Her View 

Richmond- Caywood's perspective

Richmond: a city with a canal running through the middle. Richmond was one of the cities that we put on the list a while back, not knowing a specific attraction or reason to go there, and waited up until the night before to figure out how we'd be spending our time on our second stop in Virginia. We chose three attractions: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Canal Walk, and Maymont Estate. I'll have you know that all three of these attractions were FREE, so we ended up spending $0 in Richmond. First was the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the only art museum I've ever heard of that doesn't charge an admission fee. They had a huge variety of exhibits, including art from all over the world - America, India, Egypt, China, Africa, Japan, and so many more countries. My favorite exhibit would have to be the African exhibit - I just am astounded by the detail in their masks and daggers. Overall we had a good time at the museum, even though I'm pretty sure museums in general make the majority of people (including us) share a few yawns... :)

After the museum we made sandwiches and walked the entirety of their Canal Walk. Although it said online that the Canal Walk was nearly two miles long, the walkable part was definitely not even a mile long. I was hoping to get more steps in for my Fitbit, but that's alright. It was nice to walk along the canal and see lots of fishes. They offer a Canal Cruise, which is a 40-minute boat ride for only $6 a person. We opted out of this boat cruise, but if I ever go back to Richmond I'd like to do this.

Our last stop in Richmond was Maymont Estate. Since we just came from Asheville and didn't get to do the Biltmore Estate--it is minimum $59 per person--I really wanted to do this free, smaller mansion. The house was cool, we got to do a free tour of the downstairs level, but the coolest part of this was definitely all of the different flower gardens and wildlife exhibits. All for free mind you, we got to see black bears, a grey fox, two different kinds of deer, bulls, bison, hawks, owls, horses, and even bald eagles. Before the animals we walked through an Italian garden full of bright pink roses, and then a Japanese garden complete with hundreds of coy. The scenery all over the grounds was simply breathtaking. So many colors, so much wildlife, and all for not even a penny. They do have a few optional donation boxes here and there, but the only time they push you hard to donate (still a push, not a requirement) is the guided tour of level two of the mansion.

My advice from our experience:

1. If you go to Richmond, my must-see is the Maymont Estate. So much to see and for so little or no money. But be sure to wear some walking shoes! You're going to walk a minimum of 3 miles if you want to see most everything.

2. Drink whatever your preference of caffeine is before going to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. :)