My Crappy Virginia Beach Restaurant Rating Guide

These are my ratings for restaurants around Virginia Beach that I have eaten at.  My rating method lumps all these places into one category: "places to eat". Because when I'm hungry, I just really don't give a shit about the ambience.  My only concerns are:

1. Do I feel like beef, chicken, fish, Asian, Mexican, Italian, Indian, Botswanian or whatever
2. Am I dressed appropriate for the place
3. Do I have enough $ to eat there

Establishment	Atmosphere	Prices	Portions	Service	Score
McCormick & Schmicks	9	4	4	8	25
Romano's Macaroni Grill	8	7	8	8	31
Ruth's Chris	7	3	6	8	24
Primo's	6	8	9	9	32
Cheesecake Factory	8	8	8	9	33
P.F. Chang's	9	8	9	8	34
Village Inn (breakfast)	8	9	9	9	35
Panera Bread	5	8	5	5	23
Plaza Azteca (Holland)	6	5	7	4	22
Guadalajara (Town Center)	5	4	3	2	14
Smokey Bones (Town Center)	7	7	7	4	25
Il Guardino	5	3	2	4	14
Max & Erma's	7	7	7	5	26
Bravo's	7	7	7	8	29
Mahi Mah's	8	7	7	7	29
Chipotle	4	8	8	6	26
County Grill	6	9	8	8	31
Firehouse Subs	4	8	8	7	27
Tropical Smoothie (Municipal Center)	5	7	8	9	29
Jason's Deli	6	9	9	5	29
Steinhilber's	10	8	9	10	37
Zia Marie's	9	5	6	9	29

Numbers Aren't Everything: Part 2

I kind of left that previous post half-finished.  I led into it talking about Hampton Roads, which is only one of four main regions in the state (or commonwealth) of Virginia.  The other three are:

• Northern Virginia: composed of Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Vienna, McLean, Loudown, Falls Church, Manassas and all the other crap around the Southern half of the 495 beltway
• Richmond/ Central: composed of Richmond, Henrico, Chester, Mechanicsville, Petersburg, Hopewell, Colonial Heights, Dinwiddie, Hanover and all the other local places
• West / Blue Ridge: A more dispersed scattering of populated towns like Roanoke, Charlottesville, Blacksburg, Staunton, Waynesboro, and trailers and mountain folk.

Of these, including Hampton Roads, which covers the extreme Southeast corner of the state, none of these is suitable for a professional sports franchise for various reasons.  But most of all due to lack of interest.  Richmond and Northern Va tend to support Washington or Baltimore franchises.  Western region tends to support franchises in the midwest plain states and South.  In fact, many that I know in that area don't pay as much attention to professional sports as they do collegiate sports (and for good reasons, I may add).

So, in short: Virginia has one of the lowest interests in obtaining their own professional franchise identity akin to maybe Idaho, North Dakota or New Mexico.  In fact, I would bet one of those three states gets a pro franchise before Virginia even attempts it again.

When it Comes to Entertainment: Numbers Aren't Everything

I've beaten this horse to death so many times, that it looks like Keith Richards.  But I will beat it again, this time over the head with a lead-filled Excel spreadsheet table and a poison-tipped bar chart.

Topic? Why "Hampton Roads" (Virginia) doesn't have a professional football team.  Heck, professional ANY team.

Based on census figures, Virginia Beach alone, one of six cities making up "Hampton Roads", has more people than St. Louis, Cleveland or Cincinnati.  Combine the metropolitan region into the total numbers, and we move up a bit, outranking even Atlanta, Denver, Baltimore and Charlotte.

But when people say we should have a pro franchise, they're not really looking at the facts as a whole:

• Most people living here were not born here.  This is overwhelmingly a military town.
• A large percentage of people here have lived here less than five years.
• A large portion of sports fans are aligned with their teams from back home.
• A large portion of sports fans don't expect to remain living here more than 5 years.
• All past attempts to secure a franchise have failed.

Nobody is going to drop support for their home team when they have nothing to tie them "here" as local fans.  Once they are committed to supporting Washington, Pittsburgh or Dallas (just happens to be the three predominant fan base groups here), there's no chance they'll change colors to support the Hampton Roads Hacks or whatever they might be called (I can only imagine the dumbest names possible, due to our relative low-ranking stature in the marketing industry).

