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!

d

Moving Day...in all ways!

Virginia Beach, Virginia
First Landing State Park

Well, today was moving day. We left our empty house back in Sag Harbor for the last time as it's homeowners. The moving company had come yesterday and in a mere 4 hours completely emptied the house of the contents we are keeping and took them away for storage until we buy a house in Florida. Then today, our family left in a caravan headed south. Al's mom and sister, our close friend, the 2 of us, the 2 dogs and the cat have all landed in Virginia Beach, Virginia for the next 5 days. We are visiting family here, and spending these last few days together before Al and I head to Kentucky to start our jobs at Amazon. The rest will head to Florida, and we will all meet again at Christmas.

We had a wonderful time spending the last 3+ weeks back in our hometown. There was a lot of fishing, a little golf, lots of visiting, and of course packing and cleaning. The weather did not co-operate for the most part, but we did get a few nice days in. It was so nice to visit with my brother and sister, who are the last of my family in the area. Al has a niece, an aunt and a few cousins still hanging in there as well. So we still have plenty of reasons to continue to visit the area.

It was hard leaving the homestead for the last time, but we are really loving this new lifestyle. I will always have a place in my heart for Sag Harbor, but I am also very excited by the opportunities waiting for me out there.

I promise that I will now return to picture taking and talking about the places we are traveling through. After all, that's what is most interesting, right? So, coming up: Virginia Beach!

No, We Haven't Disappeared!

Funny thing about going home again...can you really go home again? It's still our house (until the closing anyway), but it doesn't FEEL like our house. Packed up, boxes everywhere. What is amazing to me is the FREE thing; not enough stuff for a yard sale, but some stuff we don't want to take south is too good to simply throw away. So you put it at the end of the driveway with a giant orange FREE sign. And it disappears by the end of the day! Amazing. Well, at least its going to be useful to someone else. Mentally, I'm moving on. I will return for visits as I still have siblings here, but won't be staying in this driveway again. Sad. Moving on.

Keeping pretty busy here. Lots of appointments with doctors, financial people. Our lawyers are friends, more like a visit than business. Have to take care of the closing paperwork as it will take place after we're gone. Al has been busy everyday, seeing friends, ambulance members, fishing, golf. His first sea bass he caught made him realize why fresh water fishing hasn't clicked with him yet! I must get him fly-fishing lessons and a guide while in Colorado. He'll enjoy it much more once he knows what he's doing :-).

Most everything in the house is ready for the movers except for the daily necessities. They come on October 13, and then we all head out together (Al and I, his mom, sister and our friend Patti) on October 14 to go to Virginia Beach. Al has family there that we'll visit until the 19th. Then the ladies head towards Homosassa Florida, while we go over to Campbellsville Kentucky. We start our jobs at Amazon on the 23rd. Should be interesting.

Meanwhile, we continue to visit and spend time with family. Wish the weather would clear a bit, seems like its cloudy and raining all the time! Oh well. Good for cleaning. Also taking the time to clean out closets and cabinets here in the Cougar. Too many clothes.

I plan on taking some pictures here of our home area, as soon as the weather clears. It really is a beautiful area, and we will miss being so close to the ocean. But, there's a big country to see out there, and as long as we have the will and the means, we'll keep on traveling!