Chippokes Plantation 2/7/14-2/9/14

I decided to take advantage of another last minute 25% discount to take Dave to Chippokes for an early Valentine’s getaway. We had plans on Valentine’s weekend to celebrate J’s birthday late, my birthday early, and Valentine’s in between, so this was my chance to treat him. I packed everything into the car on Friday mid day and drove to meet him at work, where we were leaving his car for the weekend.

Chippokes cabin 3 was nothing like we’d come to expect from state park cabins. It’s a tenant house from former farm workers on the plantation, built around 1920. It’s adorably decorated with a nice couch and chair, a lovely sleigh bed in the bedroom, and other period appropriate furnishings. Surprisingly, it had a working TV and DVD player, which was wonderful because the opening ceremonies of the winter Olympics were the Friday night we arrived!

 

For dinner Friday night I had packed three cheeses, hummus, two kinds of olives, marinated artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, salami, pepperoni, crackers, pita chips, and a baguette. I put all that out and we picked at it all night long while we watched the Sochi ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday we dressed as warmly as we could and went on the bikes. This was Dave’s first time out with his new bike and it took mere moments to discover we had a problem. Our tires were fairly flat and the bicycle pump I had carefully brought along had a hole in the hose! Grrrrr. Fortunately, as I pointed out, we still had two strong legs apiece so it was back to the house for backpacks.

 

 

 

We chose to walk from the cabin up Cedar Lane, past all the farm buildings, down College Run past the River House, down along the James River, and up to the Visitor’s Center, about 2.5 miles.

 

 

  

 

Chippokes is a working farm.

The River House.

The view along the James was wonderful.

We were really cold despite our multiple layers, and I was wishing I’d taken time to change out of the workout pants I’d put on to bike ride—I need stretchy!—and into jeans or hiking pants before we’d come out. When we arrived at the Visitor’s Center it was closed, but thankfully the bathrooms were open and warm.

Even the drink machines were closed.

We took a moment to warm up, wash our hands, and then enjoyed our lunch on the bench overlooking the James.

 

After walking back, I prepared the steaks and baked potatoes I’d packed for dinner for Valentine’s day and we watched more Olympics.

On Sunday morning after we packed out we headed down to the ferry and took it across to Jamestown.

 

We were the very first car in line and I was quite terrified as we rolled right to the front of the boat with nothing but a metal according gate in front of us! When we moved out in the river, the water sloshed right over the boat at us.

 

It's not nice to laugh at people when they're terrified.

Soon we got to the other side and saw James Fort and Jamestown Settlement, and was I glad to get off the boat!

We stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant near his work, picked up his car, and stopped at a Tractor Supply for a tire pump. Then we went to the Dutch Gap Nature Conservancy for a ride. We got the bikes down, pumped up the tires, and rode out past the bridge and back. I felt like that was pretty good for our first time out, especially since it was FREEZING! Also, we were trying to ride in jeans since we didn’t have any of our workout clothes readily available at that point. I was glad to rack the bikes back on the car and head for home.

 

 

 

 

 

Park Rating:
Camping       Unknown

Bathhouses  Unknown    
Water            James, but too big to kayak; pool
Hiking          Nice
Riding          Unknown
Other            Fun history/farm exhibits, live animals
Solitude       Great in the winter, but probably busy in summer