative, so how about some random mushroom shots today?!?)

This summer, we are also working on future plans. We are recognizing that there are fewer camping options in the east, and more people using them. We are heading straight into the most populated part of the United States, and we are seeing availability of campsites dwindle, while prices sky-rocket. 

Besides the fact that diesel is three times more than it was a couple years ago, this will definitely be our most expensive season of campground fees! So we are having to spend more time planning where we are going to make sure that we have a place to stay once we get there. Besides, we have friends joining us this summer, and they need our itinerary so they can purchase those plane tickets that are more expensive now too. So we are spending a lot of time trying to figure out what we want to see, where it is, and where we can stay on our journey in the future. That takes a lot of time and energy to accomplish that.

So while all that is going on--writing about the past and securing a place to stay in the future--we don't want to miss out on the opportunities for fun here in the present! For example, today we are moving down the road to a new campground. The good news is that has already been planned so we know where we are going. But Mark still needs to check out the highways, the overpasses and bridges to be sure they are tall enough and will hold our weight. It would also be nice if the route included roads that  were also wide enough, but some of today's roads didn't even have an outside white line.

On a more positive note, we are enjoying the orange day lilies that grow like weeds along these narrow back-country roads.

This will also be a diesel fill-up day, and we always dread that stop. We have hit record highs this summer at $5.99 per gallon. Mark determined that five months into 2022, we had already spent more on diesel than we did in the twelve months of 2021. Mark also must find a filling station that we can pull into and get out of safely. That's a big job in the present.

We also made a stop in Charlottesville. We will need an EZ-pass for the many toll roads and bridges ahead of us in the northeast. While we could fill out the application and have it mailed to us, that wouldn't get to us in time for our big bridge crossing in several days. So we needed to go to a full-service location that could hand us the EZ pass. That's another something we need to accomplish in the present.

So we drove the motor home into a busy shopping area to make that purchase at a Wegman's Supermarket. While Mark made the EZ-pass transponder purchase, Denisa was checking out the food. They have a cookie section where customers can pick from a large selection of cookies for just $13.99 per pound. That sounds good until you realize that your two little cookies ring up at over $4.

The bakery section continues, and these cakes remind us of displays in bakeries in Germany. So deliciously pretty!

We are used to signs that point out "deli" or "dairy" in supermarkets. You know you are in an up-scale grocery when they have an entire section labeled "charcuterie."

The fresh fruit was pricy. But you could find out exactly what it was going to cost when you weighed it and put the price sticker on the bag right in the produce section.

Another stop for today is to do some sightseeing in Richmond. That requires figuring out what we wanted to see, and then finding a place to park the motor home while we accomplished that. 

We are heading to downtown Richmond to tour the state capitol. But we wouldn't want to drive the motor home in that area, and we wouldn't find a place to park it there. So Mark found a Walmart parking lot several miles away. We parked the motor home, and then drove the pickup downtown. We walked to the capitol square, where Denisa is standing among many of the famous women of Virginia.

This area is in a mess, with construction equipment and fencing covering what is usually a beautiful entry.

We finally got the picture of the front of the capitol building that we wanted . . .

 

but it took peeking through the fence to get it.

We found out later that all this construction is to repair a leak. When the state added on the basement entry shown to the right, it also added an underground section that increased office space. But there is a leak under the capitol steps that is causing problems in the new area, and costing Virginia tax payers lots of money to repair.

The original capitol building was designed by one of Virginia's favorite sons--Thomas Jefferson. He loved architecture, and he happily agreed when asked to design the state's new capitol in Richmond. He was a stickler for details, and he didn't want the builder to misinterpret his ideas for how the building should look from the outside. So in addition to the flat floor plans, he also had this three dimensional model constructed. Thomas Jefferson was in France at this time, so this model was built by a French artist in 1786. Then it was floated across the Atlantic, and brought to Richmond on a river boat (because that was the smoothest conveyance of the time). It worked, because 236 years later that original plaster model is still on display in the Virginia capitol building.

You might notice that the model doesn't have a dome, and from the outside we could see that the capitol is indeed flat-topped. But the builder decided a state capitol needed a dome, so it was added from the inside.

Virginia is proud of the fact that it has birthed eight different United States presidents--Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, and Wilson. They all have busts in places of honor in the capitol rotunda. But George Washington gets center stage, with a full-length statue. The state is very proud of this statue--the only one that President Washington actually modeled for in person.

The sculptor spent a great deal of time at Mount Vernon, where George dawned his best military uniform from the Revolutionary War. No detail is missed, as the sculptor noted the missing button on his right coat front, and two missing on the left. George had put on some weight since he retired, and the vest is a bit snug now. The details of the folds in the cloth and ruffles were amazing. To get the face just right, the sculptor had the retired president breathe through feather quills while he made a plaster cast of his face. So we know that this is really how our first president looked.

Virginia has pretty well out-grown this capitol building, but they leave this Senate meeting area as it was designed.

The house has been updated with electronic voting machines and modern lighting, so they still use the original room that was designed for the House.

Our tour guide was one of the best we have ever had, and we felt like we had been given a thorough, yet fun, history lesson by the time we finished our hour with her. She loved telling us the grand stories of Virginia, while still pointing out the little details--like each door knob that has the state seal. She was a retired employee of the state agriculture department. Virginia's agriculture economy was once driven by the production of tobacco products. She can remember a time when the building where she worked had signs that said "Thank you for smoking."

The capitol tour takes place entirely on the first floor. So after it was over, we were free to roam the upper floors. We got a better view of that flat dome from the third floor.

When compared to the grand marble stair cases of other state capitols we have visited, Virginia's is quite plain. We saw more painted wood than we remember in any other state.

But Virginia holds dear to its plain state house designed by a favorite son. Even though it has outgrown the original building, they will continue to use it for some parts of their state government. They are planning to move into this downtown skyscraper just across the plaza later this year. It will provide modern offices for state legislators that can't fit in the old capitol building.

We don't like leaving the motor home unattended at Walmart too long, but we needed to make one other stop in Richmond. This is St. John's Church, where Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death." Another favorite son of this state, Henry was the first elected governor of Virginia. He took the job of populating this new state seriously, as he was the father of 17 children.

This is a busy summer for us. We're trying to manage past blog posts while planning for future camp sites. But we're still enjoying the present. We love days like this where we live in the present but still learn about past history.