Curt just turned 25 yesterday. An entire quarter century -- practically a fossil in fact. To celebrate this Susan took him on a surprise trip out to Virginia's eastern shore a bit ahead of the actual date.
We went to a lot of places. Here's a map.
A: You've got to start out at home.
B: You also have to go buy nail polish at Ulta if you're going to through the big city. We also purchased delicious picnic lunch supplies at The Fresh Market. Life's hard when Kroger is the best you've got at home.
C: Our first night we stayed at the Hope and Glory Inn in Irvington, VA.
It was wonderful. Susan made sure we got there in plenty of time to bike over to their associated winery just up the street. The wine tasting was actually quite good, and you can't miss it.
Apparently the sign ordanances are a bit tough down there so the winery owner had a local boat company make some gigantic corkscrews. In case you can't tell from the photo on the right one of us has a bit higher arches than the other. We had dinner at Merrior, the oyster restaurant run by the Rappahannock Oyster company. We sat overlooking the river at sunset and enjoyed a variety of raw and roasted oysters as well as scallops over cheese grits and a crabcake. It might be the best seafood we've ever eaten.
D: We just happened to be passing through Yorktown on our way out to the coast and thought we'd drop in. Who knew that we had a giant monument to beating back those jerk brits? You'll notice Susan modeling victory down at the bottom.
E: Then we got to cross the chesapeake bay bridge tunnel -- arguably the entire point of the trip. Curt, as predicted, thought it was awesome. Susan felt a bit crabby about things though.
F: That night we stayed out on Tangier Island, VA. It's a small island in the middle of the chesapeake accessible only by air or water. We took the passenger ferry from Onancock, VA (G) There were about two beat up cars on the island -- most people knocked around on scooters or golf carts. We stayed at the Bay View Inn down there. It wasn't exactly nice but it fit in with the rest of the island as part of a working fishing village. We both had fried whole softshell crabs for the first time and quite enjoyed them.
There were birds on the island.
Lots of them.
We walked down the entire 1.5 mile beach to the southern tip of the island and saw nary another person other than right at the beginning and close to the end of our walk.
G: We left for Tangier from Onancock and then stayed there the next night. We apparently decided to stop taking photos at this point in the trip as about the only one is of the Inn at Onancock where we stayed that night. It was quite nice as well. Susan was particularly impressed with the quality of the bed linens.
On our last day to ride home we swang up to see Chincateague Island, VA. After her recent beach experiences with Curt (read: he's been a bit grumpy near lots of other people and out in the sun) Susan's been looking into some beach locations we both might like. The island is interesting in that it's a beach town but the beach is actually out in a wildlife refuge/national park. Bikes quickly get you away from the people and out to your own spot of beach. Curt also really enjoyed riding by the NASA Wallops flight facility and seeing all the radio dishes and antennas on the way there.
We then skedaddled back through some rain and traffic back home, picked up our puppy from the dog sitter and resumed our normal life. It was quite a nice trip and a great time to relax with each other before a busy fall.
For Curt's actual birthday day Susan made Curt one of his favorite dinners: Country fried steak (venison of course) with potatoes and green beans. She topped this off with a spectacular homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Ruby might have wanted some. Notice the catfish like drools.
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