Richmond Trip

Before we get into the details of our fantastic trip to Richmond, a few acknowledgements:

• Thanks to Roxanne and David for opening their home to us. They are tremendous hosts and set an extremely high bar should they ever visit us in Houston.
• Thanks to April's parents, Tom and Debi, for watching the kids. We know this is no easy task and appreciate you putting up with a weekend of "I miss Mommy!"
• Thanks to April for staying married to me for 8 years so we could take this trip, and for letting me tag along to visit her best friend. You're the best.

What a great weekend. We headed out to Richmond to visit April's best friend from high school, Roxanne, and her husband, David. Day 1 was a tour of Richmond, including the Virginia State Capitol and the Museum of the Confederacy. There are historical landmarks about every five feet in this town, tons of statues, monuments and places of importance.

Unbeknown to me, Richmond was set up as the capital of the Confederacy. Touring the Confederate White House (above) was a bit strange with the makeup of our crew. April is obviously from Texas, Roxanne is Polish, David is from Boston and me, well, Missouri couldn't make up it's mind in the Civil War (we don't care for confrontation). So each of us had a different perspective on the collection and information. We could all agree on lunch, however: Buz and Ned's BBQ.

This place is fantastic. Great meat, cole slaw and potato salad were fantastic. Buz is famous for defeating Food Network's Bobby Flay in a rib competition. In fact, they play the episode on a continuous loop inside the restaurant and sell "Flay Slayer" t-shirts. I was sad we only got to eat here once.

As if we weren't full enough, we visited The Desserterie, a dessert shop that gave me two problems: Figuring out how to pronouce the place's name and trying to decide on what kind of treat to get. It all looked wonderful and Chocolate Hazelnut gelato hit the spot.

Day 2 was the highlight of the weekend for me: A day at the races. We headed over to Colonial Downs for their "Rhythm, Bets and Brews" event. Beautiful day, 20 of Richmond's local microbrewers giving samples, fantastic jams by Casper, cigars provided by David, learned how to read a racing form (kinda) and there were 12 horse races, giving me ample opportunity to lose money.

We had never been to a horse race track before, but absolutely loved it. David had the biggest win of the day, but if one horse named "Kitty Cat Express" had held on to win the 10th race at 50-1 odds, we would have all been sitting pretty.

Day 3 we were beach bums at Virginia Beach.

After visiting our friend Kara and her beautiful daughter, we drove down to the coast, snuck into a hotel restroom to change into swim suits and jumped into the freezing cold ocean. About one minute after that, a huge wave came and knocked my sunglasses off. Obviously I figured they were gone, as the Atlantic Ocean is kind of a big place. But about 30 minutes later I stepped, felt something between my toes, reached down and behold, my sunglasses with barely a scratch on them. Oakleys may be a bit pricey, but they hold up great underwater and apparently magically reappear if lost at sea. I highly recommend them.

After the Oakley Miracle, we strolled down the boardwalk and watched some street performers, including this one named, "Dallas," whose act mostly included fire and stealing lighters from the crowd.

Virginia Beach has a lot to offer, including a "No Swearing" policy, as noted by these signs seen all around the area:

You can see more photos from the trip by clicking here, but these shots can't do justice to the great time we had. Again, many thanks to all those that made it possible. The worst part was when it came to an end. It's a weekend we'll cherish for a long time.