We’re back again

…and again we have no luggage.  It’s the second trip in a row that Air Canada has lost our luggage.  Last time one of the three suitcases arrived, this time all are lost.  Thankfully we wised up after our last experience and kept our keys in our carry-on.  Otherwise we’d still be sitting at the airport, and would probably be a little angrier.

But no matter.  The unfortunate repeat luggage fiasco only closed off a wonderful, fabulous, relaxing trip to Virginia Beach.  So we just shrugged it off.  I was too relaxed and happy to care….for now.

This trip marked the 15th year that our family has been going to Virginia Beach and it ranked up there with some of the best vacations we’ve spent there.  The obvious addition was Jaia and her sheer joy at being in the ocean, the pool and in the warm beach air for the first time.  It was priceless. 

Some of the highlights include:

For Me: A trip to the Virginia Beach Aquarium.  We’ve driven by hundreds of times, but never ended up with enough time to go in and check it out.  This year we took advantage of an extra evening sans plans and did the tour.  It offered everything an aquarium should and some things I didn’t ever want to know were under me as I swim in open water.  The coolest part was, predictably, the shark tank.  Scared the begeezus out of me.  But awesome.

For Dan:  The Old Bay shrimp served at our local Tiki Bar.  He claims that it was just as tasty as he remembered.  I’ll take his word for it.

For me:  Discovering that there were actually two pools on the property, not one as I thought there was.  And the surprise pool happened to be mere feet from our room.  I took advantage.  I love pools.  Dan, can we get a pool?

For Dan:  Dan likes to find and try local beers when we are away.  Sometimes it’s not possible, so he’ll go with the next best thing…something weird.  This time he chose a beer called Magic Hat which is brewed in Vermont.  They sold it in a variety pack that included a mystery beer.  Literally.  The label said ‘Mystery Beer’ and there was no explanation for what kind it really was.  Apparently they choose a new mystery selection every season.  Weird.

Speaking of weird……….

Anyway…

For me:  The fox.  My parents went walking one evening and ran into a fox.  They came home and told us all about it.  They said others on the beach had seen it and it was not scared of people at all and would come quite close.  We walked the length of the beach on our last night there and saw nothing.  I started to think that their ‘fox’ was actually the Polkaroo.  But then, just as we were about to climb the dune and head back to the condo, there he was.  I completely expected him to run as soon as he saw us, but he proceeded to prance within a few feet of us and keep on going.  It was getting dark and this is the best photo I could get of him while he was on the move….

 

For Dan:  Being served by Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows at a beachfront restaurant. 

For all of us:  Awesome food and amazing company.  Plans for year 16 are already in the works.  Until then…

The rest of the photos are on our flickr account.