An eventful day in Richmond

We changed trains in Chicago, boarding the Cardinal and Hoosier railroad Amtrak line. It was late at night so we slept through Illinois and Indiana. I awoke for a few minutes in Ohio when we were rolling along the Ohio River and passing through the city of Cincinnati. We awoke in the morning to a view of the rolling hills of Kentucky. The New River, located in West Virginia, was the last of about  six major rivers which we had either crossed over or traveled alongside of since we began our journey. Hard to believe all the territory we covered in three days time! We reached Charlottesville Thursday afternoon and from there we took a bus to Richmond. After being inside of trains for three days I was quite ready the next day to do some strawberry picking with Melissa and her friend Spencer. Spencer had flown out from San Diego to also be present for Melissa's graduation. What a great day that was, as you can tell by the smile on Melissa's face. The past two years were not the easiest for her;  between working, writing papers and putting in work study hours at a nearby hospital.

After her graduation party we all felt so filled with food that we needed to find a place to walk. We drove to nearby Maymont, which has the opulent Victorian Maymont House as well as Italian and Japanese gardens.

The grounds of Maymont were certainly a beautiful location to stroll around in and wind down from the busyness of the day. It also provided us an opportunity to visit with our son Daniel and his friend Amanda. They had driven in from Washington D.C. to attend the graduation. And even though we had been convinced earlier in the day that we were not going to eat any more, we did conclude our day at a brewery/restaurant. It was there that Daniel and Amanda announced their engagement, which makes John and I quite happy. Below is a picture of the beaming couple.

There were also two other good events which occurred that day. Both Daniel and Melissa received very promising phone calls regarding future employment. As a family we could not have felt more blessed that day.