The only possible scenario would be to move a franchise here, which is not unrealistic.  However, it is improbable and impractical, for all the reasons above.  Given that 95 percent of the pro football fans fall into the "big three" named above (Washington, Dallas and Pittsburgh), if another franchise moved here, it would be ignored.  There isn't enough money or interest to pull one of those three here either.  So based on all the factors presently available, you have to pick a team to root for from another state.  We don't have a single professional Football, Baseball, Basketball or Hockey franchise in this state, much less in Hampton Roads.  Not one.  We've had them in the past.  Even a pro Soccer team, once.  But that was long ago.  Suck it up Virginia: People here don't like homegrown sports.  They prefer them imported.

Patterns

See if you can identify what these have in common. These should keep you busy for a while.  Enjoy your weekend!

This is on my Christmas "Want" List

How To: Eat Sushi (Properly)

I am the only person I know that doesn't like Sushi, but this is for all my friends that love the stuff….

Blog Visitor Analysis, part 1,047

Looking over my Google Analytics visitor stats, it’s pretty obvious what visitors to this blog are interested in, and that is technical stuff.  The articles and how-tos on packaging, scripting, technical procedures, and so on are what are out-performing the traffic numbers for all other topics.  If I were only interested in stats, I’d drop the hair-brained stuff and focus on becoming a tech-manual spewing machine.  But I’m not.  I would like to entertain and amuse for a second or two, but I’m not a writer, comedian or psychologist.

The issue is this:  I work with technology all day, every day.  I’m immersed in it.  Many varieties of it.  At work.  At home. So much that I myself cannot believe what I get myself into.  Just describing what I do over a given week to someone else makes me cringe at the thought that I’m just making shit up.  But I’m not.  Guilt, I suppose.  Over what, I don’t know.  But still, I could dry up and go techie from here on out and work on pushing my numbers higher and thump my chest in glory.  Who ****ing cares.  When I die it won’t matter.  What does matter is that I enjoy dumping my thoughts here, and I indeed have random thoughts.  Because I have a random brain that tries to multi-task way too much and way too often.  Rarely can I sit and think about one thing. In fact, while typing this I’m thinking about the book I’m reading and where I stopped to do this, and when I’ll stop this to do that.  This is getting really confusing. 

Where was I?  Oh yeah: I’m going to keep blabbering senselessly and sensefully in a back-and-forth manner.  At least for as long as I feel like it. Even if my stats show a bounce rate of 87% and average time on site of 1-2 seconds.  Whatever.  That’s long enough.  Stay tuned…

A Few Words About Joggers

WARNING: There may be some strong language used in this article.

I used to like to run (ok, jog), but my knees and hip joints don't like it anymore, so I bicycle.  I usually make two or three rides per week, depending on circumstances, weather, etc.  One of my favorite rides is the Cape Henry Trail.  A roughly six-mile trek which consists of a mile of asphalt pathway going through a nice neighborhood, followed by a mile of asphalt through woods near a campground, followed by dirt through heavy tree cover.  I usually get on the trail at Great Neck Rd and arrive at the end by 64th Street and Atlantic Ave a short time later (i haul ass usually in top gear the whole way).

Today however was different.  The trail was loaded with joggers.  Groups.  Singles.  Pairs.  Whatever.  As I approach them from behind, I always call out "passing left!" and say "thank you!" when they move over as I pass.  Some behavioral patterns I noticed today:

• Women share the path and are usually very courteous
• Older men are usually courteous and share the path also
• Younger guys jogging alone move over (no courtesy)
• Younger guys in groups are dickheads and don't move, so I help them move over (I'm six feet tall and 200 lbs.  Most joggers are barely 140 lbs and 5ft 7in or so.  Do the math, and do it fast cuz I'm approach very fast)

Here's a few observations with comments as well:

• Most joggers are white.  Almost all of them.
• Most of them spend a significant amount of money on special jogger clothing, and jogger shoes.
• Most of them look other joggers up and down to assess their jogger clothing and shoes.
• Most of them jog to be seen, not to really boost their health.
• Most of them spend too much time worrying about their diet

I hate to bust your bubble but…

• Not too many white folks win the Boston marathon, the NYC marathon, the SF marathon, the Chicago marathon, the, well, ANY marathon
• It's usually some guys from Kenya, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, or Morocco
• Those guys don't spend shit on jogger clothing
• Those guys don't spend shit on jogger shoes.  In fact, some of them run ALL DAY EVERY FUCKING DAY BAREFOOT
• They don't pause to look other joggers up and down to judge their clothing.  They only look to see if you're in their way, which you are only possibly in their way at the very start of the race.  After that you're a distant memory.
• Most of them only care about one dietary aspect: IS THERE ANY FOOD.

