Richmond, VA

Andy and I arrived in beautiful Richmond, VA last night at the very fine Jefferson Hotel. We arrived after dark and I must admit that the reputation of the city made me a bit nervous. Formerly the murder capital of the US (at least per capita) I know they are working on that these days. Once checked in, we checked with the concierge about dinner places and walked a couple blocks to Terrants. We had an awesome dinner-Andy got beef tenderloin and I had some crab cakes before heading back to the hotel.
The hotel is pretty amazing. Because Andy is here for an economics teachers conference, we were able to get a very special rate. The back of the door rate is $405 which I know is never accurate but still, i don't think I've ever stayed anywhere that the first number was a three, let alone a four! The foyer and entrance are incredibly ornate and beautiful. I think we were both a little let down with the room though. It was pretty small and dark although the little bottles of soap and lotion were sweet. Smelled so good! We had reserved a room with two doubles since originally we were thinking about taking the kids with us. The King rooms were all booked last night but they were able to move us into one this morning.
Thanks to daylight savings, we were up early and decided to go to early church. Andy had researched and we chose to go to First Baptist, Richmond. The Pastor had an interesting blog and seemed to be a good teacher so we went there today. It is a congregation that is over 200 years old with a huge facility in a beautiful part of town. We parked our car on the street and walked past the CNN truck interviewing parishioners on the street. WHAT? All due to the election. The service was traditional and formal which reminded both Andy and I of our childhood churches and seemed appropriate for this historic region.
When we got back to the hotel, our things had been moved to our new room, a King which was a great deal larger and nicer than the other room. They had even moved all of our things over which was a great deal except that we quickly realized that some Uhhhh, personal items had been left behind in our other room. So I had to find housekeeping and be let back in to rescue them. I'll leave it to your imagination what those things were but suffice it to say, it was awkward.
Now Andy is getting ready to head out to his reception and opening meeting for the Powell Center for Economic Literacy. My goal over these next few days is to set up a website for our photography business, or at least get a good start. You'll read about it here when it's ready!