Remarkable Richmond

Jill's Journal: Richmond is amazing. There has got to be more history here per square inch than in most of the rest of the country combined. It kills me to have seen so little of it while we’ve been here! Driving downtown, I can’t help but swoon at all the old landmarks and buildings. It’s truly a history-lover’s playground.

No matter where I turn, I see another and then another and then another spot I want to explore. And all the beautiful, quaint, old churches (like the one in this picture!) make me wish we were going to be here on Sunday and I could go to services at about five of them in a row.

And yet, we must leave. The reservations we made a year ago on Assateague Island (which is going to be amazing all on its own) await. So, everyone from George Washington to Patrick Henry to Edgar Allan Poe to Stonewall Jackson must wait. We’re going to head up the East Coast in a few weeks and then we have to come back down through this area on our way south this fall or winter. I do believe we’ll stay awhile.

Leo and Christy

Jill's Journal: In 1993, I was brand-new in Phoenix. A few cubicles over from my spot at American Express was a vivacious Brazilian named Leo. It was soon clear that life was a party anytime Leo was in the house! Fun, fun, fun. Leo and his posse generously welcomed me into their crowd and I can’t even guess how many times we all laughed the night away at happy hour or a movie or simply at his house. Rob’s strongest memory of Leo involves the 1994 World Cup – Leo’s native Brazil won and you haven’t seen celebrating until you’ve seen a Brazilian celebrate a World Cup win. His family in Brazil was on speaker phone and it was pure, mad, chaotic joy. Again – life is a party when Leo is around!

Leo has since married his sweet wife, Christy, whom we met just once as we were leaving Phoenix. They are now settled just outside of Richmond and had us over tonight for a delicious meal (Christy is a wonderful cook!) and some wonderful Virginia hospitality. Their two boys played fabulously with our girls and the adults got to laugh and carry on like in the old days.

And tomorrow we get to see them again! They’re intrigued by how we manage in a fifth wheel and want a tour before we leave town.

Secretariat’s Birthplace

Jill's Journal: There’s so much history here in Richmond that I barely know where to start. So today I decided to start with what I know best: horse racing. The great Secretariat, the one name in racing the whole world knows, was born in Doswell, Virginia, in 1970. His unbelievable 31-length victory in the Belmont Stakes in 1973 capped a rare Triple Crown victory and still sends goosebumps down the spine of even casual racing fans.

When I saw Doswell was only about 10 miles away from where we’re staying, I knew I had to find the spot. I just assumed it would be well-marked and tourists could visit because this IS Secretariat we’re talking about! Not so.

Meadow Stud is no more and the Virginia State Fair is now on the land. But I was on a mission. It didn’t seem anyone was around, but I must have poked around a little too much because a man soon came out to let me know I was trespassing. Oops. I told him what I was looking for and he sighed, saying they get several people each week asking the same thing and always send them away (clearly they underestimate the tourist draw they have!). I apologized profusely and must have looked pathetic, because he took pity on me.

He hopped in my car (I am definitely not in the habit of letting strange men in my car, especially with three young children – but this IS Secretariat we’re talking about)!! He said the site is closed except during the State Fair in September, but he brought me over to a small, unceremonious barn – more like a shed – and showed me where the great champion was foaled. He then brought me over to another part of the property to show me the yearling barn where “Big Red” spent the early part of his life. Sweet.

We parted with a handshake (I was so excited I would have preferred to hug him!) and he told me to tell all my “Kentucky friends what you’ve seen in Virginia. Just tell them not to do what you did.” Funny guy.

Tired, Crabby, and Maymont House

Jill's Journal: Oh, did we have tired girls today! Those who know me well know I’ve always been religious about routine and especially bedtimes with the kids. RE-LI-GI-OUS. I never wavered. The girls were in bed between 7 and 7:30 during the summers and 6:30 and 7 during the winter. Always. They might have gotten an extra hour on Christmas Day, but that was about it. Call me the Sleep Nazi, it’s okay. Not only did they thrive on routine, but I needed that quiet time without kids in the evenings.

With our new lifestyle, Rob and I agreed that we’d try a later bedtime. We’ve pushed it back to 8 or 8:30, sometimes even 9, and the girls love staying up, but they are not sleeping any later in the morning. The older two still wake up between 6 and 6:30 every morning (Victoria, to her credit, sleeps longer if I can keep her sisters quiet), just like they did with the earlier bedtime. I thought the big girls would start sleeping later once they got used to the later bedtime, but it hasn’t happened yet, much to my dismay.

Last night, they weren’t in bed until 10:30pm. Ridiculous. And when those little faces still greeted me at 6:30 this morning, I couldn’t help but dread the day because Mommy in all her wisdom knew tempers would be short.

I was right.

When the tight confines of a fifth wheel proved to be more than their crabbiness could bear, I loaded them up and headed to downtown Richmond and Maymont House per a friend’s recommendation (thanks, Mary!). It’s a Gilded Age mansion originally on 100 acres in what seems to be the middle of the city. I didn’t think the girls would be interested in the mansion adorned with original Tiffany stained glass, but a “Children’s Farm,” live otters, and wildlife exhibits including bears, elk, and bison sounded right up their alley.

I was wrong.

It was a trek from the parking lot into the main grounds and the girls were hot and sweaty by the time we reached the mansion. We decided to take a break from the hike and take a mansion tour to take advantage of their air conditioning. Much to my amazement, the girls were absolutely riveted by the opulence of the house (which contains almost all of its original furnishings). Built in 1893, the 33 rooms included five bathrooms with indoor plumbing and full electricity (both incredible rarities at the time). Each room was more lavish than the last and by the time we got to an ostentatious swan bedroom, the girls were completely won over and imagining what it would have been like to attend a tea party in the house.

