Richmond, Va.

Last week, the family and I headed to Richmond, Va., for a weekend trip. That includes Sidney! We found a nice hotel that would take our pup. (Thanks, Residence Inn!)

It was a very nice trip and I didn't think about work or any stressful issues the whole weekend. We ate fabulous food, saw beautiful things and enjoyed time as a family.

Over the next several weeks, I'll share some of the things we saw and did while on our way to and in our state capital.

First up, I want to show you some architecture we snapped photos of. There were lots of beautiful buildings and homes in the area. I won't show all of them here. There will be more in future posts specific to neighborhoods and areas we checked out.

So, here we go:

Main Street Station and the Farmers Market

Main Street Station is still in use today. It started rail service again in 2003 after it was shut down in 1975, according to the city's website. It's a beaux arts building that sits very close to I-95. After walking Sidney around downtown, we went in to check out the interior. Beautiful!

It would be cool to take a train from this station to Washington, D.C., or other areas up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

See Main Street Station next to the bridge on the left? The farmers market is on the corner here.

There weren't very many people at the Farmers Market, but it's got a nice set up near the Main Street Station.

Tobacco Row

Tobacco Row is an area of former tobacco warehouses and buildings that are above Dock Street and the canal. Most of the buildings now appear to be lofts, apartments and restaurants.

The old Lucky Strike building and smoke stack.

Cary Street, looking down Tobacco Row. Dock Street and the canal are to the right, down an embankment.

Evidence that a trolley car once operated on this street.

One tobacco building is now home to the Virginia Holocaust Museum. We did not go in. Chris has visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. and he wasn't interested in going through another. I, however, hope to visit the D.C. museum one day.

This is behind the Virginia Holocaust Museum. Do you see the "Halt" sign on the gate? It also says "Stoj!," which I believe is Polish for "stop."

This is a prop located behind the Holocaust Museum.

Probably the coolest buildings are the River Lofts at Tobacco Row -- apartments built in the historic tobacco warehouses.

One building's exterior walls are still up, but the interior has been demolished and turned into a courtyard for residents. It is a very interesting reuse of a historic building.

The smoke stack still stands in the courtyard and has a fountain around it.

Some walls still remain in the building and are visually appealing to the courtyard, I think.

This is the fountain surrounding the smoke stack, which is the darker brick in the upper left of the photo.

Plantings are set around the courtyard to bring nature indoors (or maybe this is now considered outdoors) and there are many tables and chairs for residents and their guests to use.

We were tempted to tour one of the lofts, but, pressed for time, we decided against it.