The jogger clothing doesn't do shit.  The jogger shoes don't do shit.  The energy bar and vitamin pills don't do shit.  The special drinks don't do shit.  It's YOU that has to take the blame for doing shit.

More Thoughts on Little League Baseball

Last night our team lost 13-12 in OT.  But it was a great game.

What made it great?

• The kids were smiling
• The kids played hard without being pushed to do so
• Nobody was injured
• The umpires were awesome
• The coaches on both sides were in it for the kids
• The weather was nice
• The parents were supportive and behaved on both sides

A note about the umpires:  We typically have the same 5 or 6 officials at our field every week.  But this week we had visiting officials from Umpire Heaven (a fictitious place I refer to as being where awesome umpires come from).  These 2 guys knew the rule book cover to cover.  I’ve never seen that.  They applied the rules thoroughly, but without sacrificing the goal of the game: to have fun and compete.  They took time to inspect the equipment for both teams before the game: bats, helmets, catcher’s gear, balls, even shoes.  Never once showing any signs of nit-picky attitude or resentment.  Their calls were clear and direct.  When a player slid into home, the ump cleared the area with his entire being focused on the action in front of him. A plane could’ve crashed in the next field and exploded and this ump would not have missed the call.  It was professionally done.  Kudos!

I’m an assistant coach, so I spend a lot of time on the field with players and other coaches and officials.  I absolutely love it when the atmosphere is positive and coaches joke with each other on both sides of the field.  When coaches joke and laugh with officials.  When coaches loan other teams a helping hand.  It’s what the game is all about.  And it rubs off on the kids.  This is more true in the 9 to 12 year old range than younger or older kids.  It’s a special transformational age range when they’re seeing beyond the casual attitude of T-ball and Minor leagues to the game itself and what it means.  They start to understand the importance of how they work together and they see what the league above them does and it drives them to push themselves to be better, work harder and enjoy the good times more.

Best moments I’ve experienced yet:

• When the shy-est kid on the team hits a home run for the first time
• Umpiring a game and telling an obnoxious parent to behave or be ejected along with forfeiting their kids game, and the parent settled down.
• Watching the 4-5 year olds chase down a foul ball to get a free drink
• When a player shows up down and out and makes a great play and turns their whole day around
• Watching a group of kids show up on day 1, struggling to make things work and figuring out what to do, and at the end of the season seeing them work together as a team and gain confidence and self-realization
• Being a base coach and hearing the kids joke in the dugout (ok, well, sometimes)
• When a runner is laughing and talking with the baseman during a game.

Dear Baseball Parents…

I posted this on my Facebook page also, but I thought it might be suitable here as well…

Here's a few tips for baseball parents attending their children's games.

- Before shouting obscenities at the home plate umpire, watch the catcher's arm. The strike zone isn't just high-to-low, it's also inside the batter's box lines. If you see the catcher reach across or reach out, it was probably a ball. Get over it.

- If you don't like how your team is coached, coach it yourself. Otherwise: STFU

- If you don't like how your games are officiated, volunteer to be an umpire or ref. Otherwise: STFU

- Don't park near the field borders if it's even remotely possible to hit a ball out there (unless you don't care about your windshield).

- A great player is a "utility" player. Not someone who insists on playing one position all the time. It's definitely not someone who has a tantrum if they can't play that position even one time.

- Keep your kid's age in mind at all times. Don't stress them out about statistics and averages and performance when they're 9, 10 or 11. Encourage them. Support them. But make it fun. Remember FUN? You do remember FUN right?

- Baseball practice is not Daycare. Stick around. Show them you care.

- If you can't make it to the game or practice, call or text someone so they know.

Thank you!

Virginia Beach Bicycling Routes

There are many other paths, but these are a few that I've completed many times and know very well. They are aimed at mixing street and dirt trail riding, not just paved surfaces.  My bike looks like a full-blown mountain bike from a distance, but it’s really a cheap grade knock-off.  But that doesn’t matter.  It’s been a great bike and I’ve put a few hundred miles on it since I bought it in 2006. 

