Psssttt, did you catch all my Hawaii recaps?

Pt I: Family Time in Hawaii, II: Malasadas & Hiking, III: Beach/birthday, IV: Snorkeling @ Hanauma Bay, V: Paradise Bay Luau.

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Happy Sunday!

When I started putting this post together, I had planned to wait for it to launch on Monday morning…but I had so much fun this yesterday that I couldn’t wait even one more day to share it.

See, it really was fantastic – all starting with the moment that hubs and I happened upon the incredible opportunity to participate in a rare opportunity to test out a teleportation and time travel device. So, right after I finished up my 9-mile run, we headed East on 64 to start your journey. After checking in, we waited in the plush waiting area (fancy leather couches) until it was out turn to take a spin!

 Although hubs and I have been married for almost three years now, until now, we haven’t had the opportunity to travel to Japan together…until yesterday! Between the time needed to take off work, and the intimidating flight time (14+ hours) it just hasn’t been possible. Fortunately, the dream finally became reality!

Next stop, we decided it’d be fun to travel to somewhere we both had never been to before: Italy! We wanted to avoid the hustle and bustle of Venice or Rome, so we opted for the lush scenery of the Umbrian region.

It was incredible – but unfortunately, hubs was even allergic to Italian plants and flowers! We headed back pretty quickly after this stop, but not before I was able to take a few fun floral pictures! Here’s one of my favorites:

Last but not least, it was time to choose our ‘time travel’ option – and believe me, there were a great many of tempting options for that – the hippie 70’s, roaring 20’s, or even the sock-hop 1950’s, but in the end, we opted for the late 19th century -what many call ‘The Gilded Age’- to check out the fabulous architecture and furnishings of Americans, as in the fabulous estate below:

…if you made it this far (and actually read the text between the photographs!) I am sure that you’ve figured out that we (disappointingly) didn’t actually get magically ‘beamed up’ to all these fabulous destinations per se – although we DID enjoy this entire adventure (AND MORE!) by simply paying a visit to Maymont!

You see, on this fantastic 100-acre estate, visitors are invited to partake in a variety of wonderful activities: from strolling the Japanese and Italian gardens, to taking a guided tour of James and Sallie Dooley’s mansion and even enjoying a variety of wildlife exhibits, visitors are immersed in the wonderful greenspace and become truly transported beyond the confines of modern day Central Virginia!

Although it was incredibly humid outside, we were lucky enough to avoid the intermittent torrential downpours!

Along with the variety of outdoor wildlife areas, gardens and mansion tour (which was INCREDIBLE, though no photography is allowed inside) there was a small nature center – chockfull of awesome animals to scope out, including otters, turtles, a wide variety of fish and more!

Maymont had been on my list as a ‘must-see’ since last summer, so I was very glad to finally experience it – I mean, how can you argue with almost 50 5-star ratings on Yelp? Truly.

…so, consider me as another super-fan of this fantastic green oasis just moments away from the hustle and bustle of the city of Richmond, VA. It’s definitely a trip I’ll remember!!