Richmond Canal Tour

On Friday we drove over to Richmond after school and hopped on this cute little boat for a historic canal tour. I had found a groupon that brought the cost down by half and so we figured it would be a fun family outing. It did not disappoint. The kids loved it!

Tanner loved that they handed us a map for him to enjoy while we listened to the history of the canals. The work on the canals began in 1784 in Richmond and George Washington himself surveyed the digging of the canals. Yes, the canals were dug by hand by men with shovels. Crazy!! These canals were badly damaged during the civil war but were restored in 1998 by the city and now the canal walk is a very popular destination. 

The Canal Walk presents four centuries of Richmond’s history through medallions, monuments and exhibits.  Originally horses and mules pulled the shipments down the canals to transport goods from city to city. Parts of the canal in Richmond operated on locks. Pretty cool. 

There was even some slave history on the canal tour. 

Henry "Box" Brown escaped to freedom at the age of 33. His family was sold to a slave owner in Philadelphia. He escaped by mailing himself in a wooden crate he had built. The box was 3 feet long by 2 feet and 8 inches deep and only 2 feet wide. It had "Dry Goods" written on the side and he carried only a small portion of water and few biscuits with him. He spent more than half of the 27 hour trip, upside down. I can't even imagine. He was eventually reunited with his family and was later known as "Box". Tanner loved this story and listened carefully and even asked a question afterwards. So cool.  

We enjoyed learning about the history of the city and the lovely boat ride. It was very informative and the kids were so good. 

After our boat ride we walked around downtown Richmond for a little bit before grabbing some dinner at a local pizza joint. 

We ate a "Bottoms Up" and it was amazing. We had two new-york style cheese pizzas and some delicious wings. 

It was a very fun night spent in Richmond, not to mention the amazing fall weather. 

Saturday it rained all day and we enjoyed a very nice, relaxing day inside, until going to see a movie at the local theater. We saw "Storks" and it was adorable! We all loved it. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

 Then we grabbed dinner at a nearby Mexican food restaurant- it was delicious!

Such a fun but relaxing weekend.