Virginia Beach - October 2016 - Days 4 & 5

October 2, 2016 (Sunday)

Cape Henry Lighthouse

We headed to Fort Story to check out the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse. The lighthouse is on an active military base so you will have to get your vehicle searched, which is not nearly as bad as it sounds. It takes only a few minutes. There are actually two lighthouses, the oldest one was built in 1772. In 1878, it was found to be unsafe due to cracking on the walls and the wooden staircase being soaked in oil from the lantern.  The new Cape Henry Lighthouse was completed in 1881 and was built in cast iron – it is not open to the public. The Old Cape Henry Lighthouse was the first federal constructed project under the Constitution. There is a fee for climbing the lighthouse – cost varies – with AAA it was $7. Once to the top you are rewarded with beautiful ocean views (it was quite warm up at the top).

While at Fort Story, we visited the Cape Henry Memorial, which is a part of the Colonial National Historical Park. Cape Henry first landed in America on April 26, 1607 and then on May 13, 1607 the Jamestown settlement was established. The site is comprised of a Memorial Cross. There is a nice boardwalk which provides lovely ocean views! We were able to view some dolphins and a submarine!

After a quick lunch, we headed out to the Virginia Beach boardwalk to check out more art booths and some music. It was a bit rainy, but we did not melt.

One of my sister’s friends lives in the Virginia Beach, so we were able to meet up with her and her family for dinner.  After dinner, they took us on a tour of some of the local military bases – so neat seeing the ships up close!

October 3, 2016 (Monday)

George Washington Birthplace National Monument

It was time to head back in the direction of home. We stopped to visit the George Washington Birthplace National Monument (no fee).   First stop was the visitor center where they had many displays and a video.  The site was established in the 17^th century by Englishman, John Washington (George Washington’s great-grandfather), as a colonial plantation. George Washington was born on the site on February 22, 1732. We took the guided tour, which got us into the house that is on-site. It should be noted that the home that is there is not at all related to George Washington.  The home that Washington was born in was destroyed in a fire in 1779. The grounds are very pretty.

Cannon at the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania NMP

One last NPS site to visit on the way home - Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park. There are four different battlefield sites to visit. We visited two of them. There was a video to watch at the visitor center and driving tours to take at the different sites. Not a lot to see, but interesting.

Continuing toward home, we stopped to eat at a place called Angus & Ale in Berkeley Springs, WV. It was okay just okay. There was not a lot of food options around that were open.

With one last night on the road and we stopped at the Holiday Inn Express in Cranberry Township, PA.  It was probably one of the worse Holiday Inn Expresses that we have ever stayed at. 

Virginia Beach - October 2016 - Day 3

October 1, 2016 (Saturday)

It started out as a very rainy morning.  We stopped by the grocery store to get some lunch food before heading north up the Atlantic coast. We took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, which was quite unique. The Bridge Tunnel is 23 miles long! It is one of only ten bridge-tunnel systems in the world. Taking the Bridge Tunnel saves motorist 95 mile and about 1 ½ hours!

Since it was rainy, we just happened to be driving by the NASA missile launch facility visitor center – Wallops Flight Facility is the official name.  Wallops is NASA’s principal facility for management and implementation of suborbital research programs. It was free to go in and check out the exhibits.  We spent maybe 30 minutes to an hour there. 

Wild horse at Assateague Island National Seashore

Lighthouse at  Assateague Island National Seashore

Continuing north, we finally reached our first planned destination for the day – Assateague Island National Seashore – Toms Cove Visitor Center in Chincoteague Island, VA.  There is a $5 entrance fee – or free with pass. There were a ton of mosquitoes in the area.  Lucky for us, the rain pretty much stopped by the time we finished a quick lunch in the truck. On the drive to the visitor center, we did not see any wild horses, but on the way out we saw quite a few! The visitor center was relatively small with just a few displays (mostly aquatic life) and a book store area.  There was a guided walk that was about to start, but we opted not to go on it since we wanted to get to the other portion of the park (about an hour farther north).

Sunset from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Assateague Island National Seashore has a second visitor center in Maryland. There is an $8 entrance fee – or free with pass. We saw lots of wild horses at the Maryland location! We headed to the visitor center first. This visitor center was a lot larger and had more displays and the short video was worth the watch.  We visited the lighthouse, which provided lovely views.

After we got back to Virginia Beach, we had a quick meal at the hotel and then headed out to the boardwalk. It was a total coincidence that the Neptune Festival was going on during our visit. There were art exhibitors, beach volleyball tournaments, fireworks and a sand castle building contest. The fireworks lasted probably about 20 minutes and were okay.