Virginia is for Lovers

March 1st marked 9 years as Mr. & Mrs. Haygood!

Emily to Herb:
‎9 years, 3287 days, and we are suppose to gift each other pottery! Happy Anniversary to my love today, tomorrow and always! xoxoxo Love you so much!

Herb to Emily:
Happy Anniversary to my lovely wife and best friend... :-)

The day of our anniversary was a work day for Herb, so I just cooked dinner at home.  Steak, twice baked potatoes, steamed veggies and red velvet cake.  Herb had the next week off for Spring Break, so we planned to celebrate then.  Little did we know that our celebration would be in Virginia Beach!  

After a short work week for me, 25 hours in 2 days... I drove the 4 hours to Oxford and arrived at midnight.  Packed and we were on the road at 1am - Herb promised to do most of the driving.  I slept for several hours and woke up to the sunrise somewhere in mountains of West Virginia.

On-Star turn by turn directions are awesome, much like a Garmin GPS.   When you begin your trip, you speak with an advisor and after that its all automated.  Each time you stop for gas or snacks, the automated On-Star voice asks if you want to update your route.  Something very funny happened after one of our stops... I was getting back in the car and feeling slap happy after sleeping for so long in the car.  I was joking to Herb that "Virginia is for Lovers", all the sudden the automated On-Star voice said... "Pardon?".  It was hilarious, we had never heard the voice say this in all the times we have used turn by turn directions, normally she says in her robotic voice, "please repeat".  It felt like she was listening in - creepy!

We arrived around 11am on Wednesday to the Ocean Beach Club in Virginia Beach.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day, we couldn't wait to take a walk on the boardwalk.

We stayed on the 13th floor.

A fun sculpture along the Boardwalk.

I just love the beach, any beach!

Herb is ready to stretch his legs!

Herb was determined to make it to the end of the 3 mile boardwalk.  We literally walked for 2 hours down and back (total of 6 miles) with a pit stop at dairy queen to share a chili dog and strawberry cheesequake blizzard.  It was a gorgeous day for a walk along the beach, I loved every minute.  At times we felt like the boardwalk belonged to us and us alone.  VA Beach was very quiet, I guess our visit is about 1 month before their tourist season begins.  In fact, many restaurants and shops were completely CLOSED. 

We didn't have much of an agenda for our visit, but enjoying some seafood was at the top of the list.  Our first night, we walked to Catch 31.  A beach side restaurant in the Hilton.  It was pricey, but delicious.  Herb ordered the Jumbo Deep Fried Shrimp and I ordered Lobster Ravioli.

The next day, we started with a morning walk along the water.  Herb spotted a group of dolphins, at least 4-6 about 50 yards off the beach.  It seemed they swam parallel to us along the beach for almost 20 minutes!  It was sooo awesome to see - we couldn't take our eyes off the beautiful creatures.  All that dolphin watching worked up an appetite and we walked downtown to a little diner featured on the Food Network and in Southern Living magazine.  Pocahontas http://pocahontaspancakes.com/ is known for their waffles and pankcakes.  Their fresh strawberry waffles were superb!

Spotting the dolphins that morning got us in the mood to sign up for a Wildlife Excusion through the Virginia Aquarium to go whale watching.  We boarded a the boat and headed out in the ocean.

Our boat.  The one behind the fun yellow one!

When I saw this Navy boat with heavy artilery, I started thinking maybe we were hunting whales! 

Virginia Beach is surronded by military bases and often times sounds and looks like you are under attack - jets flying just feet above your hotel and Navy boats dragging jet skis with dummies to shoot at - yikes!

Out to sea, looking for those whales!  It doesn't look too rough here, but as the trip went on I was worried that we were going to capsize or at least get thrown overboard.  I didn't take too many photos because 90% of the time I was hanging on for dear life with both hands!

But... we did see whales, lots of them!  But only for split seconds like this photo. 

Out to sea, many people experienced sea sickness.  We were thrashing back and forth in the waves almost like the whales were playing ping pong with the boat.  At one point a big wave hit the boat and people fell down and went sliding from one side of the boat deck to the other.  The captains were handing out plastic bags left and right.  Thank goodness, both Herb and I handled it like champs - minus the white knuckles from hanging on so tightly.

Later that evening, we tried out an all you can eat seafood buffet that the whole city just raves about, Captain George's.  They serve over 70 items, but most patrons like us go for the crab legs!

Herb took this photo and sneakily texted it to our family members who share a love for seafood.  His caption was, "You got 2 love a woman who loves seafood as much I do." 

The next day brought cold temps and lots of rain.  We declared it a movie day and found the local mall.  We had some time before the movie began, so we grabbed some pizza and also caught part of the MSU basketball game at a local mall.  We witnessed a very sad thing at the mall, a young couple was walking circles around the food court quickly searching the trash bins for something to eat. They even took a Chick-fil-a cup out the trash and walked up to the counter for a successful refill.  The mall was busy, but many people noticed them and just whispered and gave disgusted looks.  I have to admit at first it turned my stomach to see them eat a breadstick out the trash, but then it touched my heart.  Both Herb and I couldn't take our eyes off them.  I said to Herb, they are obviously very hungry we should buy them lunch.  He was thinking the same thing and immediately jumped up and approached them on the other side the food court.  They were very thankful and agreed to allow Herb to buy them Taco Bell.  We knew this one meal would not change their lives or their situation, but we felt it was the right thing to do at that moment.  

Every day has it's Peaks and Pits - that is God's way of teaching us to treasure the highs and pray extra during the lows.  Our Virginia Beach trip was a great way to relax and recharge.  A perfect way to celebrate our 9 years of marriage.  Here's to Monday!