We got to Richmond around 8:00 and we were all hungry since we hadn't had dinner yet, so we found a great little pub within walking distance from the hotel called Penny Lane - great food, good beer selection! Saturday morning we slept in a bit, then headed to a really cute part of downtown Richmond called Shockoe Slip and had an early lunch at Sine Irish Pub. The food here was DELICIOUS - we shared fried green tomatoes and I had one of the best turkey burgers I've ever had! We also kick-started our day of tailgating and racing with some amazing Bloody Mary's - yum!
After we ate, we headed to the grocery store to load up on beer and tailgating food, then went to find parking for the race! The track is only 5-7 miles from downtown, so it was a nice short drive. We had a great time tailgating, even though E and I were constantly annoyed by the men holding up the lines for the port-a potty's. I mean seriously - you have a penis...can you not just go and piss in the woods?!?! That's what J and IB were doing, and, let me tell ya, if I had a dick that's what I would have done too! Those port-a-potty's had seen better days - trust me. *shudder* Anyway, besides the stupid men, it was great! And we cooked steak for our dinner - 'cuz that's how we roll! :)
Before we knew it, it was race time! They always do a flyover after the national anthem, which is awesome, and this time they also had some fireworks, as well as people parachuting right onto the track with the flags. The race was a good one - I had hoped to see a big crash, but there was really only one small one towards the beginning. After the race was over, we made our way back to the car and enjoyed a late-night snack of a homemade hoagie to wait for the lot to clear out (which was super quick!) and then it was back to the hotel for some much needed sleep - it was a long, but really fun, day!
We decided to spend an extra night in Richmond to celebrate our anniversaries, so on Sunday we had a yummy brunch at another restaurant in Shockoe Slip called Sam Miller's Oyster Bar. None of us had any oysters, but I did have a really great hash with andouille sausage, eggs, and sweet corn. Then we went to the Virginia Holocaust Museum where we took an iPod tour of the HUGE number of exhibitions - it was really an amazing place to visit. The audio tour was narrated by the director of the museum, who is actually a holocaust survivor. It's a very interactive place, and I highly recommend it if you're ever in Richmond. After the hours we spent walking around the museum, we decided to take a canal cruise to learn more about the history of the city.
To celebrate our anniversaries, that evening we had one of the most delicous dinners we've ever had at a restaurant called Lemaire. J and I had bison, which I will absolutely always order if given the chance since it was so fucking good, IB had pork, and E had lamb chops. We all just had to try their desserts, so E and I shared a lemongrass creme brulee with a dessert wine pairing that was to.die.for. J had something very chocolatey paired with port, and IB had ambrosia with a homemade toasted marshmallow and a dessert wine pairing. Holy christ...it was so good, but we basically had to ROLL ourselves out of there! It's a good thing we had to walk about 10 blocks to the Capital Ale House or I don't think we would have been able to enjoy their amazing beer selection at all! After a couple beers there, we decided to call it a night since a) we were so full that we couldn't fit another drop and b) we had to head back to the 'Burgh the next morning.
One final thought about Richmond. People always talk about how Pittsburgh is so lame because downtown "closes" at 5:00 and there are never any people around. Let me tell you - Richmond is so much worse! It was so weird walking around downtown - it was like a goddamn ghost town! I swear, in the 3 nights we stayed there we probably saw less than 10 other people walking the streets. We really couldn't figure it out since VCU was almost next door to our hotel - where the fuck were all those college kids?!?! They must be the most boring students ever. Pittsburgh, especially the Cultural District, puts downtown Richmond to shame in terms of number of people. For real - it was creepy! But, the four of us did have a fab time. Happy anniversary to us!
No comments:
Post a Comment