I was in Richmond, Virginia this past weekend. This was the first time I had been in the city since grade twelve which was…a long time ago. Despite the previous trips, this was the first time I got a good look at much of the city. I hate say it, but I was pretty disappointed. I knew beforehand that like virtually any major city, it has its good parts and its bad parts. It really seemed like much of the city had fallen into ruin. Being the geek that I am, it reminded me of the story of Oscillate (yes people, I am taking you into Middle Earth yet again). It was a grand city in its day but over the years, it was abandoned and eventually became a crumbling ruin. Richmond is not that bad, nor is it anything like Osgiliath in the films, but the city needs help.
Having given the uninitiated a very grim visual image of the city, let me say that it was not all bad. I had a
couple of hours to kill before getting ready for the event that brought me to Richmond so a friend I was with took me to one of the gems of the city, the Jefferson Hotel. This place was immaculate and I felt very under dressed while I was there. They also had a killer Whiskey Sour. It was the fanciest building I had visited in quite some time. On our way to the Jefferson Hotel, we passed by a courthouse which had that classic Greco-Roman architecture with columns that reached into the sky. I love that sort of thing.
Despite being somewhat disappointed with the city itself, it was a very fun weekend. I was there for an event with Equality Virginia, the largest LGBT civil rights organization in the commonwealth. I got to meet some people who are currently running for statewide office like Aneesh Chopra and Terry MacAuliffe, I got to meet Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) who as an awesome guy, Cory Booker (the mayor of Newark, New Jersey). It was a three-hour drive there fairly early on Saturday morning but it was a very fun car ride. The four of us who were in the car talked pretty much the entire time, which surprised me because I had gotten up at 6 am and was not running on much sleep.
I had not been a road trip in a long time and I forgot how fun they can be.
I'm really sorry you saw Richmond as a crumbling old city. I see it as just the opposite. It isn't perfect at all, but there's a lot to see and do, and while some of the housing is poor, and some of the downtown is a bit staid, overall it's doing pretty well.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a good time at the event. I'll be helping set up a ROSMY event next weekend, that ought to be good fun!
And my road trip is sort of in your direction tomorrow, though I'll be headed a little farther north to JMU! Then home via the Skyline Drive and Rt. 250. No interstates for the return trip is my goal.
Peace <3
Jay