Gibbons Sibling Visit #2 - Richmond, VA
Betsy and I are not strangers to the I-95 corridor south of Washington, DC. I lived in Richmond, VA for a brief time and Betsy lived and taught second grade in Fayetteville, NC before we were married. So we both knew that leaving Raleigh Oaks RV Resort and heading north was a pretty straight forward drive as long as there were no incidents on I-95. With this in mind we were both comfortable stretching our mileage a little bit for this drive. It was an approximately 220 mile drive north to get to our destination for a couple of nights, the Fredericksburg VA / Washington DC South KOA. (See our review here.) This placed us about 50 minutes north of Richmond, but closer to our next stop in Dover, PA on Saturday.
The primary reason for stopping here for a couple of nights was to visit with my younger brother Rick and his wife Karen. Rick and Karen have lived in the Richmond area for 22 years and definitely enjoy the vibe of the city. They have lived in several homes in the area but seem to primarily enjoy being in the heart of the city of Richmond.
APRIL 7: After arriving at the campground on Thursday afternoon, we got things set up and spent a nice, quiet evening at home resting after a day of driving on I-95. Friday morning was some blogging and administrative things that needed to be done. Life as a full time RV’er definitely allows us to see and experience some cool things, but those mundane tasks that we had to do while living in our sticks & bricks house still find their way into our schedule. We hopped in the car after lunch for our roughly 50 minute drive to the heart of downtown Richmond. Since I-95 essentially splits the middle of Richmond, it is a fairly easy drive as long as traffic cooperates. The traffic gods were with us as we entered a parking garage next to Rick and Karen’s apartment building in less than an hour. Betsy and I were anxious to see their apartment since we had never been there. They are in their apartment temporarily since they are kind of between houses. They sold their beautiful, approximately 100 year-old home in the Fall of 2016 and are planning on moving into a new townhome in the city that is in the process of being built.
Since Rick was working until 5:00 PM, Karen gave us the grand tour of their apartment and building. Deco at CNB Apartments is a luxury 23-story apartment community designed in the late 1920s by John Eberson as a bank headquarter building. Douglas Development has repurposed this piece of unique Richmond history and is surrounded by historic landmarks, restaurants, galleries and office buildings and designed with art-deco architecture. After our tour we set out to walk around the downtown area in the brisk spring air. Having lived and worked in Richmond, I am fairly familiar with the city, but we still enjoyed walking the streets around the Capital Complex. We opted to skip the river walk due to the wind and cool temps.
We met Rick at the Verizon building where he toils away on a daily basis keeping the phone network up and running in the city. Our choice for dinner was Tarrant’s Cafe, an old pharmacy building from the 1800’s on Broad St., which Rick and Karen know well and had a good selection of gluten free options for me. We had a pleasant dinner while catching up with them both. A short walk back to their apartment for a quick Nespresso before heading back to our campground.
Having the opportunity to visit with two of my siblings in a three day span is one of the many reasons this lifestyle appealed to us. Always having our home with us allows us to be comfortable in our home while visiting with family and friends. Thanks Richmond for always staying cool and allowing us to hang out with you for a night!
