Spring 2009

I think I've said it before but .... spring in Richmond is beautiful!!!! While I am sure it pretty in other places as well, I have never lived in a place where spring was so stunning!! Here are some of our pictures from this past Spring.

The Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond. It is Dave's favorite place to go on the weekends (we're members) and they provided a stunning display of tulips this year!


Keys to making Dave happy: gardens, birds, some sort of liquid refreshment :-), and a happy wife. He's pretty low maintenance!!!

This field of pinwheels was simply beautiful! They sat at the edge of the lake and from across the water, they just shone. It was a fundraiser activity for some cause -- there over 10,000 pinwheels all shining in the sun and spinning in the wind!

Our next stop on our tour of Richmond in the spring is Agecroft Hall (about 5 minutes from where we live). We LOVE this house and have toured it multiple times (we took my family here when they visited last Christmas). The story with this house is that it stood in England during the time of Shakespeare. It fell into disrepair and at the beginning of the 20th century, it was going to be knocked down. A native Richmonder (with A LOT of money) loved the house and bought it, took it apart piece by piece, and transported it over the Atlantic to have it rebuilt in Richmond. He died very soon after and his widow continued to live in it until she turned it over to a private organization. This is the sunken English garden and it was absolutely beautiful with the different kinds of bulbs!
Another really neat thing about this house is that during the summer, it hosts the Richmond Shakespeare Festival in the outdoor courtyard. I can't think of another place in the U.S. where we can see Shakespeare performed at a house that stood in England during Shakespeare's time!

On Memorial Day weekend, we spontaneously decided to take a river cruise up the Rappahannock River here in Virginia. It was a 1 1/2 hour journey up the river and was one of the most beautiful and relaxing activities we've done since we've lived in VA.

Remember what I said earlier about making Dave happy? Well, this trip accomplished 3 of those 4 requirements. While cruising up the river, we passed by a section of cliffs that is known to house Bald Eagles. Ding, ding, ding -- birds!!! As you can see, Dave was a most active "bird watcher" and we saw a total of 14 bald eagles (both adult and juvenile) and dozens of ospreys.

The river cruise included a tour of the Ingleside Winery. This is the 2nd (or 3rd, I can't remember) largest winery in VA and the nursery on the grounds is the largest whole sale nursery on the east coast. We had a lovely lunch, toured the winery, and then sampled some of their wines. Ding, ding, ding - liquid refreshment!!!

It's been a very busy spring and this trip offered us the perfect chance to relax and enjoy our state. Ding, ding, ding - happy wife!!! We came home exhausted but refreshed and looked forward to our planned activity on Memorial day of .....


Touring Montpelier -- the home of James Madison in Orange County, VA. Virginia has been the birth place of 8 (maybe 7) presidents and we have now been to 5 of these presidents' homes. Madison was born here and then brought Dolly to live here after they married. The same person who designed Mount Vernon and Monticello designed Madison's house -- he was a very busy man!

Each of the homes we've been to has something amazing about it but Dave and I were in agreement that the natural surroundings of this home were the best by far! It was absolutely stunning.

Their English garden was beautiful!

After the Madison's sold the house, it went through a series of different owners before finally landing in the hands of the Dupont family. They expanded the house from its original 12,000 sq ft to 30,000 sq ft!!! My jaw dropped at this fact! And they only vacated the house in the early 1980's, which is when the historical society took over. For 20 plus years, they have been taking the house apart to restore it to how it looked when Madison lived in it. It was just re-opened this past fall and they are finding new things on a daily basis while doing excavation work.

Next spring, if you're feeling restless or bored -- come visit us in Richmond. You will leave exhausted but refreshed and in awe of the beauty that will surround you!!!