June 13, 2012 ~~~ Took off for Virginia Beach and The Chesapeake tunnel this morning... fine kinda day!  Warm, no rain, no wind.  After meandering around the countryside on the back roads and spotting some places we want to visit tomorrow, we eventually got to the Atlantic Ocean at Virginia Beach... awesome!  Driving down the ocean front street... there is NOT street parking and almost every inch of ocean frontage is motels.  If you look close, there is a public parking lot every now and then for about $5.  Between EVERY motel, and at the dead-end of EVERY street, there is beach access.  The beach is so close you can see the umbrellas and beach chairs from the street!  We slipped into a motel parking lot, at the risk of being towed away, and I got to put my feet in the Atlantic.  Happy happy me!

** Very difficult for me turn my back on the ocean, being an Oregon girl ya know.  These teeny "breakers" were only about 3-feet high ... AND the water was warm!  I was so ready to spend the rest of the 81-degree day there. .. I so love love love the water!  There was plenty of room for all the people on the beach and there are life guards posted every now and then.  The "boardwalk" is actually cement, but looked perfect for a stroll.  We spent about 5 minutes there and then went back to our rig so it wouldn't get towed ... and drove away.  :-(

Next "stop" was the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel... that was spectalular too!  It's actually 21 miles long (17.5 from shore line to shore line).  On one side is the Atlantic Ocean and on the other is Chesapeake Bay, which might as well be an ocean because you cannot see all the shoreline from the bridge.  The bridge is close to the water (not high in the air... we liked that part!) ... and it was really "choppy", but we did see a pretty large sailboat, one commercial fishing rig, and several big cargo ships coming in from the Atlantic.

There is a manmade "island" in the middle of the bridge with a gift shop, restaurant, and a fishing pier, so we stopped there to watch the ships for a little while.

When we started back west to our camp trailer, we wanted to get a photo of Ft. Eustis for Larry T, since that's where he spent some time getting AIT school in the Army.  We nearly got confiscated!  We went a teeny bit too far (at my urging, so I could take a picture for Larry ... sorry Darrell) toward the main entrance, then we were stopped while trying to make a U-turn (not allowed) and had to go THROUGH the main gates and make an immediate right turn to go back OUT.  This was nicely pointed out to us by a very official Army guy, who appeared out of nowhere, and gave us "directions".  Firmly.

So... we got through all that and were headed back out of there, when we were stopped again by yet another very official Army guy who wanted to see my camera....firmly.  Apparently it is NOT allowed for anyone to take photos of their main gates.  He checked out the camera, then made me erase them, because of course I HAD taken photos.  Darrell said he was happy that we were able to get out of there without being arrested!

No, that is NOT the main gates!  This one was allowed.  Then we spotted this billiard room (plus additional attractions) directly off base and wondered if it was there when Larry was there, and if it was a favorite hang out.  We're pretty sure it is NOW ... but maybe it didn't have the same amenities when Larry was there. 

And here's a little history of Ft. Eustis and area.

And that's it for now.... tomorrow we plan to go find Jamestown and take a look around.  We'll be staying away from Ft. Eustis.  I don't think they would like seeing us again.  :-)