Chesapeake Virginia

Our stay in Chesapeake Virginia began by checking in at Chesapeake Campground. This was another enormous rustic park where they had lots of great amenities and activities. It was a wonderful, centrally located base for exploring Virginia Beach and Norfolk.

Chesapeake Campground

We loved that there were so many gorgeous horses on the property. The best was the one who just seemed to love us. There were a couple of days that he came running right up to the fence to say hello. What a magnificent creature!

With so much to see in the area we really didn’t know what to do first. So we took the recommendation of Beth, in the campground office, and went to Virginia Beach for a walk on the boardwalk and beach with lunch at Waterman’s Seaside Grille.

Virginia Beach

The boardwalk in Virginia Beach is not an actual boardwalk. It’s concrete. Good because it’s pretty much maintenance free. But disappointing because wood is so much easier to walk on. And unlike our beloved Atlantic City Boardwalk there are no fun stores to browse through. And sadly the weather was uncooperative. A storm was threatening so they closed the beach. No walk for us.

Waterman’s Seaside Grille

Waterman’s however truly lived up to the hype. There were two things we were told to indulge in. The first was the Original Orange Crush and the second was the crab cakes.

Orange Crush

Now we usually do not imbibe at lunch. But how could we miss tasting this iconic cocktail? The Orange Crush was concocted at Waterman’s and quickly became a cult classic. It is made with fresh squeezed orange juice, orange vodka, triple sec and a splash of Sprite, served over ice. Such a tasty and refreshing drink. It was good to the very last slurp.

She Crab Soup

This area is known for She Crab Soup. We have had it before, years ago when we traveled through Virginia and Maryland. So we decided to start off our lunch by sharing a bowl. Wow. This was by far the very best She Crab Soup we have ever had. It was so creamy and flavorful. And there was a really nice heaping of crab meat in the bottom of the bowl. As you can see, we scraped out every last bit.

Lunch

For lunch Steve ordered the Guinness Burger with Melted Cheddar, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Marinated Red Onion and Guinness Mustard Aioli. He said it was a delicious and juicy burger. But not being a huge fan of onions he gave me those lovely pickled red onions. His loss was my good luck! I had the Local Lump Crab Cake because Beth had highly praised it. It was perfect. Made the way a crab cake should be, with barely enough breadcrumbs to hold it together. Just pure, sweet, succulent crab. Yum. I topped it with those onions of Steve’s and dipped it in the very tasty Roasted Red Pepper Aioli that came with it. Both our dishes came with well seasoned crispy fries and my plate was rounded out with tangy coleslaw.

We were certainly way to stuffed to have dessert. However the Frozen Peanut Butter Pie Drizzled with Ghirardelli Chocolate Sauce was calling our names. So we took some to go.

Chrysler Museum of Art

The next day we headed to downtown Norfolk for some art therapy. Our first stop was the Chrysler Museum of Art Glass Studio. We enjoyed the glass making demos including the ingenious way they are doing glass blowing in this weird time of our lives. Instead of anyone putting their mouths on the blow torch they are using an air compressor. Brilliant way to adapt. They do offer hands on classes that we considered taking. But unfortunately we just could not fit it into our schedule.

Then we walked across the street, through the sculpture garden, to the Museum. We got to enjoy the wonderful Edvard Munch’s Cycle of Life exhibit. If you are not familiar with the name you probably still would recognize his most famous work The Scream. The museum is filled with wonderful art. However the highlight for us was the glass collection. This is one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of glass in the world! There are over 10,000 glass objects that span 3,000 years. And the best part about Chrysler Museum of Art is that admission is FREE!!!