Day 30 - Virginia Beach, Virginia

Great weather again today! There are storms all over the midwest, but here on the eastern shore it's been 70 deg F or better for the last several days. Set out this morning to look at Assateague National Seashore - a fascinating and fragile environment, supporting many waterfowl (including brown pelicans and these snowy egrets), wild ponies, and various kinds of deer, including sika deer which were imported in the 1920s. I saw several deer bouncing across the road, but none that stood still long enough to be photographed.

Then I headed south and stopped in Berlin, a pretty small town whose main claim to fame is that it was used as the location for The Runaway Bride, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. It seems to have a preponderance of antique stores and tea rooms!

Heading south again, I made a little excursion to Chincoteague, a southern version of Cape Cod; this is one of the barrier islands that run down the coast of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Then I followed US 13 all the way down the islands to the extraordinary Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel - this has 3 bridge spans and two tunnels (to allow a channel for shipping); it is almost 18 miles long in total, but cuts off a trip round the bay of 95 miles!

At the southern end of the bridge, I was at my destination of Virginia Beach - miles and miles of golden sand (the longest pleasure beach in the world, apparently), and some very noisy jet planes from the nearby Naval Air Station Oceana - feels quite like home with the Greek airforce base at Chania airport across the bay from my house.

Watched the sunset from a nice Italian restaurant (Angelo's by the Sea) while eating very good crabcakes - the seafood all the way down the eastern shore is excellent!