As soon as I knew I was headed to VA there was one friend I notified. No doubt about it, I was going to move mountains, swim the sea, and even lasso the moon in order to make sure that I saw her. Granted, it's only been 10 months since we said our last good byes as I descended to the United terminal at IAD after our epic road trip from California to Maryland, but what can I say? I'm lucky enough to have a friend like her and let's face it, I was uber spoiled with her living in Monterey for several weeks last summer since we hadn't lived in the same town since 1998! You all thought I was exaggerating with my facebook post, but seriously- I've known her since I was much closer to single digits in age and that's a long time!
At any rate, I was thrilled to get the call "2 minute out" last night and closed the video chat rather quickly (sorry Phil!) to head down to meet up with her to go find food at midnight. Can I just share with you all how happy I was to see an Oregon license plate in a sea of Virginia plates? My partner in too many shenanigans had arrived- watch out world- Stephanie and I were finally reunited!
As we went on the hunt for food and finally ended up at IHOP (oh how I've missed breakfast food!) our conversation went ranged from inane to serious with so many in between it was like our cross country itinerary last year. (Seriously- if you're a FB friend check out that photo album.) Somehow our quick venture turned into being up until 0300- but you know what? When you've been friends for so long and have some serious catching up to do, sleep doesn't really matter.
After catching up where we had left thing in person and other chats, our first order of business was to head over to Virginia Beach. With our white (emphasis on white...actually let's call our skin tone ultra white) saturated with SPF 50 we joined all the other cars on the highway to stake our claim on some burning sand. It felt like a beach town, with a boardwalk filled with people, swimsuits on everyone, and tons of umbrellas lined up on the beach. Although we appreciated the sun, we both decided that we missed our West Coast beach a little to much...even if being able to stick our feet in the water without losing a toe to frostbite was rather refreshing. We decided we'll head back over in the morning, in hopes of a slightly less crowded beach. Reason #2 is to try out a breakfast place that some random MSC guy told me about in last week's training. Reason #3 is to get a picture of the no cursing sign since only while driving did we seem to track them down.
With some more pigment in our skin (to raise it to ecru) we headed back into Norfolk for phase II of our day- Italian wine, cheese, and crackers. Actually, driving back we opted to exit and follow the signs to Mount Trashmore and trek up the only elevation in this area. For those of you who aren't familiar with this park- check out the link. It's pretty much a landfill that they threw more dirt on to make a hill. We had a blast rolling down the side of it and were happy to add Mount Trashmore to our list of random places visited.
Letting our GPS guide lead us, we followed it to our phase IIb-picnic in the room! Yes, too hot to be outside and we needed a break since phase III was to hit the downtown mall. After trying on "fancy hats," being over whelmed in Forever XXI, succumbing to Nine West and their beautiful shoes (hey, we averaged 1 pair each...I just won't tell you who got what), it was time to clean up and get to dinner.
At any rate, I was thrilled to get the call "2 minute out" last night and closed the video chat rather quickly (sorry Phil!) to head down to meet up with her to go find food at midnight. Can I just share with you all how happy I was to see an Oregon license plate in a sea of Virginia plates? My partner in too many shenanigans had arrived- watch out world- Stephanie and I were finally reunited!
As we went on the hunt for food and finally ended up at IHOP (oh how I've missed breakfast food!) our conversation went ranged from inane to serious with so many in between it was like our cross country itinerary last year. (Seriously- if you're a FB friend check out that photo album.) Somehow our quick venture turned into being up until 0300- but you know what? When you've been friends for so long and have some serious catching up to do, sleep doesn't really matter.
After catching up where we had left thing in person and other chats, our first order of business was to head over to Virginia Beach. With our white (emphasis on white...actually let's call our skin tone ultra white) saturated with SPF 50 we joined all the other cars on the highway to stake our claim on some burning sand. It felt like a beach town, with a boardwalk filled with people, swimsuits on everyone, and tons of umbrellas lined up on the beach. Although we appreciated the sun, we both decided that we missed our West Coast beach a little to much...even if being able to stick our feet in the water without losing a toe to frostbite was rather refreshing. We decided we'll head back over in the morning, in hopes of a slightly less crowded beach. Reason #2 is to try out a breakfast place that some random MSC guy told me about in last week's training. Reason #3 is to get a picture of the no cursing sign since only while driving did we seem to track them down.
With some more pigment in our skin (to raise it to ecru) we headed back into Norfolk for phase II of our day- Italian wine, cheese, and crackers. Actually, driving back we opted to exit and follow the signs to Mount Trashmore and trek up the only elevation in this area. For those of you who aren't familiar with this park- check out the link. It's pretty much a landfill that they threw more dirt on to make a hill. We had a blast rolling down the side of it and were happy to add Mount Trashmore to our list of random places visited.
Letting our GPS guide lead us, we followed it to our phase IIb-picnic in the room! Yes, too hot to be outside and we needed a break since phase III was to hit the downtown mall. After trying on "fancy hats," being over whelmed in Forever XXI, succumbing to Nine West and their beautiful shoes (hey, we averaged 1 pair each...I just won't tell you who got what), it was time to clean up and get to dinner.
After being asked "hey ladies, how you doin'?" and then offended him by continuing to walk to our destination we found ourselves at the Big Easy. Although it wasn't a crowded place (wait, maybe because at this point it was after 9 and I'm back in America?) we had a fabulous meal. Steph had the world's shortest relationship with the King of Crawdads and returned him to sender, but that was after they shared some precious moments together.
Unsuccessfully avoiding Mr. How You Doin' and his friend, Mr. No Cover Charge at the same bar, we walked around the downtown area and broke our plans of returning. Actually we had no plans on returning and even made it a point to avoid that corner again. As we walked along the waterfront I gave her my unofficial tour. Unofficial because I was mainly giving her my opinions on the artwork and telling her about my previous adventures out there. Like always we had a photo shoot with the statues (yes at midnight) and had to laugh when we saw a few others doing the same thing.
When our tour concluded at our hotel, the fun sure wasn't over. It was time to introduce her to one of my favorite Italian wines- a light sparkly red. Although we're primarily white wine women, I knew this one would be a hit. On problem? The stupid bottle did not want to open! Seriously. My t-rex arms have been gaining massive strength again but I couldn't get that cork out if my life depended on it! I think we passed it back and forth a few times and FINALLY after a good 5 minutes and major frustration we got it. It took way too much effort even for that wine...
Our goals for the weekend were actually met all in one (very long day) but that's the great thing about goals- once met you get to make new ones! Off to go see what other things we can do today, starting with breakfast on the beach.
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