Family and the Boardwalk

Virginia Beach, Virginia
First Landing State Park

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day. We were quite tired from our 11 hour drive the day before, and no-one was up too early! I love this campground, it is right on the Chesapeake Bay where it meets the ocean. The beach is right over the dunes from our site, and a boardwalk leading to the beach is just a few feet down the road. You can't even see another trailer from our site, and it's so nice and quiet.

This is our site at First Landing State Park, C-7. This park you reserve a type of site, then pick any open site of that kind. The ranger suggested this loop, as it is quite close to the beach. We love it, except for the sand burrs...little tiny burrs that are everywhere, and leap out at you from every direction. They are really sharp, and hurt like the dickens. The dogs step very cautiously until we get down to the beach. We are constantly picking them out of their paws.

I never took a picture of the twirlies I learned to make while at Waldenwoods. I hung up my "double super whirly" here at the campsite. They really spin quite quickly in the wind, and are cool to watch...almost mesmerizing. Lorraine showed me how to make these, and in turn, I showed Al's mom how to do some. Now they're going to be making them in Florida as well :-)!

After we had a good breakfast of waffles, the rest of the family started to arrive at the campground. After spending some time around the camp, and then a walk to the beach so the dogs could play in the water, we piled into cars for a drive to the Virginia Beach boardwalk. The boardwalk is a little over 3 miles long in its entirety, completely lined by hotels and restaurants. The street paralleling it behind is lined with every tacky tourist shop you can imagine ;-). It was a beautiful afternoon for a stroll with the family.

The southern end of the boardwalk starting at 3rd. Street. As you can see, they are already starting to put up the Christmas decorations. At Christmas, at certain times, the boardwalk is closed to walkers and you can drive your car down it, viewing all the lights.

The beach is awesome here, and the surfers are always out. One of the best things I think about these beaches are they are ALL public, with no fees to visit. Wish all places did that!

Bicycle rentals are very popular on the boardwalk.

Beautiful blue sky...and off-season! No crowds!

The remains of the sand castle advertising the Neptune Festival

We were really not sure what this was all about, but it was fairly amusing. It looked like a set-up for a wedding, but why was the dude shirtless, laying in the sand, texting??

The side "streets" linking the boardwalk to the back street all had some kind of sea life statues

The fishing pier at the midway point, with the slightly more expensive tacky gift shops at the end. It cost you $2 each to go out on the pier, so this is the only view you are getting!

Patiently waiting for the shoppers to get finished. Chelsea can make herself comfortable anywhere!

After the boardwalk stroll, the group broke up for a couple of hours, and then re-gathered for a pizza party dinner. By this time, Al's other sister Susie had arrived from Texas, making a really nice family reunion as his mom and all three sisters are here to join us for the next couple of days. That doesn't happen often!

Today is another beautiful day, abundant sunshine and in the 70's. We shall see what we can get into today!

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