1. Birdneck Loop - Start at Pacific and Norfolk Ave. Take Norfolk Ave West to Birdneck Rd. South on Birdneck down to General Booth. North on General Booth over Rudee Inlet to Pacific and back to starting point: 5.8 miles
2. Cape Henry Trail to Rudee Inlet - Cape Henry Trail from Great Neck, go East through First Landing Park, come out at 64th and Atlantic. Proceed South on Atlantic to 40th and cross over to boardwalk, down to Rudee Inlet. Turn around and go back to starting point: 19.8 miles (go back across Great Neck to the end at Jade St.: Another 1.8 miles
3. Great Neck Road - Great Neck from Shore Drive, go South to Virginia Beach Blvd, and return to starting point: 11 miles
4. Holland, Dam Neck, Laskin - Holland & Plaza, take Holland South to Dam Neck. Take Dam Neck East to General Booth Blvd. North on General Booth over Rudee Inlet to Pacific Ave. North to Laskin Rd. West on Laskin, merge onto Virginia Beach Blvd. West to North Plaza Trail (turn left / South). Follow through South Plaza Trail back to starting point: 23 miles
5. Great Neck North Loop - Cape Henry Trail from Great Neck. East through First Landing Park to 64th St. entrance at Atlantic. South on Atlantic to Laskin. West on Laskin, merge onto Virginia Beach Blvd. Turn onto N. Great Neck Rd. and follow Great Neck back to starting point: 16.8 miles
6. Eastern Loop - Great Neck at Shore Drive. Go South on Great Neck, cross over Virginia Beach Blvd and continue onto London Bridge Blvd. Go East on Dam Neck to General Booth Blvd. North on General Booth over Rudee Inlet to Pacific, up Pacific to Atlantic. Turn into First Landing Park at 64 th St entrance, follow Cape Henry Trail back to starting point: 26.3 miles

Routes 1, 2, 3, and 6: park behind the shopping center where Hot Tuna Grill resides and jump on the trail right there.

It is illegal in Virginia Beach to ride on sidewalks throughout Town Center or anywhere along the oceanfront from Rudee to 40th Street during tourist season.  But they rarely bother bicyclists unless (a) the cop is a dick or (b) the biker is acting stupid.

1959: Flying a T-33 through the Grand Canyon

If I were the Virginia Beach City Manager

If I had the checkbook...

- Beef up Mt Trashmore park to be worthy of the city image: a stage, more lights around the path, carnival all summer, more gardens and waterfalls, expand the skate park.

- Light rail. End of story. All the nay-sayers can just STFU.

- Add more free parking in the North beach area.

- Build a walk-over between Town Center and Pembroke Mall

- Build a walk-over crossing on Independence at Va Beach blvd

- Enforce trashy yards and unkept lawns. $100/day fine until rectified

- $5000 fine for tossing trash and cigarettes from a vehicle.

- Make all fees, fines, bills payable online within the same web site and using a common login.

- Increase DUI fines

- Push for more stringent enforcement of wreckless driving.

- Hold all public meetings after 6pm. You know, after us working folk are off work

- Fine drivers for loud music. Add an RIAA fee for "public performance" also.

- Deduct salary from public school coaches who can't manage teams to win at least one game

- Fine local TV weather folks for each blown forecast. Make them apologize to the public on camera from an auditorium packed with school kids.

- Require city council to rotate jobs and work with every dept in the city. Must work the lowest level job available.

- Replace Pembroke Mall with something like Stone Point Mall (Richmond)

- Make HRT improve their half-assed bus service

- Buy Fort Story and convert it into a city park, including the beach.

Good Bye Fort Story Beach. It was fun while it lasted

We hadn't made the short trip to Fort Story Beach in a few weeks, so we decided today was time for a return.

We parked at 87th street as always (because 89th has more parking but they ticket and boot after 8pm.  It is Virginia Beach after all), and walked out to the sand, turned left and started towards Cape Henry Point.

However, this time we were hit with a large yellow sign on 4x4 wooden legs, straddling the walking area at the borderline between the public beach and the beach that wraps around Fort Story U.S. Army base.  "Official U.S. Government Property - No Trespassing" in bold letters.

The last time we saw this happen was one week after Sept. 11, 2001, when they not only closed the beach, but cordonned it off with cross-bars and razor wire, and sandbagged machine gun nests along the dunes.  They also ran ATV patrols and scared the be-jesus out of anyone who strayed across the line.  I didn't see any sandbag encampments or ATV's running around, but I'm not venturing over into the dark side to find Darth Vader either.

