Day three of our Richmond travels began thankfully smoothly. We dropped off the girls and drove to our morning destination, the Virginia Center for Architecture. We had an hour before the museum opened so my son took a nap and I read.

The exhibit on current display was an overview of the 99 best architectural structures in Virginia. My son enjoyed the huge map of Virginia at the entrance, especially pointing out numbers to me.

I wasn’t really paying attention to what these numbers meant but since my son kept drawing my attention to them I took better notice. When he got to the number zero, I was shocked by the information.

I always enjoy the exhibits at the Virginia Center for Architecture. It is a bit different from a traditional museum in that there usually are not original works of art guarded in glass, climate-controlled cases. Generally there are no original works at all. It is more like a unique display of information. But it really works!

The exhibit techniques are usually novel uses of graphic design. The display methods are as much a part of the exhibit as the artifacts themselves! In this case, the architecture works were numbered from 1-99. There was a photograph of each building with some brief information about the building and then a plastic sliding sign with the number of the building in the ranking system.

We had the exhibit to ourselves and took our time looking at each work. There were also some great quotes from architects in the exhibit as well.

The Virginia Center for Architecture is going through a few changes at the moment. Some information at the museum indicated that the mission of the center is going to expand beyond architecture into interior design, fashion and other related disciplines. Sounds amazing! Their gift shop was also empty and undergoing some sort of remodeling effort. So there are some more things to look forward to on our next visit.

Inspired by the architecture we saw, we took a leisurely stroll around the block and made note of Richmond’s wonderful historic architecture. Then we went to pick up the girls from camp.

We had a packed schedule today and I had been so preoccupied getting the girls ready for their ballet class that afternoon that I forgot to pack lunches! So, we drove toward our afternoon destination looking for something the children would find appetizing. There were lots of cute bistros but nothing we could get a consensus on. Finally, we stopped at the last eatery before our destination.

We walked in and saw typical convenience store far, like candies and drinks. Since the sign outside promised sandwiches I looked around expecting a display of prepackaged sandwiches. To my surprise, instead there was a very tiny grill in the corner and a woman ready to cook up fresh sandwiches, fries and chicken. We tried the chicken fingers special and a turkey sandwich.

As we waited, we overheard conversations between the regular customers and the staff.

“Hey….haven’t seen you around for a while. Are you still working?”

“No. I haven’t had any work in three weeks.”

Everyone was very friendly. When our food was ready, we purchased it along with some bottles of milk and a treat each child picked out from the immense display. Our total came to $10! It was quite the bargain.

We drove to the nearby park and found a picnic bench in the shade.

For the afternoon, our destination was Maymont, the giant park that was formerly a very wealthy estate. The grounds are gardens are incredible. It was the first time my eldest daughter had been.

Back at the car, we pulled out the first aid kit to dress the knee wounds, used a large wad of baby wipes to give an improvised shower, changed into ballet clothes and headed back to Fredericksburg for ballet class. Whew! Another successful day!