Memorial Day Weekend: Colonial Williamsburg & Virginia Beach

Hi, friends! I’m so excited to share with you today my first (of many!) weekend adventures here in the Virginia Beach area. If you didn’t know, I’m working at NASA Langley as a part of my research fellowship this summer and will be here for 10 weeks! So get ready for lots of new, fun adventures along the East Coast! I’ll do my best to keep you all up to date on what I’m up to! (…Unlike last summer in Houston when I got so far behind that I’m still catching up! Oops! Oh well, life happens, right? 🙂 ) Speaking of, I’ll be doing my best to catch up on all of our trips that I’ve missed from the past year this summer. So if you are thoroughly confused as to where in the U.S. I am come August, then I’ve done my job well! I’ll be starting things off this next week with a recap of our Spring Break ’17 trip to Seattle, WA and Vancouver, B.C, then finishing up the last of my summer in Houston, TX posts, adding in a week of Austin, TX travels, and hopefully (but not definitively) getting to our winter break trip to Guatemala.

Alright, so without further ado, let’s get into what I was up to over Memorial Day weekend, including a visit to colonial Williamsburg on Saturday and then on to exploring the Virginia Beach area on Sunday and Monday!

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Saturday: Colonial Williamsburg

So I moved to the Virginia Beach area on Saturday (May 20th) evening and started work bright and early on that next Monday morning. In the past when I have gone to work at NASA in the summers, it has always been in Houston at Johnson Space Center–somewhere that always felt like home to me, both because of its proximity to Texas A&M and because I’ve been working there for over 6 years now. Truly, everyone in my office feels like family and I will miss each and every one of them this summer! At any rate, I know zero people here in the Virginia Beach area, so this summer was a little more daunting than those prior.

I mention this because something miraculous happened only a few days after moving to the area. A good friend of mine from high school called me up and told me that him and his wife had lived in the area for 4 years and would love to hang out with me on my first weekend in town! How perfect, right?! And lucky for me, I caught them on their last weekend in town (literally) because they promptly moved to Mississippi the following Thursday (sad!). But what a blessing for me that I was able to spend time with them this past weekend because they are truly wonderful people to know.

Being new to the area, I really had no idea where to start when it came to exploring. So I let Michael and Morgan do all the heavy lifting in the planning department. (Thanks, guys!) The two of them, plus their sweet baby boy Jack, picked me up from my place in Newport News around noon and we headed off down to colonial Williamsburg for sights, sounds, and…food (duh!).

I am probably the least prepared person when it comes to knowing about this area in particular. I mean, yeah, I knew this part of the country was historic and really shaped what our democracy has become (come on, National Treasure used to be my favorite movie! I’m not completely in the dark.). But I knew nothing about specific towns, or battles, or anything like that. It turns out that I moved smack dab in the middle of what is known as the “Historic Triangle”, a geographical triangle made up of three particularly notable towns–Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. And here’s quick refresher for anyone out there (like me) that has forgotten much of what they’ve learned in history class:

• Jamestown was the FIRST permanent settlement in the Americas.
• Williamsburg was the capitol of Virginia for a time and served as the city center where leaders such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and others developed ideals of the democracy we benefit from today. The entire town was restored and preserved by the Rockefeller family and serves as a living museum today.
• Yorktown is most famously remembered as the site of surrender by General Cornwallis to General George Washington in 1781 that effectively ended the Revolutionary War.

And for those that are interested in learning more about the history of the area, I’ll try to share little tidbits of information as I learn them!

So for my first Virginia experience, we started in colonial Williamsburg, which as I mentioned, has been completely restored and preserved just as it was back in the 18th century. Even shop owners and tavern folk are in the traditional garb of the time!

Not five minutes into our walk around colonial Williamsburg were me and Morgan roped into hoop rolling. Apparently this was all the rage for kids in the 18th century. And it’s actually not as easy as it looks!

And we were just in time to see the colonial militia band playing instruments as they marched down the street in perfect unison. Baby Jack loved them!

Michael and Morgan suggested we stop into one of the local taverns for a bite to eat for lunch, so we pulled over at the Shields Tavern. I didn’t take any pictures inside (since it was filled with lots of people eating). But the inside of the building was gorgeous and there is so much to look at and appreciate! I’d definitely recommend taking a long walk around the place to look at all the detail that went into it.

For lunch I got the BBQ brisket sandwich with cole slaw (very colonial, ha!), Michael got a bacon-pineapple cheeseburger, and Morgan (and Jack) got the curried chicken salad sandwich. Everything was delicious! Yum!

