Virginia Beach Off Season

Ever since Nicolas got here in late July, he says there’s always been something going on in Virginia Beach – concerts, food festivals, beer festivals – anything a 21-year-old could want . . . He’s spent many weekend evenings at the beach, and he said the boardwalk is usually wall-to-wall people.  Early November, though, is pretty quiet and most of the businesses along the Boardwalk are closed up until Spring.

We knew we’d waited a little too long to get down there, but we decided to check it out anyway this weekend.  Before we hit the boardwalk, though, we stopped in at First Landing State Park. We’re on the waiting list for a Camp Host position for next spring, and we wanted to check out the park and the Host Sites.

Several of the camping loops are closed down for the season, so we drove through the two loops that are still open through November.  We passed a lot of tent sites, and were beginning to wonder if they even had RV sites when we reached an area of sites with water and electric.  There were campers on them, but they weren’t very long, and the roads were really narrow!  We found one of the Host Sites, but we weren’t too confident that we could get on the site.

We stopped in the office and talked to the rangers at the desk, and they directed us to the loop “where the bigger rigs go”.  It’s currently closed, but we were able to walk through.

The Host Site in this loop is much bigger and more wide open.

We wouldn’t have any trouble fitting there . . . but it is right across from the beach, so we’d probably get a little sand-blasted.  Well, we’re just on the waiting list, so it may not even open up.

We continued walking around the loop, and found that the rest of the sites were all under a canopy of trees.

The trees definitely add character, but I’m not sure I’d call these sites big-rig friendly.  There were really only a handful of sites that could handle a bigger RV.

Before we left, we stopped to take a look at the beach.

From the beach we could see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge – Tunnel, and you could clearly see where the bridge disappeared into the underwater tunnel.

It was a blustery day, and the beach was pretty much deserted, except for a couple windsurfers.

From the State Park, we continued on to the boardwalk - it was pretty quiet.

There are several small parks along the boardwalk, including this Naval Aviation Memorial Park.

There were statues honoring the pilots, support crew, and their families,

and granite memorials to the backbone of the air defense program – the aircraft carrier.

Prominently displayed on this one is the Eisenhower.

In the fall, winter and spring, horseback tours of the beach are offered.  The horses have a stable right on the beach.

We continued walking until we reached the Neptune Statue . . . the iconic symbol of Virginia Beach.

Tom had to get in on the photo op!

We turned around then and walked back the other way.  Workers were busy putting up the Christmas lights along the boardwalk for their holiday display – maybe we’ll have to come back one evening to check them out!

Looking forward to visiting the beach again next spring when there’s more going on!