the mormonicle chronicle: Remembering HOT times now that it's COLD

(Found this old draft - thought I may as well share!) Gentle Reader, You may be aware that I am pathetically behind the times in my 2012 blogging! Shame on me! We have such lovely adventures, and then I neglect to find the time to share with all of you. Very selfish of me, to be sure.

Chesapeake Bay bridge from a distance

Parallel bridges in the middle of the bay

Entering the tunnel to go under the bay

At the end of July, 2012, Tony had to go to Virginia Beach for work. He asked me to tag along and he did NOT have to ask me twice! While he and I both mostly worked during the days, we did happen to do some fun things when we had the chance. It was beautiful weather - until you went outside. The heat index was over 100 which meant it was just pretty miserable and crazy humid. The day we drove down it was pretty nice. The drive was really beautiful. We traveled down the Eastern Shore of Maryland which is actually the western part of a peninsula on the far side of Chesapeake Bay. Maryland is a very differently shaped state and I had never been in that part before. It is very rural in a way, but also very influenced by the sea and the bay. A lot of farmers stands and friendly people. We were definitely looking forward to going over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. This basically connects the southern tip of Eastern MD back to the mainland at Virginia Beach, VA. It is about 20 miles long and is mostly constructed of parallel bridges (one northbound, the other southbound) and two tunnels. One of the tunnel entrances also has a guest stop with a shop and restaurant. We got out of the car and took pictures before entering the bridge for the first time. It is always so nice to get back by a large body of water - so beautiful! The bridge and tunnel was fun yet unnerving at the same time.

Dinner with our friends, June and Paul

Cute hubby waiting for hotel shuttle after dinner

Tony and sunset. Which is hotter?

VA Beach was SO hot we didn't even attempt the beach which was crowded beyond belief. I worked from the hotel room while Tony went out on his work visits. We both had Friday afternoon off, so we headed INDOORS to the VA Aquarium and Marine Science Center. It was wonderful and I learned so much about Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, which stretches all the way up to PA.

Heading into the aquarium

They had a lot of turtles

Dolphin... friend or foe?

That night we decided to run over the border to North Carolina. Neither of us had ever been and we just went for it, even with a huge storm predicted. We drove south, for 30 minutes with one stop at the NC visitors center to ask where is a good place for BBQ. They directed us to Currituck and it was awesome. We didn't regret this quick trip even though we got caught in a horrible deluge on the way home. Tony drove like a champ and we got back to our hotel in VA Beach in time to see the sunset from our room. Of course, that was also a memorable night in that we went down to the desk for some reason later on and got locked out of our room. No, we had our keycard, but the reader completely stopped working. They had to call the manager to come from home and help them replace it. I was not too happy because that night was the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics which I had really been looking forward to. Oh well, I got on the computer in the lobby's business center and caught some of the updates online.

People in North Carolina are FRIENDLY with a capital F!

I think this says it all...

NC BBQ - Doesn't look so great in a photo but man is it good.
2 choices of meat, 2 sides, and 2 hush puppies

My man

Sunset from our room after a horrendous storm.

We headed home the next morning and stopped for breakfast at the Bay Bridge-Tunnel restaurant. We loved watching the huge freighters go by. We also stopped for some amazing produce at a funny little farmers market in MD. I especially enjoyed seeing all of the crape myrtle trees in bloom in all colors along our way, especially down in Southern Virginia nearer the beach. A quick, yet very memorable, trip!