I haven't seen any official explanation or rationale for the closure, so I can only guess.  If it's to carve out the beach for the military families who live on the base, that's fine.  I feel that military families put up with a lot of crap as it is, and their active-duty kin are under enough stress, so anything that helps them chill out and enjoy life a little more is a good thing.  I do wish however that they could have worked out something like one-day per week when the public could still stroll around the beachfront.  Oh well.  It was fun while it lasted.  I have a ton of good memories with my family there.  Here's some photos I've taken over the years.  Enjoy!

Ran-dumb Thawtz About Nu-theeng

So, it's Labor Day. The federalized holiday wherein none of us American worker types are supposed to be working. At least not the federal/state/municipal folks. I have nothing going on. The beach is packed to death with tourists. Some 100,000 have flooded, according some news reports, to see oceanfront entertainment. I rode my bike down to the boardwalk yesterday and saw it firsthand. Nothing unusual to report. Tourists are tourists, or terrorists actually.

I noticed that this time however, there was a much larger percentage of foreign tourists than American. I also noticed that the best way to tell them apart is to watch if they use a trash can to dispose of their trash. If they do, they're not American. Americans typically toss their trash on the ground and keep walking, or out the window of their SUV's and trucks as they drive through the red lights. Nothing says "I love America" like a beer can and a burning cigarette butt flying out the window of an SUV.

The music acts are varied this year. Heart. The Romantics. Basically, 80's pop, with some R&B and country, depending upon which day, time slot and which stage (one of five I think). The boardwalk is a mess since they closed the walking path for the tour buses and force the fat slob pedestrians to walk on the bike path, where they collide with bikes. No car shows or anything otherwise interesting to look at besides huge, pasty-white people busting out of too-small clothing. The temperature all weekend has been really nice. A few weeks back we were sweltering in 90's and high humidity, but now it's in low 80's and moderate humidity with plenty of sunshine and a light breeze.

I'm bored.

Bike Riding to the Beach Again

It’s been a month since my last trek to the beach from my house, so I was due for it.  I took the same path down S. Plaza Trail to Virginia Beach Blvd, and followed that to Laskin and hit the oceanfront at 31st street.  The crowd was really thick.  A lot of tourists in town for the Labor Day weekend and all the festivities going on.  I rode up and down the full length of the boardwalk from Rudee to 40th and back a few times. 

The stage at 5th street was buzzing with crowds and the noise of techs warming up the equipment and adjusting the sound.  The drummer sucked.  The sax guy was pretty good.  Too bad I couldn’t stay longer.  My plans changed when my back tire blew out at 12th street on the bike path.  I had to walk a while to meet up with my wife in her van, who evac’d me out like the falling of Saigon.  It was brutal but I somehow survived.

Photos are posted here.  The last nine (9) photos in the gallery were taken today on my ride.  Not very interesting, but eh, who cares.

10 Unexpectedly Cool Places I Remember Well

1. Sam Ash Music Center in Manhattan NYC

If you love playing music as much as me, or just love music history memorabilia, this is it.

2. Parasailing off the shore of Virginia Beach, Virginia

If you live here, you should do it at least once.  If you’re visiting, do it anyway.

3. The Smithsonian Institute Museum of ____ (just pick one)

Need I really say more?

4. Monk’s Cafe in Philadelphia

One of the best dining and beer experiences I’ve ever enjoyed.

5. Maymont Park in Richmond, Virginia

A fantastic park in the heart of Richmond near the James River.

6. Fall River Pass, Colorado

Thin air, clear view, excellent drive.

7. Saugatuck Dune Ride, near Saugatuck, Michigan

The dunes are amazing.  The dune buggy ride will blow your mind.  Saugatuck is like a mix of a college town, an entrepreneur haven and a relaxed summer home town all wrapped in one.

8. Prospect Hill Bed & Breakfast, near Charlottesville, Virginia

My wife and honeymooned there in 1988.  The place is amazing.  Worth every penny.

9. MacKay Island NWR, North Carolina

40 minutes drive from my house and I can’t get there enough.  Peace and quiet.  Nature left alone.  Fishing, flat-land hiking, kayaking or just bird watching.

