Coming off my two days of doing virtually diddly squat in Myrtle Beach I’m headed to Virginia Beach to do, well, diddly squat. When I was planning this trip that was the goal of stopping at the beaches though. I didn’t have any grand attractions or restaurants I wanted to go to, I just assumed that after working my way out to the west coast and back I’d want some time to relax. And guess what? I was right!
It took about 6 hours to get to Virginia Beach. I checked into the hotel and tossed my stuff in the room. Somehow I was able to get a hotel for a very reasonable price that was not only clean but also literally a 5 minute walk away from the beach. So I walked over to the beach to check it out and to my absolute amazement I found a beach soccer tournament going on. There were dozens of fields set up with male and female leagues going on. Some were like 14/15 year olds but the games that I zeroed were the college aged guys. I walked up and down the boardwalk watching them play. I’d never seen beach soccer played before so I was 100% engrossed. I picked up on a few games that were in process but then finally found a game that was just starting and decided to watch the entire thing. It was a blast. As with any soccer game at any level there were fans yelling and complaining at the ref. There were fans yelling at each other. It was a hell of a good time. The game ended up going into over time and then a shoot out. After that I decided to finally get some food because it was about 5pm and I hadn’t eaten at all yet. So I grabbed some food from one of the vendors and walked around the boardwalk a bit more. I decided to head back to my room and chill a bit but before I headed back I stopped off at Kohr Brothers to get some frozen custard. Kohr Brothers has been in business since 1919 and going along with the rules of the trip I decided I had to check it out. I got an orange and vanilla swirl and it was a perfectly refreshing choice to cool off in the blazing heat. So I ate my custard as I walked back from the beach to my hotel. I got to my room and flipped on the hockey game and just chilled for the rest of the night. It was a pleasant surprise to see that beach soccer tournament today and I very much like the boardwalk area.
I got up the next day and decided to grab breakfast at a place called Waffles & Company. They had a breakfast buffet and who am I to turn down a buffet. I got everything from french toast to waffles to biscuits and gravy to fruit to bacon to a muffin. It was fantastic. The restaurant was fairly empty and as I left I noticed the whole downtown and boardwalk area were sparsely populated as well. Being a Monday when school hasn’t let out yet will cause that. So I enjoyed the lack of activity and decided to walk the boardwalk. I had only got to see a small part of it yesterday because I immediately stopped to watch the soccer tournament. I decided to enjoy the lovely sun and I took off in one direction to see where it went. I had gotten some terrible tank top tan lines the day before so I decided to forgo a shirt today in an effort to even them out. I walked by a statue of Neptune and a workout area on the beach. I stopped and watch people play around on a climbing rope and some rings. It was fun for me to watch people who clearly don’t workout mess around on this stuff. After about 10 minutes I continued on. In total the boardwalk is 3 miles. Because I started about half way in and walked to one side then walked all the way down to the other I probably walked close to 5 miles just on the boardwalk. Now sufficiently fried I decided to escape the sun in my room for a bit.
After cooling off I decided to get an early dinner before the basketball game started. I stopped into a place called Dough Boy’s California Pizza. I got a chicken bacon cheddar pizza. Along with having fantastic pizza this place was also known for their cocktails. I figured this would be the last time I’d be drinking on the trip, so I indulged. I tried their signature cocktails as I enjoyed my pizza. Again the place wasn’t crowded at all because of the time of year. I made one more stop before heading back to my room to watch the game. I stopped in at Candy Kitchen, a candy shop that’s been making taffy and fudge since 1937. Being on the ocean I thought it only appropriate I pick up some taffy to bring home. I picked up a box then headed back to my room. I watched approximately 15 minutes of the basketball game before I passed out. The sun had killed me so I guess sleep was probably the best thing for me. I only had about a 3 and a half hour drive to DC the next day so I planned to sleep in too.
Overall Virginia Beach was excellent. I will say that I liked it better than Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach seemed far more touristy. Virginia Beach just had a nicer feel. The Boardwalk area was bigger and a lot more up to date. There were a bunch of actual sit down restaurants on Virginia Beach as opposed to the number of food windows in Myrtle Beach. Both beach stops served their purpose though. I got to relax, I got some sun. I got to slow down a bit before picking back up again in DC
Joey's Great American Adventure 
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