It was a brief trip, but it was worth three posts. The first was yesterday. This is the second. The third will come tomorrow morning. The post tomorrow will be about the family members we met in Virginia Beach yesterday – fascinating, to say the least. Today’s will be about our two day trip, so that you can say you were with us. Yesterday was the Chrysler Museum.

The Virginia Tidewater area is not one that we know well. In fact, we hardly know it at all. Some years ago, Edie and I took a four or five day trip down the Eastern Shore, staying a night or two in Ogoncock VA, just south of Assateague, then going through the fascinating bridge/tunnel that connects the southern tip of the Eastern Shore of Virginia to the Tidewater area and terra firma. We visited the Mariners’ Museum in Hampton Roads, where they have restored the Monitor and have so much more to look at, and the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, where we only had time to look at part of it and wanted to come back. 

The trip to Virginia Beach to see three cousins, none of whom we had ever met in person, and one of whom was visiting the US from her home in Denmark, gave us the opportunity to come back.

GPS told us the trip would take a little less than three and a half hours, and that was about it. For those who don’t know, you drive south on I-95 until you almost get to Richmond, where you take a Beltway like road to I-64, which takes you the rest of the way. Not the most exciting trip, but that makes it easy. High-speed, no stop all the way. We only saw one accident on the trip – a five car pile up on I-95, near Fredericksburg. It slowed us down and gave us something to gape at, but I think everyone was OK. 

Between Richmond and the Tidewater, you pass Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown. We took one of the Williamsburg exits, found a restaurant called The Huntsman Grill, and went in. Weird place. It’s its own building, and we parked and walked in. The hostess said something like: ”We can seat you if you want, but it is going to be some time before we can get to you, because we have some large parties and are pretty busy, but if you want to wait, okay.” 

That was a new one. So I asked if she meant 5 minutes or 2 hours, and she said “about 10 minutes”, so we were seated in a booth, and almost immediately the waiter came, took our fancy order (one tuna on wheat; one chicken salad on wheat) and it came within 5 more minutes. On the way out, I told the hostess, who didn’t seem surprised, but said she just didn’t want us to be disappointed it if took long. 

The decor of the Huntsman Grill, by the way, is plain, plain, plain, except for the walls, which have the heads of all sorts of deer placed at random, and shelves filled with wild turkeys. One of the stags was special – he had Christmas lights on his antlers, another was cold – he had a scarf on, and a third had bad vision – he was wearing glasses.

Back on the road. We got to the Museum, had forgotten it was free, and saw the two special exhibits, the full second floor, and – at a trot – the extensive glass collection. I posted some photos in yesterday’s post, and will put another or two at the bottom of this one.

One special exhibit was a traveling exhibit of the photos of Paul McCartney, who – I had no idea – spent a lot of time with his camera, both as the Beatles traveled, and when he was just chilling. Some of them were quite good, most of them were quite interesting, but the big, big exhibit is probably too big, big. The second special exhibit shows part of the collection of one of the museum’s current benefactors. Some interesting pieces, but if they weren’t benefactors, I don’t know that there would have been this special exhibit. (I say that like I know what I am saying). 

We enjoyed ourselves. They do have a lot to see in their collection and, I think, the next time we might concentrate on the glass. Sort of like going to Corning, but a little closer and without the enormous store.

Another 30 minutes and we were in Virginia Beach for the first time. It’s a nice beach. Even though it was January, there were people walking and jogging, and there were dogs. Nice. The main street of Virginia Beach (and maybe because it’s January) did look a bit tawdry and forlorn. It certainly is not a spiffy place – at least not where we were.

We checked into the Hampton Inn South, were given our room keys and then told that we couldn’t stay beyond tonight even if we wanted to, because the hotel was closing after breakfast the next day for renovations. I asked if that meant we could take the furniture. The answer was no.

We skipped the hotel’s restaurant (a pizzeria with “more than pizza) and went across the street to the Side Street Cantina (just off Atlantic Ave on 11th), and walked into a place that looked plainer than even the Huntsman Grill, and wondered if we made a mistake. Everything in the restaurant was hard – i.e, there was no fabric to be seen anywhere. There were bizarre factory made skeleton head pieces all around, and a mural on the wall feature Alfred E. Neuman, holding a sign which said in Spanish: the point of no return. There were a dozen or so TV screens with various football games, and a large bar that actually seemed to extend into two different rooms. There were other customers.

We ordered margaritas, which were a little weak, we thought. (But what can you expect for $4.50?) The food is Mexican/Peruvian, so we started with a Peruvian cerviche – ahi tuna, served with mango and thinly sliced red onions. An absolute treat that could have been served with pride at the best of restaurants. We then had vegetable fajitas – there were enough vegetables to last a week or two (or for some people, maybe three), nicely cooked, and the tortillas were very fresh and tasty. And it was served with rice, refried beans, salad, sour cream and guacamole.

We spoke with the owner, who was from the Mexican state of Jalisco, and asked him about the margaritas and the different types of tequilas which we could have ordered. We then decided to split another one, and asked him for his favorite. It was with a Don Julio tequila and with orange juice and was very, very nice. I looked on the Don Julio website and saw that it was (I think) a Don Julio Sunrise, with Don Julio Blanco tequila, orange juice and grenadine. I see on line that Don Julio Blanco sells for about $40.

The next morning, we met our cousins at First Watch. There are three First Watch restaurants in Virginia Beach – this one was on General Booth Avenue, near where our Virginia Beach cousin lives. General William Booth, as you may know, was the founder of the Salvation Army, not a Confederate general. He was English and – some say – his mother, whose maiden name was Moss – was Jewish. (You would think this could be pinned down, but apparently not.)

There is no First Watch, by far my favorite breakfast/brunch restaurant in Washington. The closest ones are in Rockville and in Falls Church – both too far to go for breakfast. I have been to First Watch in Bowie MD (45 minutes from here), Overland Park KS, St. Louis MO, and Indianapolis IN – for those who have the need to know.

This is where we met our cousins (see tomorrow’s blog post tomorrow). We didn’t order until about noon, so I skipped the egg dishes and went to the Brooklyn Breakfast Sandwich, with some trepidation. But it was as good as the ahi tuna/mango cervice from the night before. (Until I looked this morning on the website and saw it was 930 calories – and that’s before the buttered grits which came with it)

Here is the description: ”shaved pastrami, Gruyere cheese, house roasted onions, over easy cage free egg, house pickled red onions, arugula, mayo and Dijon mustard on a griddled everything seasoned brioche bun”.

The best.

Of course, our ride back was slowed a bit by falling snow (took us an extra hour), but the highways were clear, there were no long slowdowns, and we made it back before nightfall. Once in DC, however, wow!! Except for major roads (like Connecticut Avenue, which was fine), the roads were a mess and putting the break on at stop signs seemed to work only part of the time. Am I just out of practice since we haven’t had snow for years, is there something lacking about my Prius in snow, or was it just the way it was? I don’t know.

About 5 inches fell on our house. I am under instructions not to shovel, must I must say it’s calling me.