Regular readers will recall my mention last month that some medical issues that cropped up with me last month forced us to cancel our annual Outer Banks vacation, a decision that disappointed us no end. However, with good news coming from all of the medical tests, Marilyn and I decided that we were not going to miss out on a beach trip after all, so with very little time to plan or prepare, we decided to go to a place where we had nave been, although it was place about which we had heard much from various friends: Sandbridge, a community just south of Virginia Beach, VA. The result was one of the best vacations that we had ever experienced.
We were able to secure a two bedroom condo in The Sanctuary....
at out of season prices. The place was right on the beach, the condo we had was terrific.
One of the things that people told us about Sandbridge was that it was "quiet, out of the way, and there won't a lot to do there." Yes, it was quiet, which was fine by us, but with all due respect to those who told us these things, we found it to be quite convenient to lots of cool stuff, all within an easy drive of our place. (To be fair, I can only imagine that with lots and lots more people concentrated in the area at the height of the season, things might not be so convenient to get to, i.e., traffic would be a lot tougher than what we experienced last week.)
We found some great restaurants...
(The view from the back deck at Blue Pete's.)
(Right across the street from our condo complex. We walked to it.)
(This was a take out place for fresh seafood that we went to twice.
Unbelievably great food from this place.)
where we had some great meals...
and enjoyed a joint "Birthday Dinner" at a great place called Waterman's in Virginia Beach (thank you, Bill Montrose, for that recommendation)....
In fact, the food was terrific. We didn't have a meal down there that was not outstanding, even a cheese steak hoagie for lunch at the Virginia Aquarium was great.
I was able to play golf twice at two really great courses, both within a twenty minute drive from our place.
At Virginia Beach National, Marilyn rode with me in the cart for the back nine, and got some pretty cool action shots.
I'm only going to post this one because it is a neat picture in that you can see the ball in flight after I hit it.
Some beautiful scenery along both courses...
On Friday, we visited the Virginia Aquarium...
and I would recommend a stop there if you are vacationing in Virginia Beach or Sandbridge.
By the way, one of the missions of the Aquarium is the preservation of endangered species, as evidenced by this display in the place. I mean, honestly, how many of THESE do you see any more?
We really enjoyed staying in a condo, something that was a bit of a new experience for us. We actually ate in three nights, although we didn't cook. It was all stuff that we ordered as take out form places like Simply Steamed. It was so nice to have a living area separate from the bedroom and a full kitchen. It was really nice.
In the end, though, we came for the beach, and we were not disappointed.
This trip is not going to replace the Outer Banks of North Carolina for us, as we are already looking forward to a return to Currituck County, NC in 2017, but for a trip like this one, just the two of us making a quick trip after Labor Day, we both said that we could see a return to Sandbridge at some point down the road.
However, at the end of every vacation, no matter how nice, we always quote the opening line from one of Paul Simon's tunes:
"Gee, but it's great to be back home,
"Home is where I wanna be..."
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