Kiptopeke–Week 5 & some baseball

We kicked off week 5 with a trip over to Norfolk to go to Norfolk Tides double-header with Nicolas and several of his friends. 

We went over a little early and had lunch in Virginia Beach and walked along the boardwalk, enjoying the beautiful day.  A cold front had come through the night before, and it was a great day – low 80s, a little overcast and low humidity.

It was a quiet afternoon at the beach.

Nick called when he got off work, and we met him over at Harbor Park.  He had gotten discount tickets at the MWR office on the ship, and it was “Turn Back the Clock” night with 50 cent hot dogs, popcorn and pop.  Guess what’s for dinner!?!

It was a perfect evening for baseball!

The Tides, who are the Triple A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, were playing the Gwinnet Stripers, the Triple A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.  The first game was a good one, and the Tides came out on top.

During the break between games, the guys tried their hand at pitching – and several of them came away with new Norfolk Tides hats.

The second game got started under the lights, and the Tides came out strong with several home runs.

It was another good game, but we didn’t stay for the whole thing.  Nick had to work early the next morning, and we had a 40 minute drive home, so we took off after the 3rd inning.  They ended up winning again.

It was a fun evening!

Back at Kiptopeke, we finally had a chance to join the interpretive rangers for a couple activities.  We joined Ranger Stan and Ranger August for the Full Moon Hike one evening – turn-out was light so we took the golf cart out to one of the more remote trails and hiked from there.

We walked past the same overlooks that we had ridden our bikes by a few weeks before.  We were there for sunset this time.

From there, we left the golf cart and headed into the woods on foot – not too bad while it was still light out, but it got darker as we continued to walk.  Stan was taking us to an area in the woods where he had found a screech owl nest on a prior hike.

Along the way, Ranger August, who studies forestry at Texas A&M, was helping to identify trees in the forest.

When it was fully dark, Stan brought out the owl sounds and started calling out to nearby owls.  It wasn’t long before one started responding.  He located it quickly with a red flashlight, and it swooped back and forth over our heads several times.

Eventually it determined that we weren’t a “real” owl, and moved further away from us and eventually stopped responding to the calls.

It was a pretty cool experience and the highlight of our hike. 

The moon finally started rising as we made our way back through the woods, but with all the clouds we didn’t get much light from the strawberry moon.

It was a little un-nerving hiking back through the woods in the dark, but we made it without incident.  It was a fun evening!

More beautiful sunsets from the pier.

Kayakers at sunset.

Another evening. we joined Ranger August for a campfire program and Owl Prowl.  August talked to a group of kids and parents about shells and plants and animals found in the park.

I learned about pine cone growth – new pine cones,

one-year-old pine cones,

and two-year-old pine cones.

While waiting for it to get dark out, August played a few games of

B-I-N-G-O with the kids. 

Tom played too, and I went to get some sunset pictures from a new perspective.

A beautiful sunset over the Chesapeake Bay, with the cargo ships waiting in the distance to make their way up to Baltimore.

As we wrapped up our first month of camp hosting, the other hosts left and we were still waiting for their replacements.  We had a few days of maintaining the full campground, and the days went by quickly as the park filled for the holiday week.

The fishing pier fills up more at night now, and the blue crabs are finally starting to show up.

Meanwhile across the Bay, someone in my Ike facebook group travelled along the Elizabeth River in Norfolk and Portsmouth, and got a few good pictures of the USS Eisenhower in the shipyard.

We haven’t been able to get a very good look at Nick’s ship, so I was happy to see these pictures!

Back home, another beautiful evening and sunset!