Looked around Richmond today. The Fan District reminds us of Mariza’s area of Baltimore or maybe some parts of Madison when we were going to school there. Seems to have lots of young people – students or recent graduates. We would have loved the place some decades ago, but maybe not now.
Monument Boulevard features statues of old rebels like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson & JEB Stuart. The houses along the road look pretty expensive. Nice place to visit, but I would not want to live there.
The part that would likely best fit our needs would be the Bellevue, but it is still a long ways off before we get very seriously. We maybe will look around down near Williamsburg. Lots of nice places around.
We are also thinking about a peripatetic existence. Neither of us much likes the idea of traveling in an RV, but it would be possible to drive around & stay at hotels part of the year, following the good weather in various places. There is so much of America to see. We would still want a home, but it would not need to be for all things or all seasons. Who knows?
I have come to believe that there is not THE place for us. We have contradictory desires. We both grew up in very stable circumstance. Chrissy’s family occupied that farm since 1859. My parents bought their house in 1946. Both of us came into an established place and stayed there. On the other hand, in the FS we moved to whole different countries every few years. On the third hand, we bought the house we still own in 1997 and kept it when we left. We got used to having change on top of permanence. On the fourth hand, I have become very attached to Virginia. I have plans for my tree farms that go until 2045. I want to be near my trees, at least part of the time. Maybe the most important thing is unknown and unknowable. Where will the kids end up living? We want to be near them, but will that even be possible if they choose to live in different places. Confused and unlikely to become less so and will need to live with the ambiguity.
My pictures are from around Richmond. We have J.E.B. Stuart & Robert E. Lee. We had lunch at Starlite Cafe in the second picture. The only one that requires explanation is that last one. Look closely. There are big statues of the M&M characters, as well as Mr and Mrs Potato Head. It is kind of a traditional area. I wonder how the neighbors feel about that place.