Finally posting about my trip to Richmond, Virginia with Martin back in July! The main purpose of this trip was to attend “The Gathering Event” put on by Hope Taylor & Caroline Logan. We decided to road trip it and make a mini vacation out of it, especially since my friend Jaye moved down there a year ago for work (please come home now…) We stayed in the Carytown area of Richmond, which I guess is sort of like living in Somerville or something outside of Boston? Cute little area with lots of restaurants and shops! *Disclaimer, a lot of these are cell phone photos.

MONDAY

Monday morning we hopped into the car and headed south with a car full of snacks. We plowed through both bags of Harvest Snaps very quickly. It was about an 8 hour drive so we got to our Airbnb in the evening ready for dinner. Grabbed dinner at PBR (Pizza & Beer of Richmond), mostly because it was super close but it ended up being delicious! We were hit with a “y’all” the second we got into the restaurant by the hostess. Not sure I could ever get used to that. Enjoyed some drinks, pizza & pesto pasta before calling it a night.

TUESDAY

Explored the area for most of the day. Started with coffee at Lamplighter Coffee Roasters and walked around to get biscuit egg sandwiches (and maybe more coffee…) at Sugar & Twine. We wandered into a cute little old bookshop with a sign on the door informing customers that there is a cat that lives there, so keep the door closed. Obviously it was now my mission to find said kitty. He was chillin upstairs snoozin on the floor by a bookshelf, so I planted myself on the ground with him until Martin was done browsing. Kitty’s name was Wonton Chopsuey, of course it was.

After popping into some shops we headed to Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to get our art on. Found some Lichtenstien, some Rothko, and a little boy wishing his rocking-horse was a rocking-unicorn. At least that was my interpretation of it. Speaking of art, Richmond has so much really awesome street art! Apparently they have Segway street art tours, but we were short on time. Also I’m certain I would crash a Segway, I’m not even good on bikes.

We continued walking, exploring, sweating (did I mention it was hot AF?) grabbed some smoothies and headed back to our place to get ready for dinner. We went out at The Daily Kitchen for dinner with my friend from home, Jaye! So glad we got to see each other and catch up a bit. Naturally we got ice cream before calling it a night. It was a Tuesday and she had to be responsible and go to work in the morning…lame. Anxiously waiting for her to get a job in Boston 🙂

This dead bug was like 2.5 inches long. Can’t even imagine a living one flying by my face. EW.

WEDNESDAY

The whole reason for this trip! I made the decision to buy a ticket to “The Gathering Event” put on by Hope Taylor & Caroline Logan. It was a day full of photography business information, inspiration, and Chipotle! One the best parts was the fact that it didn’t start until 1pm! Hahaha, I am not a morning person, especially when I’m on vacation. Plus the event was in Fredericksburg, so about an hour away from Richmond. And Martin & I were able to grab some coffee together before I took off for the day and left him all alone. (Alone in a city full of breweries…)

OH, ALSO. I got to meet Hope & Caroline! So cool! I’ve looked up to them for a long time now and they are just the sweetest. They were so kind, informative, funny, vulnerable and gave a huge room full of young female photographers so much confidence and a huge shove in the right direction.

Um, that’s Jen Olmstead of Tonic Site Shop behind me! WHAT?!

THURSDAY

Thursday we decided to try Black Hand Coffee Co! Perfect lattes and egg sandwiches!

Then we were off to check out the Edgar Allan Poe Museum! He has lots of Boston, Lowell and even Westford roots, so it was cool to learn about his life in Virginia too. This trip turned into a cat scavenger hunt because the museum had two cats! One named Poe and one named Pluto. I was only able to find Pluto, so we had a photoshoot and a nice petting session. At one point his eyes got huge and he jumped past me and murdered a bug in mid air and ate it. It was so macabre and perfect for where we were, haha. Of course I also had to stand in the coffin like Becca did on The Bachelorette.

Next stop was Proper Pie Company. Um, this was the best slice of pie I’ve ever had in my life. I got Peach Blackberry and Martin got Chocolate Raspberry Cream. His was also bomb. It smelled heavenly in there. I wish there was one in Massachusetts.

Right next to Proper Pie was St. John’s Church & Cemetery, which is where Patrick Henry gave his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech! We were too late for a guided tour so we didn’t get all the details, but pretty amazing piece of history. Honestly, Richmond has a lot of similarities to Boston in that way.

Belle Isle was our next adventure, followed by an elevator ride to the top of the lookout tower for a bird’s eye view of the city. Then we grabbed dinner and finished off our trip at Scoop! It was on my list for a while since I’m a bit of an ice cream snob (thanks Kimball’s) . They were a bit of a walk but totally worth it. The little shop with adorable and they had great flavors. I got Confetti and Brown Sugar Cookie Dough and I need it in my life full time.

Pretending to be Becca Kufrin on the Richmond episode of The Bachelorette