Virginia Beach 2023

 

I couldn’t find my way out of the neighborhood, as the on ramps I normally use for I25 were both closed.  I finally wound up going north on Santa Fe and getting on there.  Overshot The Parking Spot, as usual, but made it there and got parked.  The shuttles were way behind.  The first one that came was a special call for a minivan of vacationers who filled it up.  The rest of us were left waiting behind an SUV with a license plate that said “GODISLV”.  I was starting to think we were waiting for Godot, not a spotted van.

Made it to the airport and through security with no problem.  They gate checked my suitcase, so I didn’t have to lug that through Atlanta.

Atlanta was no big deal, though they have taken the TV screens off the ceiling of the tunnel between A and B concourses.  We arrived on time in Norfolk, and it was only a couple of minutes to get my suitcase and to the rental car.  The car was  Malibu with the keyless start and everything electric.  It took me a solid 5 minutes to figure out the seat so I could reach the pedals.   It had onboard navigation, so I told it to find Target, and it did.

It took about 10 minutes to pick up my order at Target, then I braved I264 and found the hotel with no problem.  The room was very basic, but very clean, and, although the hot water took forever to get to the room, the shower was very nice. 

I changed into my shorts and soaked myself in sunscreen and made a bee line to the beach.

I spent a couple of hours walking on the shoreline and in the edge of the water, then went to supper at Lager Heads.  The wait was 35 minutes, but I spent part of that sitting in the rockers on their sidewalk, watching the ocean.  Fried shrimp poboy and fries.  Tasty, but boy was it loud, between the musician right beside the patio and the fighter jets that were tree top flying out of NAS Oceeana.

I walked along the beach in the dark for awhile, then went to the room and had a shower to remove the copious amount of sand I had accumulated.

Thursday I didn’t get up in time to see the sunrise, but I went to the beach for a bit in the morning, then to Aunt Barbara’s.  The car got me close with its GPS, but I had to call her and get final directions.  We went to Holly’s for lunch, and had a nice little hang out.  I had planned to rent a mountain bike and ride to First Landing State Park, but the places only rent beach cruisers, and I didn’t want to do 12 miles on one of those in the heat and humidity, which was destroying me.  The humidity, not the heat, so I went to the beach for the afternoon.  I discovered that the big hotels cast lovely shadows after about 4 o’clock, so I lay above the littoral in the hotel shadow between episodes of walking in the edge of the water and standing in slightly deeper water and letting the waves splash me.  I got taken down and rolled by one wave, and so much sand in my swimsuit!  Supper was at Doughboy’s Pizza, a pretty good Philly cheesesteak, mainly because I was hungry and tired of looking for something better.

Friday I did make it for the sunrise, then went back to the hotel for breakfast.  I decided to walk to the pier after breakfast, before it got too hot.  The Cannonball Run was mobbing up at Neptune Park and I got to see the bikes.  Super cool, some Harleys, some BMWs, lots of cool antique motorcycles.

The pier was scorching, but so nice watching the ocean from the higher perspective.  A lady pointed out a jellyfish to the boy with her, and I got to see it, too.  I hung out about an hour, then headed back down the boardwalk.  I stopped at Katie’s on 33^rd for lunch, and had a corned beef omelet.   Never thought of that, but it was very good.

I holed up in the room reading and cooling off for a while, then went back to the beach for more walking and staring.  I walked right along the tideline from 35^th to the Neptune statue.  There were sandpipers and sea gulls and lots more jets.  I saw a few dolphins.  The aquarium’s big dolphin watching boat was behaving as if they found something, doing u-turns, and I looked and saw fins and one jump.  Supper was Peloni’s Seafood Tacos - a grilled shrimp burrito.  Man, I wish Qdoba or Chipotle had that recipe!  It was delicious.

Saturday was sunrise with coffee, back to the hotel for breakfast, then back to the beach.  More dolphins both times, with one jumping right in front of me once.  Lunch was at Taste, with ginger and citrus green tea.  Another thing I need to track down up here.  Reading for the noon hour, then back to the beach, since the afternoon cruise was cancelled due to thunderstorms.  They rebooked me on the sunset cruise, at 6pm.  The car found the way to the pier, but not where to put the car.  I figured that out pretty rapidly.  There was an event, so the garage was charging extra.  $10 for parking from 4pm-2am.  The attendant was pleasantly surprised when I expressed my surprise at how cheap it was.

The cruise was super cool.  They put up 2 of the sales, but had to take them down again, since there was  another storm coming in and they would have taken too much wind.  Again dolphins, one of whom jumped right below me.  I could have touched him had the freeboard not been so high.

I wasn’t going to wander around downtown Norfolk alone at 8:30 Saturday night, so I headed back to VB and stopped at Bubba’s Seafood, which I had found on the map before I left.  Fried oysters on a deck right on the water.  Yum.

Sunday dolphins and sunrise again, then a walk along the beach before a shower and heading to Dave’s for supper.  He had planned a cookout, but rain, so he barbecued chicken in the oven.  We talked for hours, then I headed back to the hotel.  I had been a touch late getting there, because the car, which could not find his address at all and had to call an On-Star human to get it, and the phone, which knew exactly where I wanted to go from the get-go, were arguing about how to get there, and, of course, it was pouring rain, because why should it not pour on me when I am driving a strange car in a strange place.  When it was time to leave, Dave is giving me directions and his wife Shelly piped in and said I could just drive down  the last mjor street to the house, and it would run into Shore Drive, and I couldn’t overshoot it because the MPs at the gate of the navy base at the end of the street wouldn’t let me.  Straight home, through the state park again, in the dark again, which is so cool.

Monday I went to the sunrise again.  I had gone onto the beach Sunday, but decided the best place to watch was from the boardwalk, so that’s what I did.  Then back to the hotel for breakfast, then pack up and head for the airport.  I let the phone tell me how to get there this time, and we had no problem, although it didn’t know how to return a rental car.  Fortunately there are signs.  No problems in security, right through, and to the gate.  The gate agent called for volunteers to gate check their luggage and I was third in line.  Because I had done that, I got to board way before my ticket class.  I feel like I totally gamed the system on that one!

Atlanta was no problem, even got some Popeyes chicken for lunch, but I hate the vibe in that airport.  A little late to Denver, as DIA airspace was so crowded that DIA control held us on the ground for 15 minutes in Atlanta.  When we got to DIA, we had to wait another 10 minutes or so for a ground agent to get us a jetway.  I found the baggage carousel for my flight, but didn’t see my suitcase.  I went to the luggage handlers to ask, and there it was.  They had pulled it off the carousel already.  Apparently, since it was gate checked it had been one of the first off the plane.  Then I couldn’t find the loading area for the shuttle as none of the exits are marked as being for off airport parking.  I went where I had looked last time, and it was just a few feet away.  Then, of course, the shuttle was 30 minutes getting there.

I missed the turn to Pena, it being dark and I being tired, so went on up to Chambers, which was actually a better place to get on I70 anyway, and from there it was a straight, and as uncrowded as it ever gets, shot to 225, I25, Hampden, and home. 

I loved being on the beach and especially on the water.  Wonder if I’m too old to get my seaman’s card?