Day 1 Solomons to Richmond

Tired of the cold, we decided it was time to head south only to discover there's no warm place to go. The whole damn country's cold, but we left anyhow. I suspect we'll end up somewhere on the Florida panhandle, although we're open to most anything. We spent yesterday packing in order to get an early start. It turned out to be a noon start...not quite as early as planned, but at least it was a start. We drove a whole two hours (110 miles) and ended up in Richmond, Virginia. We had read in the Washington Post food section about a downtown Richmond area called Carytown. So after checking in that's where we headed. It's an old part of town, about eight blocks long, consisting of restaurants, bars, and shops. Much to Sylvia's delight the temperature was below thirty and we spent several hours walking around Carytown. Of course it was all my fault that it was so cold. We went into several shops to warm up and generally enjoyed Carytown. We had a Hot Toddy at the Can Can Brasserie, which is a magnificent old French style restaurant at which, if it would have been later, we probably would have eaten. After a bit more strolling, we had very good oysters on the half shell at the Water Grill. Again, if it would have been later, we would probably have eaten dinner there. More walking brought us to Mezzanine, a restaurant we had read about and decided to eat there (finally). Sylvia had short ribs over polenta, and I had a beet, goat cheese, and walnut salad, and shrimp and grits with tasso ham. Of course it required a bottle of wine to complete the dinner. All was good and we would certainly visit Carytown again. We then went back to the hotel so we could get another early start for tomorrow's drive.