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Published: August 11th 2014
King Neptune
Virginia BeachAfter a time, you find yourself longing for it. You know its not that far away, but it seems that way. You’re all caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, but in quieter moments, you think about it. Its call cannot be ignored. You have to go to once again listen to that magical and calming sound. You form a plan, and then on the appointed day, there you are, where you always love to be, standing at lands end, staring at it and listening to the constant and endless crashing of waves on the shore…..nirvana to us.
The journey was a little more than three hours, and while not to the prettiest or most well known American beach, but nonetheless, a good beach which we would share with about 50,000 of our closest friends for the next few days. Welcome to Virginia Beach. Recently, our convertible received some tender loving care after a few years of no shelter, so the trip had even more luster to it. Sailing along down the road with the top down and the music up.
If you are looking for quiet and solitude don’t come to Virginia Beach, VA….but with
that said it was evident that the city planners had vision. We can support our case because they created a very, very wide beach. This touristy resort town has also been known for its long stretches of wide beaches, which make it comfortable for many thousands of people to share the sand and not feel too crowded. Virginia Beach has a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest pleasure beach in the world. No kidding, can that statistic be correct? The world? Well, ok, we read it so it must be true. There are hundreds of large hotels and condos towering along the boardwalk but they are set back from the water to allow visitors to enjoy each grain of sand. An amazing three mile long board walk abuts the sandy beach, next to that is a green space with flowers and park benches and on the other side of that is a wide bike path. This city is engineered for the active life style.
One of the nice things about Virginia Beach is you can park your car when you arrive and not need it again until you leave. Musical entertainment can be
Paddle boarding
plenty of activities found at multiple locations each evening along the boardwalk. Food, drink, and fun are all a short walk. It is extremely clean and well manicured. And family friendly. Something for everyone. This is America so Virginia Beach is capitalism at its finest. The city rents beach chairs and beach umbrellas by the day. Nearby hotels and restaurants cater to those needing a break from the sun or they will pack a to go box so you can have your meals out on the beach. There are plenty of trash receptacles and toilets discretely placed so you can keep the beaches clean. This is a well thought out beach. Sounds like the local chamber of commerce needs to hire us. But hey, it is clearly a tourist destination in the Chesapeake Bay area, and they have done it up right. This was Dave’s first time here and MJ had not put her feet in this sand for well over…..well let’s just say it’s been a long time.
Runner, walkers, strollers, skaters, skateboards, joggers, toddlers, and pets a plenty. Parasailing, kayaks, surreys with the fringe on top. You name it you’ll see it. Well known for its beach volleyball you can
Brutus Beach Bum
Go Bucks! Resting up for the season. find a net anytime you want. They must have more than 50 available beach volleyball courts.
Our first morning there, it was up early to enjoy the sunrise. There was a quiet serenity along the boardwalk. The streetlight lined avenue looked picturesque as the world slowly began to awaken. A few of us hardy individuals were walking the beach in the dark waiting for the show of colors. A few dogs enjoying there morning runs with their family. This is definitely a pet friendly location. The city workers were out on their John Deere tractors grooming the beach, smoothing it out, eager to lure the visitors for the day. The garbage trucks quickly zip along the beach emptying the cans to ensure a tidy look for the day.
As we walked along the Atlantic Ocean in serenity of the early morning hours we embraced the joyful music the waves were making along the shoreline. This was music to our ears and provided a great calmness to us. Slowly the muted pinks, blues, gray and white began to fill the sky. We were treated to Mother Nature’s light show as we watched a pod of dolphins glide along the
Quiet time on the boardwalk
Early AM waiting on the sun to rise shore. We can almost taste the salt air, the smells, the sounds all provide us with an explosion of sensory stimulation and yet as we look around there is not much going on. ….oh but so much going on. We watched our dolphins for nearly an hour. They are a joyful delight to start the day.
A four wheeler came slowly down the beach in the early hours. A sign plastered on the front stating sea turtle patrol. We didn’t see any turtles. Perhaps it was merely a ploy for someone to ride a little four-wheel vehicle on the beach…who knows?
The U.S. Navy has a large base nearby and one feels secure in this location because the military helicopters and jet fighter planes fly over frequently throughout the day. This has to be one of the safer places to be, given the number of fighter plane flights in and out of the nearby base. Air superiority has been achieved. MJ would love to fly in one of those and has a few regrets not becoming a Navy pilot.
So since we are at the beach, MJ was in the mood for hush puppies. She had been
craving them for a month or so. We’d found a restaurant a short walk away that had a seafood buffet, which we don’t care for but it also said you could order off the menu. We stopped in to find out if they had hush puppies. They did! As it turns out they were on the buffet. Sadly, they would not let us order them unless we got the buffet. They would not let us order them off the menu. Amazingly crazy. So they lost that sale. As a result, we needed to find another place to eat. We turned right after leaving the above establishment and immediately laid our eyes on the Mykonos restaurant. Greek food!! What a stroke of luck..
Besides the excellent cuisine, we had wonderful conversations about Greece with the owner of the restaurant. We talked non-stop for nearly an hour. We ate, we drank and reminisced about the Greece and many of the isles. As it turns out our waitress was from Morocco. So after our wonderful conversation with the owner we ended up reminiscing about our trip to Morocco with our waitress. We really felt like we connected with her. We talked about
the country, the people and the food. She offered to cook us a home cooked meal the next night if we would come back to the restaurant. Guess what we decided to do? The next night we enjoyed an amazing Moroccan chicken and sautéed eggplant. On our second evening at Mykonos we felt like we were visiting family. We drank wine, enjoyed the food and good company. One of the other staff members is in the U.S. working an exchange program from Romania. We really enjoyed talking with her about her homeland. She told us about her hometown of Beius. We’ve definitely added it to our travel list. We also returned again the next night, to enjoy moussaka. Eggplant with a tasty meat sauce. Along with the hummus, we were living large.
We passed the days sitting on the beach, reading and enjoying the surroundings. Although there were a lot of people, it really did not feel that crowded. Although the chances of returning here are slim to none as we prefer the beach less visited, we can say that we enjoyed ourselves.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
endless crashing of waves on the shore
Not just Nirvana...necessary brain surgery for those who can experience it