Virginia Beach, VA

This year I am having some difficulty in determining where to go.  I ended up just slowly working my way up the east coast since I had to be in Wisconsin in August, but with no real plan.  I knew I wanted to spend some time in Washington, DC.   While looking at the map, I saw Virginia Beach.  I had never been there and saw a couple of parks and wildlife refuges nearby so I figured why not!

I thought about staying at one of the local state parks, but if I remember correctly they were basically first come first serve and with it still Spring Break in some areas I was concerned so I made reservations at the Hol-i-day Travel campground.  The day I got there they were having a huge Orange Crush Festival.  There were a lot of people there (not camping, just for the day) and it was loud! Luckily it was just for the day and ended about 7:30.  I think they had the best bathrooms that I have ever seen in a campground.

This may be a first for me, a picture of a campground bathroom!

The Naval Air Station was not far from the campground, so I saw a lot of jets.  I did learn a good place to watch the jets, so I went one day to get a better view than the quick fly over that I saw from the campground.

I was across the street from some of the runways on the base, where “they” had made a spot for 3 – 5 cars to park.  I passed this spot several times and I think every time there was at least a couple of people watching.

The guys above crossed the street to get a closer look, after they left another guy was there and the cops stopped and made him cross the street back to the parking area. 

One of the reasons I came here was Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.   There is a trail/road along the marsh that I was interested in biking.  It leads to False Cape State Park.  The only way to get to that park is to bike, walk or boat in.  As I was unloading my bike I noticed quite a few black flies, so I put on more insect repellant.  After only a mile of biking I debated continuing because there were so many flies. If I stopped to take a picture there would be hundreds (at least it felt that way) of flies swarming around me.  I decided to continue, but I didn’t stop to take too many pictures. 

I had planned on turning around at the sign to False Cape, but I decided to go the extra mile to the visitors center.  I stopped for a while and decided to bike another 1/2 mile to the beach.  I thought the flies would be better as typically it is a bit breezy at the beach that helps keep them away.  NOT THE DAY I WAS THERE, THEY WERE WORSE!!!

It’s a bit hard to see, but all those little dots are shadows of flies.  (with the exception of 2 – 3 actual flies).  I was reminded of Pig-pen from the Charlie Brown cartoons. I’m guessing the flies are one of the reasons that nobody else was on the beach.  I was there less than 2 minutes.  Unfortunately, I had to climb back over the dunes to get to where my bike was, with flies swarming the whole time.  Back on the bike it wasn’t too bad at least compared to the beach.  Even with the flies it was a fun 11 – 12 mile ride.  But I think next time I might wear long pants and sleeves or at least check on the fly situation first!

Also while there I visited First Landing State Park and I biked the bike trail downtown at the beach.  (Hotels/restaurants on one side, beach/ocean on the other side. 

My next stop was Fredericksburg, VA.