Day 113 - Sandstock

As we fly back and forth on our Loop journey, the TSA often wants to screen Captain Randy’s suitcase.  Usually it’s because he is carrying boat parts and they don’t know what they are looking at.  This time it was due to the bottle of Chef Hans Blackening Seasoning. TSA carefully sprinkled some of it out and “tested” it on their computer – for what????  It is hot but not that hot.  It came out OK and we were on free to get on the plane.

We landed in Norfolk at 11:30 am and picked up our rental car.  We rented from Enterprise, so the agent carefully walked around the car with us, noting a couple of scratches on our paperwork.  There always seems to be issues with Enterprise; more on that later.  We took our carry-ons to the boat at Tidewater Yacht Co, where we had left it.  The sailboat next to us with the big poodle named Buffet was gone.  We settled in and then used the car to go to the UPS store to send back some things we had bought on earlier legs, then to the Food Lion for groceries.

We had the car until the next day, so we decided to drive to Virginia Beach and walk the Boardwalk.  The earlier clouds had cleared and it was beautiful.  Hotels line the shore, many with patio bars and restaurants overlooking the ocean.  Along the walk is an old Coast Guard Station that is now a museum.  There is a Norwegian Girl statue, saluting ships that come and go (reminding us of the Waving Girl in Savannah).  She is a memorial to a Norwegian ship lost offshore in 1890’s.  A copy of the statue stands in Moss, Norway facing west so that the two statues stand on either side of the Atlantic looking at each other.  At the 31^st Street there is a huge statue of King Neptune, complete with trident, turtles and porpoises.  By now it was 6:00 pm and we sat down at the lovely outside bar for Catch 31, a restaurant in the Hilton Hotel, for drinks and an appetizer.

 

 

 



The town of Virginia Beach sponsors live music on the beach and Atlantic Avenue every night all summer at 24^th Street.  We made our way over, stopping at the Naval Aviation Memorial for a few minutes and also trying a sample of salt water taffy from a street vender.  This particular weekend’s festival was Sandstock, a tribute to the famous Woodstock Festival in 1968.  All of the musical performances were tributes to bands of that era.  We listened to Sky Dog, playing Allman Brothers tunes and later The Machine, doing Pink Floyd (my favorite).  There was great people watching, including a woman with a perfect 60’s hippie outfit.

 

 

 

We wandered back to Atlantic Avenue, where there was more entertainment and stopped in the candy store for taffy – a must for Captain Randy.  For dinner, we sat on the outside deck at CP Shuckers for oysters, tuna with cucumber/noodle salad, and mahi mahi tacos.  We drove back to the marina, happy to be on the water again.