We left the house with the tour guide complimenting me on my beautifully-behaved children (score one for Mom!) and headed toward the animals. On the way, Madelyn, who never simply walks (but absolutely must skip or run or bounce), fell and skinned her knee badly. She saw the blood and threw in the towel, wanting to skip the animals and go home “to show Daddy.” Victoria, who is always hot anyway and was melting in the heat, jumped on the bandwagon. Poor Erika had no desire to miss what we’d come for and I felt terrible for her, but if I’ve learned one thing about traveling with kids in these early weeks, it’s that I’ve got to be flexible. So, we called it a day and headed home for an early dinner and an early bedtime.

Now that’s my kind of luxury.

Back in Fine Fettle

Jill's Journal: The last two days were spent with all five of us slightly under the weather (we fell victim one-by-one to a short-lived head cold), so we’ve taken it very easy. And that’s the beauty of this trip – we can just go with the flow. I love, love, LOVE “home days,” as my girls call them, but there’s so many amazing things here just waiting to be seen and we need to get going!

I have a feeling our few days here in the Richmond area will simply whet our appetites for more. Today we ventured out for a little drive and are amazed at how rural so many parts of Virginia seem to be. This is one of the oldest settled parts of the country – for some reason, I expected every single piece of land to be populated. Instead, it’s so…well, rural, at least in this area. And trees, trees, trees everywhere. It sure gave me an appreciation for what the early settlers from Europe must have had to go through to clear the land just to build a home, much less actually grow crops.

Now that we’re all back in fine fettle, our Richmond time feels like it officially begins. Tomorrow we head north a bit to visit a dear, longtime friend – I can’t wait!

We Made It! Richmond, Virginia

Jill's Journal: It was a long, slow trip, made slower by mountains and even slower by an overturned eighteen-wheeler in front of us (the fellow cars also at a complete stand-still for more than an hour on the interstate were beginning to eye us with visions of bathrooms and food gleaming in their eyes)…but we made it! We gave a little whoop of joy (okay, in the interest of full disclosure: a big whoop of joy) when we crossed the border out of West Virginia and into Virginia. And before long, the breathtaking Shenandoah Valley stretched out below us. I could look at that every day of my life and not get sick of it. Just beautiful.

We finally limped into our campsite near Ashland, Virginia (apparently also called North Richmond) after dinnertime. We were tired, we were hungry, and we still had to set up. This is not our usual m.o., but we survived. After the girls were fed, bathed, and put to bed, Rob and I breathed a big sigh of relief. Those 620ish miles felt a heck of a lot longer than that!! We’re happy to finally be here.

There will be time enough to lick our West Virginia wounds this week. In the meantime, we’re going to have a quiet day today. Four of the five of us seem to have exited West Virginia with a slight cold (adding insult to injury!) and we’re all ready for a little downtime. Our campground this week is nothing fancy, but it has lovely, tall trees and a pool. It’ll do just fine.

“Wild and Wonderful” West Virginia?

**Disclaimer: I had no idea Rob had already posted about our day when I wrote this, so just ignore mine!*

Jill's Journal: We left Cave City yesterday morning with no idea how far east we’d make it. The answer turned out to be 370 miles, a far cry from the old days, pre-kids and pre-fifth wheel, when a good day of driving on a road trip was easily twice that. But as Rob put it last night, we have a “lot of baggage” now and we were very pleased to get as far as we did. Especially in West Virginia…

Billed as “wild and wonderful,” we instead found West Virginia to be heavily wooded and pretty wicked. Rob and I had spent a weekend in Charleston once before and enjoyed it, but it was long before things like campgrounds became important to us. Or mountains with pulling such a big load. Rob’s truck dropped an injector in/near/around the Alleghany Mountains (or maybe the Appalachians or maybe just really big hills – we’re not even sure where we are!!) and that’s going to be an expensive fix.

The campgrounds here are few and far between and the ones that do exist can’t fit decent-sized fifth wheels. And then there’s those that don’t exist…such as the one we found in a campground guide in Beckley. No one answered the phone there, but it was after 6pm on a Saturday, so we decided to just show up and take our chances because we couldn’t find anything else. We followed the directions to a tee, found a new sports complex in its place, and us down a narrow dead-end road. This is a big problem with a large rig!! It was getting dark at this point and Rob could either back up for over half a mile or try and swing around off the road. He chose to swing around, couldn’t see part of a gate sticking out in the dark, and definitely made contact with the rear bumper of the fifth wheel. We have suffered our first casualty, luckily just cosmetic and minor in the scheme of the things. It will be a big reminder of this state, which right now ranks as our least favorite! It was a rough day.

A much-longer story heavily abbreviated, we spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot! I never thought those words would come out of my mouth, but there you have it. Wal-Marts are known to be RV-friendly and before the night was over, three more fifth wheels/travel trailers joined us, as did a semi.

And we learned yet another important lesson today: we can’t live by the seat of our pants quite as much as we thought with kids and a fifth wheel! We absolutely have to have a plan. So, before leaving this morning, we’ve already booked our spot for tonight and the rest of the week. Destination: Richmond, Virginia, approximately 250 miles away. It’s a big enough city that hopefully we can get the truck fixed with no problem…now just to nurse it along that far!