Hopewell is just a few minutes away from Chester on route 10. After following a few Civil War signs, I came across City Point, which overlooks the Appomattox River. According to Wikipedia: City Point was a town in Prince George County, Virginia that was annexed by the independent city of Hopewell in 1923. It served as headquarters of the Union Army during the Siege of Petersburg during the American Civil War.

It has a small pier for fishing as well as a trail that follows the river. I didn’t follow it the entire way, just long enough to shoot a few photos. It was quiet and very serene with some benches and a few picnic tables to sit and enjoy the view.

Up the hill from the water was the entrance to the National Park. It has a house and some nice grounds, but I didn’t explore further. I’ll return at a later time and add additional photos.

I bought an orchid at a grocery store a couple of years ago, for $9.99! I of course was heartbroken when the blooms fell off and it turned brown, but I was assured numerous times it would come back. And sure enough it did!

But it hasn’t just come back, it came back with gusto! Our office’s flower of choice for client meetings are orchids, so I see a lot of them. But I’ve never seen one with two separate blooming stems. Trust me when I say I do not have green thumbs, but I must be doing something right :)

This is the stem for life #2 – 6/14/13

The buds are popping out – 7/10/13

The first couple of blooms open – 7/30/13

Almost fully in bloom! 8/9/13

As I said, the office tends to have a lot of orchids lying around. Some of my co-workers don’t have the patience, or a window, to care for their orchid, so I volunteered to tend to them until they bloomed. I’ve amassed quite a garden. I think a couple of them have passed the point of no return, but I continue to keep my eye on them. 4/2/14 – also take note of the progress on the hotel in the background.

New stem growing on life #3, while there is still a bloom left on #2! – 4/2/14

There seems to be new activity on the old bloom too!

Buds popping out while the August 2013 bloom is still going strong! – 4/29/14

Dueling blooms! 5/2/14

Old August

New May

Bloom #2!  5/6/14

My wonderful orchid has a new home, at my home. When I’m not around, it sits up on the mantel, but when I can keep an eye on it (CATS!), it sits in between two windows in my living room – 5/14/14

The old bloom is finally starting to wilt and die, but the new blooms are still going strong.

Blooms #3 & #4

Blooms #5 & #6, only one more to go! – 5/25/14

Bloom #7 – finally the last bud has opened! It is 6/19/14 (the bud opened a while ago, just now getting around to taking a picture and posting it). Can’t wait to see how long the flowers will last!