The hotel room I stayed in this time was AMAZING! The Hilton Garden Inn on 33rd was newly built and I was lucky enough to stay in a corner suite that had a 270 degree view!

Atlantic Ave

34th Street

Balcony with a beach view!

It was very rainy when I got there and overcast the next day, so there was no sunrise. But I nevertheless sat on the balcony in the morning with a cup of coffee and people-watched.

I watched a woman scour the sand with a metal detector (hope she eventually found something).

I also watched this guy set up every single volleyball net by himself (of which there were probably 20).

I also saw dolphins!! Their fins anyway. I love dolphins!

They were swimming fairly close to shore and some surfers. One surfer caught sight of them and looked concerned, as would anyone I’m sure if they saw a fin in the water!

The black dot on the left is the surfer and the black dot on the right is the dolphin.

The rest of the trip consisted of the aquarium and the Neptune Festival (art show and sand sculpting), which I will post separately.

Even though the sun didn’t come out until I was leaving, it was another glorious trip to the beach!

Another quick trip to the beach, but any time spent at the beach is fun.

I was fortunate enough to see a beautiful sunrise one morning while I was there.

Ubiquitous feet-in-sand shot.

And a favorite of mine; seagull in the sand shots.

Horseshoe crab

There is a Naval Air Station nearby and jets are constantly flying over the beach.

There was a big storm that rolled in one of the nights I was there.

I only noticed that I hadn’t posted any VA Beach pictures until I returned from another quick trip there :) I figured I would start from the earliest trip and work my way up to now. These are just the beach pictures. I’m going to do separate posts of the aquarium and the sand sculpting competitions I’ve gone to over the years.

VA Beach is mostly known for the boardwalk. It stretches from 1st Street up to 40th Street (or so). There isn’t much to do on the boardwalk except walk and look at the beach or get something to eat. Atlantic Ave, one block over, has all of the touristy shops.

Several of the streets have art you can stop and enjoy.

The giant Neptune sculpture is near the end of the boardwalk around 30th Street.

No beach is complete without a fishing pier.