Today we are going to a place where I have previously worked, however was not able to enjoy. When previously at Virginia Beach I flew into Norfolk, drove to VB, held a meeting and then the next day worked for the day and then moved onto the next city which I believe was Richmond, Virginia, if my memory serves me correctly (all within driving distance). Other than the beautiful beach view, I remember being too tired to go out on the Boardwalk and having issues finding a place to eat the night that I was needing dinner. That is the extent of my memory – however I have always wanted to go back and here we go!
Virginia Beach is less than an hours drive from Norfolk. We drove there and parked at 11th street. Virginia Beach Boardwalk seems to run from 1st street in the south, to about 40th street in the north. The actual beach carries on however it becomes residential neighbourhoods we saw later in our drive. We found lots of available meter street parking and also accessible street parking without meters where you do not have to pay if you are there less than 4 hours – similar to Vancouver! Very cool and hospitable! We got out and walked the block to the beach. Hotels line the beach – every brand and type you can think of. While I did not take very good pictures to the south, there was a VERY large white tent that had been put up and front end loaders were taking a huge white sand pile from near by and depositing it into the tent. We later found out that this weekend is a professional sand castle competition and that they cannot use beach sand but they have to bring in special white sand which is then watered down for the competitors to use.
We started walking down the LOVELY boardwalk which really is a paved wide sidewalk which is very nice as it has a pedestrian area and then off to the side a bike area and the two did not meet as long as we were on it! It makes it so much safer to walk! I can imagine (and I have seen) just how packed this would be in the summer months – especially when you get up past the pier which is where we are heading to! For every set of stairs down to the beach there was also a ramp, however the ramp was generally filled with sand and then there was MORE sand to walk on on the beach – not good. Then I spotted a sand berm and a lady in a beach wheelchair sitting in it and low and behold – a wooden walkway out there! I am SO going out there! Andrew and I just do not observe the same things as he had NO IDEA why I was so excited! So we got to the ramp down to the beach and instead of it being filled with sand at the bottom it had a little bridge across the bottom to avoid the depression where the water and sand gathered. Then in front, before I turned to the beach, was a wheelchair accessible port-a-potty (very nice) and off I went to the beach on the REAL boardwalk! I had a nice chat with the elderly lady who was down from upper New York with her daughter (who was gathering sea shells at the shore) and she was quite pleased with the big bubble wheel wheelchair she was sort of reclining in and enjoying the atmosphere. We chatted for about 15 minutes as it was quite warm/muggy out (humidity was 95% and temp was 26 C) and her daughter came by to see who her mother’s “friend” was and then not to bore Andrew we decided to move on!
I then wanted to go check out the pier however it costs MONEY to walk out onto the pier – so we did the next best thing as we were hungry and instead ate at a seafood restaurant on the pier! The restaurant is the blue building on the right as you walk onto the pier. Just past the pier entrance gate and the restaurant (and candy store on the left which you cannot see) is the paid entry to the pier were there were a LOT of people fishing for the day. It costs more to visit the pier to fish than just to walk on it. I do not remember having to pay to walk on a pier before so it was no biggie that we did not get to walk out. Besides, piers are awfully hard on my hands and arms due to the bumpiness of the uneven boards/surface. Despite being at a seafood restaurant, I had a deconstructed chicken burger (basically burger without the bun on a plate with knife and fork) and Andrew had their fish and chips which were very good! They DID offer a GF bun but I find unless I know the bun company and how they are toasting it, I would rather pass on the $4 expense that they add onto the bill.
We then walked north some more on the boardwalk, saw people swimming in the Atlantic and having fund and I had another detour to an accessible beach board walk where I found some nice shells! I wanted to get to 24th street where the Lifesaving Museum was (it was closed when it was supposed to be open) and then to about 30th street where the status of Poseidon is located. We made it to 24th street and again I started having problems walking (not sure what is going on there) so as I had seen a trolley bus on Atlantic Avenue, the main drag for Virginia Beach, we decided to take it back to our car. We then drove north, checking out Poseidon, and along Atlantic and the residential area of Virginia Beach to Fort Story where there is a lighthouse on the point. Here are our pictures from the pier to leaving town.
Fort Story lighthouse was a bust – no pun intended! The “winter” hours end at 4pm and it seems to be on a military base so they will only allow people in until that time. We arrived at 4:05pm. Oh well, one less lighthouse to see! So instead we decided to take the leisurely route back to Norfolk, where I was hoping to see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT). The CBBT is a really cool bridge and tunnel I remember being very long when we crossed it in the 1970’s! According to Wikipedia, “it is a 17.6-mile (28.3 km) bridge–tunnel that crosses the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. It opened in 1964, replacing ferries that had operated since the 1930s. A major project to dualize its bridges was completed in 1999, and in 2017 a similar project was started to dualize one of its tunnels. With 12 miles (19 km) of bridges and two one-mile-long (1.6 km) tunnels, the CBBT is one of only 14 bridge–tunnel systems in the world”. We then drove along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, past NIA (Norfolk International Airport), multiple US Military bases and then through Norfolk back to our hotel.
Back to the hotel and tired after this day of fresh air and beach time! The fact that I got to get down and visit the beach twice was awesome (no pictures of 2nd visit)! I actually found Virginia Beach, as it had rained pretty hard the day before, quite firm and on the 2nd beach walkout on boards, I did some 4 wheel driving and picked up some beach treasures which I always like to find. As normal, Andrew thinks I was crazy going out there! All that fresh sea air though did us/me in early! Tomorrow will be another road trip – where exactly? We will plan that tomorrow morning – either Williamsburg or to the Newport News area.