Richmond MisAdventure #125, Otherwise Known As "The Canal Walk"
I have decided that I am never going to be a "native." I spend more time getting turned around, lost, stuck, and just plain frustrated attempting to navigate Richmond--and I have officially lived here for 36 FULL months now.
My day started off with a wonderful plan for the kids and this perfectly cool weather.
An hour later my phone was telling me to jump off the interstate.
Thirty-45 minutes after that, I was at my husband's office, frustrated, fuming, and at the same time thankful I randomly landed on Grace Street. I always know to just keep driving on Grace Street and I will eventually end up where my husband is.
An unplanned expedition and a lost and crazed wife was the LAST thing my husband needed on his already over-flowing plate today, but thankfully a co-worker of his helped me regroup and try again.
I told the kids if we didn't make it this time, we would go home and try again another day with daddy.
Well, her directions and calm explanations landed us where we intended to be: the Canal Walk.
Gracie has been to the Canal Walk for her 3rd grade field trip (the one without me), but she wasn't a great fountain of accurate information. She had plenty of speculation, but that was about it.
Now that we had landed and found a place to park--we were off!
I knew about boat rides via the internet, and was excited to take Thomas aboard, but our circle driving and interstate suicide pleas held us up and we missed the noon boat. (For the record, my phone has NEVER done that to me. She had me drive in circle after circle constantly landing on a toll road, even though the directions NEVER said it was a toll. Once I got on the tall bridge of I-95 she told me "your destination is on the left" I am hoping she just had an "off day" because she and I are seriously on the outs, and it will take a long time for me come back to "trust!")
Thankfully the boat goes out every hour.
We starting walking. I wanted to take the kids to Brown's Island, wherever that was. The idea of being on an island sounded kid-cool.
25 minutes later we had hit dead end after dead end, and my nerves were fried. I decided we would wait the half hour--ride the boat and go home!!!
The kids munched on some snacks waiting to ride.
The boat ride turned out to be lovely and just what we needed to re-group after a crazy morning. The ride was about 40 minutes and Thomas of course loved sailing on the water and seeing all the train track. No trains went by while we were on the boat, but we had seen several waiting for the boat. We did however see the cutest family of snapping turtles on a branch, and a crane! So, extra points for zoo like experience.
Now, we were fine and ready to try again. We followed just about everyone who got off the boat in the direction of Brown's Island.
It was quite a hike (I figured it would be), and well worth all the views and the park like experiences.
The kids were in great spirits, and Gracie got excited when she started to see landmarks from her school trip. She became instant tour guide and loved telling is what everything was.
It was a good trip, once I actually got there, and I would recommend it to anyone who has never been, but let me give you a good piece of advice: plug in "E. Cary Street & Virginia Ave. into your device, or you will want to jump off the interstate bridge!
My day started off with a wonderful plan for the kids and this perfectly cool weather.
An hour later my phone was telling me to jump off the interstate.
Thirty-45 minutes after that, I was at my husband's office, frustrated, fuming, and at the same time thankful I randomly landed on Grace Street. I always know to just keep driving on Grace Street and I will eventually end up where my husband is.
An unplanned expedition and a lost and crazed wife was the LAST thing my husband needed on his already over-flowing plate today, but thankfully a co-worker of his helped me regroup and try again.
I told the kids if we didn't make it this time, we would go home and try again another day with daddy.
Well, her directions and calm explanations landed us where we intended to be: the Canal Walk.
Gracie has been to the Canal Walk for her 3rd grade field trip (the one without me), but she wasn't a great fountain of accurate information. She had plenty of speculation, but that was about it.
Now that we had landed and found a place to park--we were off!
I knew about boat rides via the internet, and was excited to take Thomas aboard, but our circle driving and interstate suicide pleas held us up and we missed the noon boat. (For the record, my phone has NEVER done that to me. She had me drive in circle after circle constantly landing on a toll road, even though the directions NEVER said it was a toll. Once I got on the tall bridge of I-95 she told me "your destination is on the left" I am hoping she just had an "off day" because she and I are seriously on the outs, and it will take a long time for me come back to "trust!")
Thankfully the boat goes out every hour.
We starting walking. I wanted to take the kids to Brown's Island, wherever that was. The idea of being on an island sounded kid-cool.
25 minutes later we had hit dead end after dead end, and my nerves were fried. I decided we would wait the half hour--ride the boat and go home!!!
The kids munched on some snacks waiting to ride.
The boat ride turned out to be lovely and just what we needed to re-group after a crazy morning. The ride was about 40 minutes and Thomas of course loved sailing on the water and seeing all the train track. No trains went by while we were on the boat, but we had seen several waiting for the boat. We did however see the cutest family of snapping turtles on a branch, and a crane! So, extra points for zoo like experience.
Now, we were fine and ready to try again. We followed just about everyone who got off the boat in the direction of Brown's Island.
It was quite a hike (I figured it would be), and well worth all the views and the park like experiences.
The kids were in great spirits, and Gracie got excited when she started to see landmarks from her school trip. She became instant tour guide and loved telling is what everything was.
It was a good trip, once I actually got there, and I would recommend it to anyone who has never been, but let me give you a good piece of advice: plug in "E. Cary Street & Virginia Ave. into your device, or you will want to jump off the interstate bridge!
I hate being lost! I argued and argued with my GPS one day, but she got me there! We depended on "her" to take us to FL, and she did. However, she told us that our condo was on the right, but it was on the left. Thankfully, I had played around on Google maps so much that I felt familiar with the road, and said, "Elliott, that's it! That's our place on the left!" (Get a Garmin with the biggest screen.) I'm glad you wound up having a good day.
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