You have probably noticed the somewhat logical geographical progression our travels have taken to date. That is to say, south and southwesterly from NY, through VA, TN, AL, and on to NOLA. Then easterly to PCB and Savannah followed by a turn to the north to Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and thence Williamsburg.
The pilot in Ladd finds such logic compelling. The bus driver in him; however, reacted immediately upon hearing the scream from the back of the bus – “Driver, turn this bus around – NOW!”
Yes, it was I, not a school child shouting out but hey, freezing rain, snow on top of the ice, single digit temps, two hour delays and you expect me to continue heading north? – get real!
In the late morning we left Williamsburg and drove (south) to Virginia Beach. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but very cold: a high temperature of about 39 degrees for the day! All of Virginia Beach seemed to say, “Brrr!” (Of course, I know it’s all relative since at home everyone is enduring rain, turned to ice, covered by five or so inches of snow! They are probably saying, “Yuck! Yuck!! Yuck!!!”)
Upon arrival to Virginia Beach we stopped at the Visitors’ Center. As Ladd looked through the travel brochures I talked with the two ladies working there. They were both long-time, now retired, teachers! Of course we were “comparing notes” about our teaching experiences in different states. Ladd and I are both amazed at how many teachers I have encountered and conversed with throughout our trip!
It was really too cold and windy to walk very far, so we drove around Virginia Beach to check it out. I found the hotel on the beach where my mother, Dean, his friend, Max, and I stayed probably about fourteen years ago. Most places seem to have stayed the same, but there are some new hotels and stores. Virginia Beach has a GREAT shore line/beach “strip”! The hotels are on the beach, but they are BEHIND a beautiful, long two-part walkway: one part is for bikes, skateboards, etc. and the other part is for walkers/runners. The beach and ocean is on the other side of the walkway. When we were here “in season” with Dean and Max when they were little there were nightly fireworks down by the pier and nightly free entertainment by a central spot on the “strip.” They even had outside movies at night, too.
We checked into our hotel, “Sea Hawk”. After unpacking we watched the walkers, runners, and ships on the ocean from our balcony. Even at this pre-season time and in this cold weather, Virginia Beach is a beautiful spot! I then took a short nap while Ladd researched places for dinner on the computer.
“Reginella’s” was the spot we chose for dinner. It is an Italian restaurant, a family-run business that had excellent reviews online. The restaurant was so cute and clean. Our young waiter was polite, efficient, and had a good sense of humor, too. Even though we only ordered pizza, the waiter brought us some bread with our wine and beer. NATURALLY we had to try it…ha! It was warm and some of the best we’ve had. We ordered the “Speciale Reginella” pizza: Neapolitan-style pizza with tomatoes, roasted red peppers, chicken, and mozzarella cheese. The fact that the pizza tray had NO PIZZA LEFT on it will tell you how fantastic it was and how very much we enjoyed it! (Boy, oh, boy, are we full!) As we paid our bill to the owner of “Reginella’s” he asked how everything was. I told him how very much we loved it, and that I would be saying this on our trip blog. This made him smile!
This hotel has a laundry room, so I’ll close for today and do a little “catch-up” laundry before hitting the hay.
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