October 17, 2011 – Monday - Salisbury, MD to Virginia Beach, VA

Today we awoke to a bright beautiful day – great biking weather, but no, we are finished with that!! We had a relaxing breakfast before driving south on the Delmarva Peninsula toward Norfolk, VA.  (Delmarva stands for DELaware, MAryland, VirginiA). On our way south we drove out of the way to the little fishing town of Crisfield, MD – most businesses in this town were related in someway to catching crab.

Crisfield, MD Harbor

After back on the main road two antique malls allured us into stopping. We were not making good time today, but who cares!

Along the way we saw fields of tomatoes – we really could not understand the situation – it appeared they had killed the plants by spraying them. Workers were removing a material at the base of the plants that prevented weeds but also contained an irrigation medium. It appears there are still plenty of tomatoes on the plants, but up close they were not in good shape. We do not know why they were not picked. We assume all those stakes with strings will have to be removed before the soil is prepared for a new crop. It sure appeared to be labor intensive. It would have been interesting to discuss the process with someone in the know.

Tomato Field

Cherry Tomatoes

At the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula there is a bridge, tunnel, bridge, tunnel, bridge that crosses over the Chesapeake Bay to Virginia (Lucius J Kellan Jr Chesapeake Bay Bridge).  Yes, you are on a bridge than you go under into a tunnel, then up on a bridge than under then up again. The tunnels allow for the shipping lanes entering and leaving the Chesapeake Bay.

Crossing the bridge-tunnel brought us into the Metro area of Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Newport News. We wanted to see the light houses at the Cape, but we did not realize they were inside a military zone (Fort Story).  We could enter, but before entering they checked the whole vehicle – opening the hood, looked under the vehicle with a mirror, checked the inside, and checked Cal’s driver’s license. After seeing the light houses we drove toward downtown Virginia Beach.  At one point we found a spot to park and walked on the beach for a while before going downtown.  By now it was almost 4:30 and we knew we would be facing traffic issues when leaving town, unless we had dinner downtown before leaving.

The beach front is lined with hotels – every hotel chain – they were advertising ‘winter rates’.  We figured they would still be more than we hoped to pay, but decided to see how ‘high’ the rates would be.  We could not believe the rates!  So we are on the Beach at Virginia Beach tonight!  It was/is a beautiful evening and night – I mean in the mid 70’s.  As I am writing this it is 9:30 pm and the temp is still 70 degrees.  Tonight was the perfect night to be here as it will be cooling down later this week.  While the sun was still shinning we walked and walked on the beach plus the boardwalk.  After dark we found a place to eat.    

           

Virginia Beach

On The Beach at Virginia Beach, VA

Military jets were flying and flying and flying tonight – we do not know if this is normal.  You could not talk when they were overhead.  They continued to fly until approx 8:30 pm.

Tomorrow morning I think Cal is going to ride on the bike trail following the beach before I get up. We will see how early we leave tomorrow, but by tomorrow night we will be in Harrisonburg, VA with Cal’s niece.