Chasing sunsets
Category Archives: Just for fun
Getting to know Virginia – Old vs New Downtown Richmond
A few co-workers and I grabbed some lunch at City Hall and took the elevator up to the observation deck. There isn’t much up there but a couple of picnic benches. Oh, and a FANTASTIC view of the entire city! It was a very breezy day, made worse by the wind-tunnel effect at our high elevation. On a subsequent trip it was less breezy but I can see this becoming a popular spot for my lunch crew on nice, summer days.
Starting with the North and going counterclockwise around the building, first up is the Richmond Coliseum.
Residences at John Marshall (formerly the Hotel John Marshall) and the Berry Burke building.
Hannah Lauck government building is the half round one in the middle.
The new rooftop restaurant Kabana (a new eating spot I need to try!) with a view of the James River.
Old City Hall (see more below), along with the Capitol Building and the city skyline in the background.
The James Monroe Building is the towering one on the left. Side-note: the James Monroe is the tallest building in Richmond at 449 feet and 29 floors. The SunTrust building, another tall skyscraper (which is the tall builing on the right in the picture above), is 400 feet with 26 floors. Main Street Station clock tower sits behind the 95, with the James River snaking beneath it.
The MCV Medical campus of VCU takes up quite a bit of real estate in the area.
My office is the cluster of white buildings to the right of the row of cars. The new building for the school, which is supposed to break ground this summer, will be built where the dorms currently are in the upper left where all the trees are.
As I was researching some of these buildings for this post, I discovered the beautiful gray building across the street, that I thought was a courts building, turned out to be Old City Hall. So, I postponed posting this until I could go inside and get some shots.
Who knew so much beauty could be found downtown!
Getting to know Virginia – Staunton (Charlottesville)
On a day off from work, I decided to drive to Charlottesville for fun. It has an outdoor shopping area closed off to cars and I wanted to find it. I found it, but you have to pay for parking and it was hot and I decided to keep driving. I ended up driving through part of UVA then headed back to the 64. I decided to keep driving west toward Staunton.
Historic Staunton has some beautiful old homes. I would love to go back again and take more pictures (but will need a driver for that!).
Not sure what this is, but I saw it down the street and had to snap a picture.
Staunton also has a ton of old churches.
Just another lovely little town in Virginia to visit :)
Great Falls Park – McLean, VA
How have I lived here for 13 years and just NOW discovered these waterfalls?!? After all of the rain we had (as of yesterday, I think there were only 7 dry days in the month of May, the 6th wettest on record), the falls were very high. I would like to go back after a dry spell and see the difference.
According to the website, George Washington thought the area would benefit from more trade if boats could navigate through the Potomac River. It took seventeen years for workers to build a canal with locks, which is on the Maryland side of the river, a separate trip someday.
There are three overlooks and I went to each one. At the third one, there was a pole that showed the water level each year the river flooded. I can’t even imagine the water being that high! The people in the background are approaching the platform to see the falls…so the water not only had to rise to that level, but then flood the ground above it!
In 1828, the Patowmack Company which ran the canal, turned over its assets to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, which then abandoned the canal in 1830. Matildaville, a town that was built while the canal was being constructed, closed up when travel on the canal stopped. There are a few ruins that remain, but alas I wasn’t aware of them until I researched for this blog. When I go back I’ll take the trail and visit them.
The National Park Service took on the responsibility of looking after the park in 1966. Reminder…this is the centennial celebration for the National Parks Service…go and celebrate this beautiful land we inhabit!
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