Day off/Road trip to Richmond!

Wednesday, myself and two of my roommates decided to go on a road trip.  One of the girls is really into historical sites, so she did some research on plantations in the area.  We ended up going to the Berkeley Plantation, which is between Richmond and Williamsburg, VA.  After the plantation, we headed to see Richmond, walk around, and just enjoy the city.

The plantation was beautiful and very relaxing.  Unfortunately, everything this plantation stood for was evil in  my eyes.  How could a place so beautiful house torture and slavery?  How could I enjoy being there because I knew what went on there?  It was really hard for me, because I love being outdoors and seeing nature, and I also like history and being in really old homes is pretty sweet, but everytime I would enjoy myself I would start to feel guilty.  I finally decided that I wasn’t saying that the slavery that took place on the site was okay by enjoying nature and the grounds, but at the same time recognizing that it did take place and it was a horrible thing.  I was also really angry with people for ruining such a beautiful place by bringing evil there.  Anyway…I was going through a lot of conflicting emotions while we visited this plantation.  But, it was the birth place of President William Henry Harrison (the first president to die in office) and was owned by Benjamin Harrison (the other guy’s dad) who signed the declaration of independence.  It was the site of the first “thanksgiving” which apparently took place a few years before the pilgrim’s even landed on Plymouth Rock.  The first Bourbon Whiskey was brewed on the site.  Taps was composed there.  Lots and lots of firsts.  In the basement, there were a lot of artifacts, and one was an actual photo of President Lincoln, who visited the plantation twice to review troops that were stationed there during the civil war.  That was really awesome, actually.

Going onto Richmond, which is a very cool city.  We walked around, went to their historic district (cobblestone roads, really old buildings, very cool), then went to the capitol grounds to walk around.  It’s a very clean city, too!  Which was weird, because I didn’t see ANY trash cans anywhere while walking, but I never saw a single piece of trash.

This squirrel that is lying down reminds me of my dog.  I was taking pictures because these two were like…sparring with each other or something, and then all of a sudden the bigger squirrel just spreads out on the bench like that.  It was pretty funny.  My guy was pretty upset, though, because I was only in a few pictures and I took five of these squirrels!  Heh, whatever!!