Relive a Vacation?

A weekend on the shore

A friend was visiting me in Staunton and on something of a whim we decided to drive to Virginia Beach. We stayed in the cheapest possible waterfront hotel. It featured an indoor pool in a ridiculously overheated covered courtyard, which I thought odd. The pool was surrounded by an astro-turf-like carpeting. It is now the pool I picture whenever I read about some one drowning in a swimming pool.

We spent the first night wandering from bar to bar. Most bars in Virginia Beach are terrifying. We ended up getting pretty drunk in a sports bar off the main drag. The bartender told as about how his house was periodically blown away by tropical storms, and we met some friendly bikers. Then we wandered drunkenly along the beach, engaged in some 2 a.m. soccer with some equally drunk boys, and fell asleep in sandy beds.



The next day, it rained. We went in search of tasty seafood and new flip fops, and were moderately successful. We also found a rickety, overpriced carnival. Everything had a seedy, abandoned feel, perhaps because of the rain or perhaps because it was early May and the town wasn't crowded.

On the way back to Staunton we took a detour to Williamsburg and ate some weird colonial food (peanut soup?). We were too cheap to buy a pass to tour the houses, but we wandered around and stole some (very bad) street theatre by hanging around the restaurant while they set up the enclosure that was supposed to keep us non-pass-buying folk out, so that when we exited, the enclosure had been built around us... we were pretty proud of ourselves.



I remember that my friend looked quite fetching a blue dress as we drove back, while I was mostly dissatisfied with my packing choices that trip.