24 Hours on Virginia’s Eastern Shore

Ever been to Virginia’s Eastern Shore? No? It’s OK, really. Well, to be more diplomatic, let’s just say I don’t recommend putting at the top of your list unless you are making a beeline for Chincoteague and/or Assateague. Taking a jaunt out there seemed like such a great idea at the time, but by the time it was all over, we were ready to vote in favor of our own Darwin Award. There were some obvious clues that it was just a plain ole dumb idea, the first of which was that it required driving down 64 to Norfolk on a Saturday with all of the summer beach traffic.

With all good intentions in our hearts, we took a detour on 664 South to avoid the Hampton Roads Tunnel, but the detour itself took at least an hour on back roads with stoplight after stoplight after spotlight. It was downright painful. Traffic and all, how much worse could the “real” tunnel have been, people? However, I won’t be testing out my alternate route theory this Saturday afternoon. It’s just food for thought, one of the many shoulda-could-woulda’s of the trip. For a two-day trip it was A LOT of driving, way too much driving in fact. Ugh.

Going over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel was a really neat experience and not nearly as daunting as I thought it would be. The bridge itself is not too far up off the water, so you feel like you are just chugging along on a long pier-turned-highway, not making history by traversing a miraculously long 18-mile arch. There are also a couple of tunnels thrown in there too to shake things up as well as a handy-dandy fishing pier so people without boats can do some real off-shore deep sea fishing. Now where else in the world can you do that? Oh, and there is seafood restaurant and gift shop, too. It is $12 to cross the bridge and $5 on the return if it is within 24 hours. I wondered why there is a policy that encourages people to leave within 24 hours. I soon understood.

Once you are over the bridge-tunnel, all sorts of expectations are dancing like sugar plums in your head. It’s just too dang bad that a whole lot of nothing awaits you, beckoning you to keep on driving in hopes that something, anything will be around the bend. There isn’t, but hope sure does spring eternal, right? Please play Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin” as background music now. Then follow it up with “Keep On Movin” by the Brady Bunch. If you are not a child of the Seventies like my old lady self, here is the kink – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUyTZlJnRns&NR=1&feature=fvwp. Even with such inspiration, though, there is no avoiding it. This trip just d—r — a —g— s.

We drove for about an hour straight on ahead, looking for a halfway decent non-decrepit restaurant on the way to our hotel. On the way we passed by all of the hotels that I had called but were booked. After seeing them in all of their rundown glory, I was so thankful that I had been forced to stumble across a brand-spanking-new Hampton Inn in “downtown” Exmore, the saving grace of the trip.

Daddy Mac and I tried to take a short nap to shake off the hellish drive, but the Saminator was having none of that, bouncing off the walls and exclaiming, “Look at that BIG potty! What a beautiful bed!” You just can’t make this stuff up. Conceding defeat, we asked about public beaches. Of the two mentioned, one was an hour south from where we had just come. The other was an hour north at Chincoteague Island. We’d always wanted to check out Chincoteague, so that was a no-brainer. We were off, back on the road again –Route 13 North. Needless to say, Sam promptly passed out for the entire ride, missing even the small NASA site we passed on the way. He woke up for the last ten minutes, bleating out, “Are we at the beach yet? Are we at the beach yet?”

Chincoteague I’ve got to say was spectacular, like a waterfall in the desert. Yes, that spectacular. Gorgeous! I would have loved to have explored it for days — national wildlife area with lots of inviting hikes, lush green marshes and waterways, and a BEACH!!! We had left the house at 9 AM, and we were finally at the beach at 4 PM. Ugh. The beach was great, although we were there for only five minutes before Sam wanted to leave. I only wish the five minutes was an exaggeration, especially since we spent four of those minutes looking for batteries for my camera, which we never did find. Classic, huh?

I will spare you the painful details of the sleepless night in the hotel room, but I will tell you that we had the best seafood meal I’ve ever had take-out from the Seaside Family Restaurant next door to our hotel in Exmore– broiled flounder, scallops, shrimp, and a crab cake with some fried clams and fries on the side. Unbelievably fresh and melt-in-your-mouth delicious!!!!! Don’t walk, run to this place!

Alas, it was time to get up to retrace our steps and go back home. Now blast “Chariots of Fire” theme song at a deafening level while self-medicating with the alcoholic beverage of choice in hand. Follow up with successive drinks as needed.

I really do still want to go back to Chincoteague with a stop at the Seaside Family Restaurant on the way. It may take me years to talk Daddy Mac into it though, if ever.

LibbY