Desserts at the tavern sounded amazing! (Especially the berry cobbler after I had just told Morgan about my favorite pie place in Colorado.) But we decided to save dessert for later after walking off our lunch around town.

I was particularly smitten with all of the colonial architecture. I love how beautifully crafted everything felt and how clean and fresh the lawns, greenery, and flowers were. And those white picket fences, right?! So dreamy!

We stopped in front of the George Wythe‘s house for a quick picture to document all four of us together! Probably my favorite picture of the whole weekend–a memory I will keep and hold dear forever! Can’t believe how lucky I was to spend time with them before they left!

There is seriously SO Much to explore at colonial Williamsburg and I feel like we didn’t even come close to seeing a fraction of what there was to see! We actually ended up going into only one of the numerous buildings, shops, and homes around town, but it happened to be the very church where George Washington and Thomas Jefferson went every Sunday! How cool is that?! P.S. If you really want to make the most of your time, visit this page to plan your trip to colonial Williamsburg!

After working up a dessert appetite, we stopped into an ice cream shop {Kilwins} for a sweet treat in the shade. We really lucked out on weather this particular weekend, as I’ve found that Virginia can be either very sunny or very rainy. Luckily we had found a sunny weekend to explore outside!

After ice cream, we decided to head back to Newport News so that they could drop me off. It may not have looked like a jam-packed day, but boy was it fulfilling! I forgot just how much I love spending quality time just strolling and talking with people, especially people as good and wholesome as Michael and Morgan. I only wish they would be in the area longer this summer! (I’m thinking an impromptu trip to Mississippi is in order this next year! 😛 )

After getting home, I took a quick nap (because the sun drains you!!) and then ran some errands around town. I turned in early that night because I had a big 5k race in Virginia Beach (~hour drive) early the next morning.

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Sunday: Virginia Beach

On Sunday I woke up bright and early to make the drive into Virginia Beach for the Steel Pier Classic. As a part of my 101 in 1001 goals, I have decided to run one 5k race per month for an entire year. And seeing as it was May 28th, time was indeed running out for the month of May! But what better location than to run on the beach boardwalk?! I mean…so good!

I even sliced off over a minute from my previous race. Woo hoo! And while it’s probably from the altitude change, I’m still gonna celebrate it!

As luck would have it, I also ended up meeting an amazing mom and daughter duo at the race, who ended up being AGGIES! Seriously, what are the chances we would all meet in Virginia?!

I actually was just trying to make small talk and find out what the course looked like (I hadn’t done really any research on it!) and ended up finding out Cathy (the daughter) was a coastal engineer in New York. We bonded over the simple fact that we were both female engineers, and it wasn’t until her Mom pointed out that I was wearing TAMU shorts that we realized we were both Aggies! We ended up chatting long after the race had ended and exchanged phone numbers in case the opportunity to hang out arose later that week. (They were only visiting for the week, so we had a limited timeline!)

After we parted ways, I met up with Michael, Morgan, and Jack along the boardwalk for breakfast. The three of them lived in the north part of Virginia Beach and my race was in the southern part of Virginia Beach, so it was pretty convenient to meet up one last time before we parted ways.

For breakfast, we went to Waterman’s Surfside Grille right along the boardwalk, and boy was I hungry after that race! (Don’t worry…I had brought a change of clothes for after the race so I wasn’t smelly! 😛 ) Morgan and I both ended up going with the biscuits and gravy with a side of fresh fruit, and Michael went with an everything omlette. They even brought out fresh, warm, gooey sticky buns to the table as a complimentary appetizer. Can you say Y.U.M! I’d go back just for those!

After breakfast we decided to walk along the beach and boardwalk. I just couldn’t go to the beach without getting my toezies in the sand! There was also an art festival happening along the boardwalk, as well as a surf competition a little further down the way. So there was plenty to look at and watch without even going directly down to the beach area.

By that time, it was nearing Jack’s afternoon nap time, so we stopped at the Virginia Beach Coffee company for chai tea lattes before heading back to the cars. I decided to leave my car at the parking garage and just travel with the group to make things easier. (Because let’s be honest…I had no idea where we were going! Ha!)

On our way back to their house, we took the Colonial Parkway road, which connects the three historic cities in the triangle, and made a quick pit stop at the Cape Henry lighthouses. The original Cape Henry light house (not pictured, but here) was actually the first federally funded construction project under the U.S. Constitution (built in 1792) and served as a marker for the southern entrance into Chesapeake Bay. The original stone one is still there, along with this beautiful, renovated black and white one built in 1881.

