Coming home is one of my favorite parts of traveling. I loved spending a couple years in Ann Arbor (here are 50 reasons why) but Richmond has been “home” since I moved here in 1999 as a pimply freshman at U of R.
Here are 50 of the things I remembered most and am looking forward to getting reacquainted with:
1. Growing the Richmond Wiki project
2. A whole Jerry on wheat at Superstars
3. Milder winter temperatures and significantly less snow
4. Skyline Drive in the fall, or any time of the year
5. Barbeque chicken pizza at Bottom’s Up
6. Playing with the dog at Bandy Field
7. Cobblestone and tree-lined streets, historic architecture
8. Jogging on Monument Avenue
9. The Carytown Watermelon Festival
10. Sticky Rice sushi and tots
11. Hiking and backpacking in the Shenandoah Mountains
12. Chick-fil-A (you have no idea how much we missed it)
13. Kayaking, canoeing and fishing on the James River
14. The new University of Richmond football stadium
15. Friday Cheers
16. Carytown Burgers and Fries
17. Running the Monument Avenue 10K
18. Real sweet tea
19. Poker nights with the CarMax crew
20. Learning from and contributing to the local marketing and technology scenes
21. Devil’s Mess at Millie’s
22. Reconnecting with old friends and making new ones
23. $1 burger and “Steal the Glass” nights at Capital Ale House
24. 17th Street Farmers Market
25. Preparing a house and nursery for our first child
26. Swimming in the James at Pony Pasture
27. Shows at the new Richmond CenterStage
28. People watching at Maymont and Byrd Park
29. Tacky Christmas Lights Tours
30. Skiing at Snowshoe
31. Living only a day’s drive from my parents in Atlanta
32. Golfing 10 months a year
33. Legend beers
34. Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden exhibits
35. Mountain biking at Poor Farm, Powhite park, and Belle Isle
36. The Richmond Flying Squirrels (any baseball is better than no baseball)
37. Strolling around Deep Run Park
38. Anything on Julep’s menu
39. The relative ease of flying in and out of RIC
40. Day trips to DC museums and events
41. Cheering on my wife as she starts practicing dentistry
42. An entirely new set of geocaches to be found
43. Meeting people I’ve only known from Twitter in real life
44. The Science Museum of Virginia (the Children’s Museum is in my future)
45. WordCamp Richmond
46. Ukrop’s fried chicken and white house rolls (while they last)
47. U of R basketball games
48. Community outreach with Second Baptist Church
49. Richmond Forum speakers
50. Watching old buildings and warehouses get a second chance at life
51. Sporting the occasional bow tie without the weird looks
52. Mojitos at Havana ’59
53. Arts Around the Lake at U of R
54. New music venues and restaurants that weren’t here before
55. Easter on Parade on Monument Avenue
56. Holes in one at Bogey’s Sports Park (not easy!)
So I went over a little bit, so what? I know I’ve forgotten a lot of places, people, and meals, but that doesn’t mean I’m not excited to get back to those things too. What else am I missing? What should I take my wife and soon-to-be-born child to see and do?
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