Sunday, January 19, 2014

VISITING VIRGINA BEACH

SANDBRIDGE ISLAND, VA - Virginia Beach is a lovely area, and I'm sure it's even nicer in the summer. However, I found myself there last week in the middle of January, with my family, for a very special event. We were in Virginia to celebrate the retirement of my brother-in-law Ken. He retired as Master Chief in Navy after 30 years. What a celebrated career, and I'm truly appreciative of his long service to our country. Ken was active duty on several tours at sea, and on several different ships, mostly aircraft carriers; including the U.S.S. George H. W. Bush and the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt (where his retirement ceremony was held).

It was so neat to be given a tour of the Roosevelt. I was amazed at how huge that ship really is. We only got to see a small portion of the ship, but even at that it seemed we walked for miles. The ship normally employees as many as 4,000 sailors for each tour/cruise. It is literally a small city at sea. I was awe struck while standing on the flight deck and seeing how massively large the deck area really is, but at the same time, how small of an area is really is when you have fighter jets landing and taking off in quick succession, one right after another. We saw the catch wires as well as the catapults; pretty impressive. For something that I've only seen in photos or on television, it was pretty cool to actually be on a working aircraft carrier.

In regard to food; we found a great little seafood joint right down the street from where we stayed. If you're ever in that area, I highly recommend Sandbridge Island Restaurant, Raw Bar & Pizza. We liked this place so much, we went there twice. I had the same thing both times; the steamed combo platter on the "Blue Plate Special" list. This included steamed shrimp, crab legs, clams and oysters. I loved it. Others in our party really enjoyed the fried flounder, the fried calamari, and the She Crab soup got rave reviews from all that tried it. I didn't try the pizza, but some family members did and they said that was even pretty good. The restaurant is located at 205 Sandbridge Road, Virginia Beach, VA. Find them online at: www.sandbridgeislandrestaurant.com