After snapping a few pictures out my car window, we continued down the road to Michael and Morgan’s home.

While Jack took his afternoon nap upstairs, Michael, Morgan, and me sat downstairs and talked all about our lives (past-present-and-future) and just generally caught up on what everyone had been up to. It was so, so great to just slow down and enjoy the simple pleasure of conversation with old friends. And everything was so comfortable–almost as if no time had passed at all since high school.

A couple hours later, Jack woke up from his nap and we headed out again. This time to go drive around the Naval Base that Michael worked at as a civil engineer. And let me tell you..as an engineer (and overall nerd about these things), it was so so so cool to see the naval aircraft carriers and destroyer ships up close and personal! And I also learned that there are actually three naval bases in the Virginia Beach area–Naval Air Station Oceana, Dam Neck Fleet Training Area, and Joint-Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.

Afterwards, we headed back into town to get food at The Whiskey Kitchen.

After eating so bountifully over the past couple days, I decided to go a little healthier with a grilled salmon caesar salad. Michael went big with the BBQ bacon cheeseburger and Morgan (and Jack) got the chicken caesar wrap. Yum!

After dinner, Michael and Morgan drove me back to my car in Virginia Beach and I thought twice about staying around the beach for some extra sand time. But instead, I decided to go home and relax early that evening after another exceedingly fulfilling day with good friends. So, so glad that Michael and Morgan (and sweet baby Jack) wanted to spend the weekend together, showing me around at all their favorite places!

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Monday: Sandbridge Beach

I didn’t have any major plans for Memorial Day, beyond setting aside time to remember and honor all the men and women who have fought for the freedoms we have.

I allowed myself to sleep in a bit this morning since I had woken up early the past two days, and then headed to my new favorite coffee shop (Aroma’s) in the Newport News area to get a little blogging done. They also have the most decadent biscotti if you are into those. This particular morning I had gotten a cookies ‘n cream biscotti and a chai tea latte (my new go-to drink for the summer).

Around 1pm I got a text from Cathy asking if I wanted to join them for a Memerial Day dinner at their beach house in Sandbridge (south of Virginia Beach). Uh…duh! Hahaha. Of course! So after a couple more hours of blogging, I headed out to meet them at their house along the beach. (Again, feeling so incredibly blessed to have met and hung out with such amazing people this weekend! It blows my mind how kind and welcoming everyone was.)

After about an hour and a half of driving, I finally made it to their home! While I mentioned that Cathy and her parents were on vacation here in the Virginia Beach area for just the week, the house they were staying at was actually theirs and one they rent out to travelers in the summer.

And this is the view right off of their back deck. Stunning, no?! I mean, kind of unbelievably breathtaking if you ask me!

As you might can tell from the picture above, Sandbridge Beach is a little quieter than Virginia Beach, mostly because it’s more southern and a little farther of a drive. But totally worth it! And the beach is actually all public property, so anyone can go there to enjoy a day at the beach (regardless if you are staying in one of the beach homes or not).

Cathy and I walked out to the water’s edge and took a long stroll along the beach, finding crabs and other sea life as we went.

We really connected as we talked about everything from engineering and work-life balance, to relationships and friendships, and even bonded over being only children. We connected so instantly and deeply in fact that I feel like we would have been the best of friends had we met earlier at Texas A&M. But as they say…no time like the present! I’m hoping to become long distance besties with her going forward. 😀

This is a picture of two little crabs diving quickly to get away from my camera (and the wave that promptly followed right after I captured this shot). Ha!

We also saw the most adorable older couple walking arm in arm along the water’s edge. I mean…does it get any cuter?!

After walking back to the house, we headed out for dinner at the local Sandbridge Island Grille. Since there were lots of seafood options on the menu, I went with friend shrimp and coleslaw. Cathy ended up getting the fish and chips and her mom Sue got the veggie burger.

We had such a great time talking and learning about each other’s lives. It turns out that Cathy’s dad had been in IT/computers for the military and so they had lived in over 20+ places all over the world! And it was fascinating to hear about all of the adventures they had been on over the years. Such great people!

Overall this weekend went from zero plans to feeling like there just wasn’t enough time in the day to spend with everyone. Feeling so incredibly lucky and blessed to have met and spent time with so many wonderful people this weekend. And if this is any indication of how my summer here along the East Coast will be, we’ve got lots of great times ahead!

What about you? What did you do over Memorial Day weekend?

You might also like…The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and Denver Natural Science Museum.