10. The top floor of ____

The World Trade Center towers in NYC (RIP)

The Empire State Building, NYC

The Chrysler Building, NYC

The (former) Sears Tower, Chicago

The Statue of Liberty, NYC

The Washington Monument, DC

Bicycling Around Virginia Beach

I live in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  The highest populated city in the state with approximately 430,000 residents, at last count.  It’s a city that has long prided itself on being “outdoorsy” and has a lot of parks, creeks, shores, and recreation centers compared to most other metropolitan areas around the state; not to mention along the East coast.  It is a nice place to live in many respects.  You can find a large number of joggers, walkers, bicyclers, boaters, swimmers, and so on.  Being on the coastline with plenty of beach areas you will also likely find surfers, kayakers and fishermen, but you will find kayakers just as often inland on one of the many creeks and lakes around the area.

I used to do a fair amount of running until last year when my knees finally gave out and I had to find another hobby.  I’ve always enjoyed bicycling, so now I’ve become more “into” it as a way to stay in shape and avoid boredom.  There are a lot of trails and pathways that the city touts as making it “bike friendly”, but they really should add an asterisk with a footnote.  There are quite a few decent trails for biking around the city, but biking *across* the city is another challenge entirely.  I do this fairly often, so I’m pretty familiar with the good and bad and where the chokepoints are for bicycling.

From my house near Mount Trashmore Park, which is located in the northern central area of the city, I can bike to the ocean front (to the East), to the bay shore (to the North), to a few places South and West as well.  Not as many interesting places to ride South and West however.  Most of the interesting places are North and East of where I live.  The beach is about 8 miles as the crow flies.  The North shore near Chick’s beach is about 6 miles and Princess Anne Park is about 4 miles South/West of here.  Of these three paths, the simplest and safest is by far going to Princess Anne Park (where the Sportsplex is located) which is also the MOST BORING of all places to ride.  Other than moving my legs it’s about as exciting as sitting on the bike on my driveway and making “vroomm!!!” sounds like a kid with a toy motorcycle.

Riding to the beach is the most daunting but not terribly difficult.  The main routes are either along Virginia Beach Blvd, or along Dam Neck Road.  Getting to Virginia Beach Blvd from my house is only feasible by one route: Plaza Trail.  Trying to take Rosemont Road or Independence Blvd under the I-264 interchanges is suicidal.  It’s possible, but the city needs to do something as I constantly see bikers and walkers almost killed by cars flying on or off the on/off ramps without looking for anything but other cars.  It’s deadly.  Taking Dam Neck Road is a much longer path as it adds another 4 miles of riding to get to the beach itself by way of General Booth Blvd.  The stretch along General Booth is actually a nice ride, especially passing the Virginia Acquarium and the woods along the bike path.  Riding up Rudee Inlet bridge at the end is a special treat designed to stress test your quads after pumping for almost 12 miles already. 

The Dam Neck route is about 13 miles in all.  The Virginia Beach Blvd route is about 8 miles in all.  Both distances are one-way, so a round-trip is 26 or 16 respectively.  I most often do the latter route since it’s a little more interesting.  Another option is taking Virginia Beach Blvd to Laskin and following that to 30th street, which is at the North end of the boardwalk.  Regardless of the route to the beach, I usually ride the length of the boardwalk from Rudee Inlet to 40th street a few times and then head back home.  If the weather is nice I usually bring my camera to catch the freaks in public and cars and bikes, etc.

As for riding to the North shore, along the bay, there are really only two paths.  One is Independence to Pleasure House Road.  And the other is Virginia Beach Blvd to N. Great Neck Road.  The Independence route ends in the Chick’s Beach area, which is where the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel connects to the mainland in Virginia Beach.  That route is just a hair under 8 miles.  The Great Neck Road path is longer at about 10 miles.  That ends in a rather boring area of small houses on Shore Drive, so I usually continue West to the Chick’s Beach area again, which is another 2 miles West.  The biggest challenge is the Lesner Bridge, crossing over the Lynnhaven Inlet.  Not a bike friendly bridge, as there is almost nothing between the traffic, you, and the concrete railing.  One texting, distracted or drunk driver and you’re gone.

Caution Areas

Tough Crossings include Independence at I-264.  Rosemont at I-264. Virginia Beach Blvd at Great Neck Rd.  London Bridge to Great Neck (across Virginia Beach Blvd).  Laskin at the I-264 split.  Indpendence at Pleasure House.  General Booth at Rudee Inlet (if you forget to cross early on).

