Virginia Beach, Virginia

We finally gave up on Washington DC. When congress decides to behave more responsibly, we hope to be back.

Sunday, we drove south to Virginia Beach. The weather was grey and rainy, but the roads provided clear sailing, with only a little traffic. And here we are.

We chose to stay at First Landing State Park, which is right on the Chesapeake Bay.  This is where the Jamestown group landed in 1607, then went up river a bit to start their colony.

Sunday night we took a walk down to the Bay, and were almost blown away! The wind was intense! The beach is right along the shipping channels, and there were several immense freighters spaced along the bay.

Walkway out to the beach

Monday we thought we would outsmart a dysfunctional Congress and visit a STATE park a little south of here. However, because we would have to pass through a NATIONAL seashore in order to reach it, we were stymied, and facing another sign regarding the federal shut down. (Gnashing of teeth!!)

We walked out onto a fishing pier, and saw a couple of hardy souls surfing!  We tried to take a walk on the beach, but we felt like we were getting sand blasted, so gave up.

Pretty, huh?

Yesterday was quite a bit nicer, and we decided to drive the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel-Bridge. This is a 27 mile crossing of the Chesapeake Bay consisting of 2 mile-long tunnels, many miles of low slung causeway, two man-made islands, a national wildlife refuge, and a couple of miles of a high bridge. It was actually pretty cool!  It runs from Virginia Beach to the "Delmarva" Peninsula (made of of parts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, thus the name!)

The Chesapeake Bay Tunnel-Bridge

Two lanes, each direction...for MILES!

 That side of the Bay is very rural, and beautiful. We went to a small town called Cape Charles

Cape Charles, Virginia

I guess during the summer it is CRAWLING with tourists, but our time there was quiet and wonderful.
And we discovered acres and acres of cotton fields.

Cotton!!!

We are not sure what is next on the agenda....but I'm betting it will be a 'venture!