Virginia Beach - boardwalk, king neptune sculpture, concerts

Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach has a beautiful big sandy beach but no waves when we were there in the spring. In fact, there are many surf decals that mention that Virginia Beach has no waves. But I'm sure during hurricane season they get something they can ride. However, we still had a great time for the five days we were there. We stayed across the street from the ocean on Atlantic Avenue and 36th Street. This was almost at the far north end of the boardwalk. This is a pedestrian friendly city so you will find many people walking Atlantic Avenue and the oceanfront boardwalk. Virginia Beach is pet friendly as well and as long as you keep your pet on a leash at all times they can be with you on the boardwalk.

The 34-foot high cast bronze King Neptune statue stands between Neptune Park and the sea. With trident in hand, he is surrounded by the creatures of his realm. The statue was dedicated to the City of Virginia Beach on September 30, 2005 during the Neptune Festival Boardwalk Weekend; it now graces the boardwalk at 31st Street overlooking Neptune Park. Of course everybody gets their picture taken next to King Neptune, it's an awesome sculpture all the way around. At Neptune's Park is the Hilton Hotel and the Virginia Beach Amphitheater which is a 20,000-capacity outdoor concert venue hosting 30-40 events each season. This is a great big grassy area to lounge around on and play with your kids or your rabbit.

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Up and down Atlantic Avenue are more restaurants and junk food joints than you could dream of. I seriously have never seen so many restaurants advertising breakfast and above all pancakes in my life. If you want to eat pizza, ice cream, pancakes, hamburgers, subs, and any other artery clogging food then Virginia Beach's Atlantic Avenue is the place to be. Oh yeah, and seafood buffets are advertised heavily but they aren't cheap and definitely not as good as the Bellagio Buffet in Las Vegas which really is the best buffet and best seafood buffet ever. And yes we did break down and get pizza one night and bought ice cream at the grocery store too. But we mostly ate groceries that we kept in our little hotel refrigerator and that kept us in line for the most part.

We walked the oceanfront boardwalk in the evenings a couple of times and I ran the boardwalk every morning for a couple of reasons. One was because the morning temperature was cool and two in case I went fast food nation on myself. The boardwalk is marked at every 1/2 mile and is a total of three miles long and 28 feet wide. There are two separate paved sections. One has a yellow center line for coming and going traffic of surries, bicycles, and rollerbladers. The other is a wide concrete walkway for pedestrians. The entire length of the boardwalk has a park life atmosphere with musical stages at four different streets, nautical sculptures, restaurants, vendors, bike rentals and hotels and condos overlooking the ocean. Click here to see The Alamo and missions pictures in San Antonio Texas if you like a more city-style adventure.

There is deep sea fishing, pier fishing at Rudee Inlet or Lynnhaven Inlet, surf fishing and inshore fishing that will please any angler. There are over 198 holes to golf in Virginia Beach either inland or overlooking the ocean. Check out Mount Trashmore a former landfill and now a kids park and skate park with ramps. Along the boardwalk is the Old Coast Guard Station museum and two Cape Henry Lighthouses are at Fort Story which is at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay just north of the resort area. Explore the seashore to cypress birding trail. Kayak bays, rivers, lakes, marshes areas and fingers of water that all flow into the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay.

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While we were in Virginia visiting family in Gloucester and West Point we were driven through Williamsburg a few times by Jason's wonderful Aunt Faye. Thanks Larry for the great food, stories and music. The city of Williamsburg is packed with stuff to see and do and the scenic drives will totally transport you from the highly commercial life we live in to exquisite serenity under tree canopies lining the road. In and around Williamsburg is so much American history that it could actually take you months to explore and learn about it all.

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There is the 18th century style of Colonial Williamsburg, which is a 301-acre living history museum. The Jamestown Settlement was America's first permanent English settlement and where Pocahontas' Powhatan Indian village was near. There is Yorktown where you can spend the day on the beach at the river's edge gazing out at commercial boats and colonial ships docked on the York River with the sound of fifes and drums in the background. Williamsburg Pottery has pottery, baskets, and greenhouse plants, supposedly a must visit attraction. The College of William and Mary is a beautiful place to visit and so is the Williamsburg Winery. There is old and new and new that resembles old all over this clean and well-kept city. It truly was a delight to travel through and we did make a few stops in Williamsburg. We went to Yankee Candle with Aunt Faye. And one afternoon we went to a movie at New Town with Tommy and his family and then met Todd and his family and Aunt Earlene and Uncle TC at the Golden Corral for dinner. There is plenty to learn and plenty of fun in Williamsburg and Virginia Beach.

Jason's thoughts - Virginia Beach is very nicely decorated, upkeep was superb, clean comfortable place to spend up to a week with little concerts going on 3-4 nights a week on the beach for free. If you want to keep costs to a minimum park your VAN in the covered parking garage and pay for 24 hours parking cost 8-12 dollars. Keep quiet and low key as you don't want them knowing you are sleeping in there. Prepare for noise, use the public showers at the beach, keep it fun and blow your money on the local restaurants, kayak tours, pier fishing, etc.
Kelly's thoughts - What a fabulous beach town. Of all the beach cities I have lived in or been to over and over again on the east coast, without a doubt I would recommend this place to anybody. I really had a good time and enjoyed hanging out on the boardwalk and at 31st Street.

Travel info - Virginia Beach is on the Atlantic Ocean east of Norfolk, Virginia and north of North Carolina on Atlantic avenue.

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