Other notable paths to ride your bike along:

Cape Henry Trail, near First Landing State Park.  This is located in the North-East corner of the city and connects from the Northern end of N. Great Neck Road over to the 64th Street park entrance off of Atlantic Avenue.  One quarter of the trail is asphalt and goes through a quiet neighborhood.  The rest is hard packed dirt under tree cover and fairly straight with minor hills and bumps.  Very easy.  Total distance is about 6 miles one way.

Ferrell Parkway, which connects from Princess Anne Road over to Indian River Road in the middle West end of the city.  Only 2.5 miles by itself, it makes a good connector for adding a longer path along Indian River Road and Princess Anne Road.

Dam Neck Road, runs along the middle of the city going East to West.  It ends at General Booth Blvd (sort of, but it crosses over into a neighborhood and dead-ends in the back), and goes West beyond Salem Road becoming Elbow Road in the process.  Total distance (sort of) is about 8 miles one-way.

London Bridge Road, runs from Virginia Beach Blvd at the intersection with Great Neck Road (it becomes Great Neck as it crosses) and continues down to Dam Neck Road.  Total boring ride distance is about 4 miles.

I’m still exploring other trails and routes around the city, but suffice it to say it can be a bit hair-raising crossing some interesections along the way.

Follow-Up Comments on our MacKay Island Trip

I forgot to mention a few things about our trip last Saturday:

• The water levels were the highest I've ever seen them.  That was both inside and outside the lock system.  Even in the interior flood plane was filled in.  The canal along the main entrance road was up to the edge of the gravel roadway also.
• The large open field to the North of Knapp's old house location, which was the site of his 9-hole golf course, was recently mowed to a 6-inch height.  I have never seen that section of the island mowed before.  Not sure why that is.
• The main trail from the parking area near the fishing area, back to the split at the mid-point trail has been built up with multiple layers of dirt and gravel.  It is now about 3 or 4 feet higher than it was.  At the mid-point trail it drops back to the level it was, which is only a foot above the mean water level in the surrounding creeks.
• There are cylindrical crab cages in the creeks all around the island's outer waterways.  One of them had an animal trapped inside and was moving quite a bit, but we couldn't see the animal itself.  No idea why they have those positioned everywhere.  I would estimate somewhere between eight and ten overall.

Return to MacKay Island N.W.R.

It's been two years since the last time I hiked the entire perimeter of MacKay Island N.W.R. So today I drove down with my two oldest daughters, Rachel and Sarah, to hike it again. Rachel had never been there. Sarah was with me the last time I went, so both were eager to get out and see the land and the inhabitants.

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Status of Living Things: Vegetation near the main entrance is still waiting to spring back to life, however, from the first stop-gate on the vegetation is bright green and teeming with life. Turtles were in high abundance along the main driving trail. Mostly adults or half-grown. No babies. We counted at least thirty along a 100 yard distance, sitting on branches or logs in the water. The only insects we saw today were butterflies, a few "ground bugs", and a slight population of gnats and mosquitoes. The dear fly abundance was pretty low. Almost absent. Birds we saw were Bald Eagles (we counted six), a few Egrets, a bunch of white Cranes, two Grey Heron, plenty of red-wing blackbirds, and one very angry Osprey guarding her nest (which we accidentally turned a corner and happened upon). She screeched and swooped a few times but we moved on quickly. Unlike warmer months, there were absolutely NO snakes, spiders, lizards or centipedes.

For the first time ever, we saw a full-grown deer, eating out in the wet marsh. This was along the North trail, just East of the mid-point trail, off to the North. It was maybe 300 yards out but clearly visible. No way we could approach it, or it us. Too much water in between

The Eagles were full-grown and all were in flight. None were perched or near their nests. They were all in a general area swarming in circles near the forest, which covers the middle section of the Reserve.

MacKay Island is part of Knott's Island, which is just at the edge of the North Carolina border with Virginia to the East.  From my house in Virginia Beach, it's about a 40 minute drive.  We hiked the outer of both the "MacKay Island Trail" and the "Live Oak Point Trail", which we call the "outer loop trail" which is roughly nine (9) miles in all, sort of.  We meander off the trail while at the point where Knapp's house was, so we add some distance to the trip.

The girls and I made the full perimeter in good time. Only stopping to take pictures in a few spots, and moving on. Thankfully I packed enough crap in my backpack to cover us the whole time and in the 90 degree heat. There was a good breeze around the North trail and the tip of the island (where Joseph Knapp's house once stood). The trip back along the South trail was a dead heat with no breeze and where we encountered the most gnats. All told, we had a great time and my girls thanked me for making the trip.