Easter 2015 Vacation | The Beauty Around Us

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Easter Vacation in Virginia – Day 2: Afternoon Activities and Dinner with Friends

On Good Friday, April 3, we enjoyed the beauty of the morning sunrise. We went for a walk on the Virginia Beach boardwalk, and we enjoyed lunch at a pancake house.

After lunch, we returned to our hotel. We spent the next 4 hours relaxing, either in our room or on the balcony. I intended to do a great deal of reading, while on vacation. I found it difficult to concentrate when reading, though. There were just too many photo opportunities afforded from our 8th floor balcony!

We had never seen horses on the beach.
I really liked watching the horses on the beach!

The horses were corralled a short way up the beach from our hotel.

The King Neptune statue was visible, when looking to the left from our hotel balcony.

The Virginia Beach fishing pier was visible, when looking to the right from our hotel balcony.
We walked to the fishing pier earlier in the day.

I saw several dogs who looked like they were enjoying the beach and surf just as much as their human masters.

We met our friends, Denise and Nic, at 5:00 pm for dinner at Margie and Ray’s Seafood Restaurant. The four of us ordered two Hurricane Margie Platters. The platters cost $37.99 each. Each platter contained generous portions of Shrimp, Scallops, Crab Cakes, Clam Strips, Oysters, Fish Filets, French Fries, Hush Puppies, and Homemade Cole Slaw. There was enough food on one platter to feed all four of us! We each carried out a box filled to the brim. Bob and I planned to reheat our leftovers for Saturday’s dinner.

The four of us at Margie and Ray’s Seafood Restaurant

The last time we had seen Denise was in September 2013, when we vacationed together for a week at the Outer Banks. We met Nic for the first time during that vacation. It was so good to see Denise again and to spend more time with Nic, getting to know him better.

I hope 18 months doesn’t pass again, before we see each other!

There is still much more to share with you about our Easter vacation in Virginia, so please come back soon!

Easter Vacation in Virginia – Day 2: A Morning Walk

Soon after watching the sunrise on Good Friday, we went for a walk on the Virginia Beach boardwalk. Our hotel was located at 28th Street. We walked to the fishing pier at 15th Street. We took pictures along the way.

Old Coast Guard Station

Bob took this picture of me at the Old Coast Guard Station.

Bob on the Virginia Beach boardwalk

We were on a Beach Holiday.

Virginia Beach Fishing Pier

We paid $2.00 each to walk to the end of the fishing pier. The view from the end of the pier was very nice!

I think that the young man in the brown shirt was teaching the others how to fly fish.

As it turned out, it cost more than $4.00 to walk that pier. A gust of wind pushed the hood of my hoodie off my head. Underneath the hood was my Shenandoah baseball cap.

The Atlantic Ocean claimed my baseball cap!

In addition to Bob and me, there were a few other people standing at the end of the fishing pier. Everyone said “OH”, as my cap fell into the ocean.

Bob on fishing pier
See the Ferris wheel in the background?

Here is a closer view of the Ferris wheel.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a souvenir shop where I purchased a Virginia Beach baseball cap.

My new Virginia Beach baseball cap

We began our walk at 7:25 am and returned to our hotel at 9:05 am.

Our hotel – the Best Western Plus Oceanfront

After our walk, we returned to the hotel and relaxed for a couple hours. We went to lunch around 11:30 am, choosing a restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. We took notice of The Maple Tree Pancake House during our walk. We thought it was open only for breakfast, given its name, but then I saw a sign advertising its lunch offerings. The Maple Tree Pancake House turned out to be a good place for lunch. Bob ordered fish and chips. I ordered a cheeseburger. The service and food was very good.

In my next blog post I will continue sharing photographs from Day 2 in Virginia Beach.

Easter Vacation in Virginia – Day 2: Good Friday Sunrise

We awakened early the morning of April 3. Bob got up at 4:00 am, and I got up about 30 minutes later. We ate breakfast at 6:00 am and watched the sunrise from our 8th floor hotel room balcony at 6:47 am.

The four sunrise photographs shown above were taken within the space of 8 minutes. What a beautiful start to the day!

Soon after sunrise we went for a walk on the boardwalk. I will share details and photographs of our walk in my next blog post.

Easter Vacation in Virginia – Day 1

We spent an extended Easter weekend in Virginia. We spent the nights of April 2 through April 4 in Virginia Beach. We spent the night of April 5 on Chincoteague Island.

Thursday, April 2, was a travel day. We departed our hometown of Warren, PA at 6:50 am en route Virginia Beach! We were so excited to be on our way that Bob took Thursday off work. Our original travel plan was not to leave until noon. We made several stops along the way.

We stopped at Tim Horton’s in Warren for coffee and a bacon wrap for Bob. Neither of us had eaten breakfast. I passed on breakfast at Tim Horton’s, as I had an upset stomach. By the time we reached Ridgway, my stomach felt better. We stopped at Sheetz to top off the fuel tank, and I bought a ham, egg and cheese bagel for breakfast.

We stopped for a bathroom break at a rest stop on I-70. The rest stop was located 2 miles west of Town Hill, PA.

The rolling hills at the rest stop were picturesque.

Shortly before noon we made our usual stop, when traveling this direction, along Rt. 522 at the Liberty Fuel Station in Cross Junction, Virginia. The fuel price is typically lower at this station than other stations. The fuel price on Thursday was $2.119/gallon. We saw later that we could have obtained fuel at much lower prices. We saw fuel prices as low as $1.97/gallon in Tappahannock, VA.

Our last stop en route Virginia Beach was around 2:15 pm for lunch at Denny’s along Route 17 in Fredericksburg, VA.

We arrived at Best Western Oceanfront Virginia Beach shortly before 7:30 pm. We lost at least 1 ½ hour travel time because of a 3-mile backup at the Hampton Road Bridge Tunnel. According to the Virginia 511 real-time traffic info iPhone app, there was a disabled vehicle and all eastbound lanes were closed until it was cleared.

Soon after checking into the hotel, we ate dinner at The Shoreline Grill, which was located in our hotel. Bob ordered broiled scallops. I ordered meatloaf. The service and food were excellent.

Our home for 3 nights was located on the top floor of the Best Western Oceanfront hotel. We had an oceanfront room, with balcony.

After dinner I sat on our balcony, enjoying the cool ocean breeze and the sound of the waves. The almost full moon was high overhead, lighting a path across the ocean. How relaxing, after a full day on the road!