Day 4

The highlight for today was a run to the Capitol for a tour on Neal's lunch hour. We thought we were supposed to wait for the tour guide since that is what every one else was doing, and were told it would only take 45 minutes for the tour. Well, we got this very sweet Mrs. Allen who was out tour guide and who really knew her history of Virginia and was really interesting to listen to, but when Neal only had an hour and it looked like this tour was going to take about twice as long as indicated, we ditched the guide with only 10 minutes to spare and did the "self-guided, see what you can see in 3 minutes" tour and finished up on our own! I have to say there is something for standing on the same ground our forefathers lived, fought and died on. Gives one the feeling of standing in a sacred and holy place.

I think we are both ready to end our stay in Richmond and move on to Washington D.C. We've learned there are a lot of places to eat lunch right around our hotel but dinner is another story. There are a lot of places to eat in Shockoe Slip if you like the night life and drinking! So tonight we ended up back at Quisno's for a not so good sandwich! We were both craving ice cream for dessert and found the closest place to get some was about a mile away! Bummer.

Before dinner we took the "Canal Walk." It was cute, very short and somewhat stinky! It looked like they might be working on it to expand it. I hope they clean it up, too! It could be a really nice place to take a stroll if they just clean it up and expand it a bit. Maybe the waterfronts in Salem and Portland have spoiled me! At least those two don't stink!

Oh, Shara did learn that you can't keep your hotel key in a pocket in your purse that is next to a magnetic closure! She wiped out two keys before she realized why her key wouldn't let her into her room!

So, as we get ready to end our time in Richmond, we will take with us memories of walking the Capitol building and grounds, walking the quant Shockoe Slip with cobbled streets, the cutest bell tower outside our hotel, and sleeping in a double bed reminiscent of starting out 30 years ago. And we will say good by to our stinky room, Richmond's nightlife, and our double bed!





Canal walk