Virginia Beach Anniversary

In the fall semester of 2003, a fresh-faced freshman attended the first Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) meeting of the school year.  The group consisted of a bunch of long-haired college guys and t-shirt wearing college gals, all brought together that night to praise their God.  Across the room a curly-haired girl caught his eye—when he tells the story, he says that he was drawn to her sincere worship—but he didn’t talk to her that night because she was sitting with another guy.  Little did he know that she had noticed him as well, and that guy at her side was only a friend.

A few weeks later, our freshman encountered another first.  He went rock climbing with a fellow IVCF-er named Bryan.  Now, it just so happened that Bryan’s girlfriend was the roommate and life-long friend of the above mentioned curly-haired girl.  It had been planned that Bryan would meet his girlfriend and the curly-haired girl for dinner after his bout in the great outdoors and, since they were meeting at the student union where most everyone ate on the weekends, it was only natural that he would invite his new friend along.  The girls had been studying all day for a Monday morning biology test and, fatigued of the constraints of their 10x10 dorm room, had headed to the student union early.  As would be expected of tired minds and old friendships, silliness and laughter ensued.  Bryan called, and when the curly-haired girl heard a strange guy would be joining them for dinner, she decided that it would be great fun to freak him out.  The fellows arrived, Bilbo was introduced, then the curly-haired girl said, with her faced bunched up between her hands, “Hi!  My name’s Chubby!”  To her surprise, Bilbo laughed and joined in the silliness.

That, my friends, was the beginning of Bilbo and Minnie!  Now, on June 9, 2011, we are celebrating our four year wedding anniversary.  This year’s dedicated place of celebration is…drum roll…Virginia Beach!  This has been a long-weekend favorite of ours for years!  If you enjoy camping at the beach, as we do, I would highly recommend VA Beach and First Landing State Park.  The park is right on the beach, has great bath houses with HOT WATER, offers a little beach shop and grocery, has VERY FEW BUGS, and is very conveniently situated in respect to local attractions.  As you may expect, this is where we stayed!  Each time we had been to First Landing before, we camped on the back side of the loop closest to the beach.  This time, however, we had managed to grab up the last available tent site and ended up in the front by the road.  A word to the wise folks:  if you go to First Landing, which you should, make a reservation and get there early enough to claim a beach side spot!  Our front road-side camp was a little noisy!  Never-the-matter, though!  We had a wonderful time! 

 

After setting up camp, it was time for a day on the beach!  Neither Bilbo nor I enjoy the big, busy, commercialized beaches.  It’s just not relaxing to us.  I have yet to hear someone say, “Oh yah!  Crowded beaches!” Our favorite spot to visit in the VA Beach area is Sandbridge Beach.  It is about 20 minutes away from the main strip and has a much smaller and more intimate feel.  It is also home of Margie and Ray’s Crab House, voted VA Beach’s best restaurant in 2011 and our favorite place to eat when in town.  That will have to wait for another day, though, as we did not go there for our anniversary. 

We spent all day laying on the beach, playing in the water, and working on our tans.  The sun was hot that day, the temperature above 90 degrees, and the sand hotter.  In fact, the sand was so hot that it burnt my feet!  I mean, really burnt them!  I even had blisters!  Bilbo has rougher calluses than me, so he felt the heat but not as much pain.  I, on the other hand, had to walk a couple  of steps, throw down my towel, and jump on it for relief.   This didn’t get us down, though!  It was a beautiful day, the beach crowd was small, the water was cool, and we had a spectacular time! 

After our day at the beach, Bilbo picked out a nice restaurant for our anniversary dinner.  This was the first time since getting married that we were able to go out on our actual anniversary, so I was excited!  We got cleaned up and headed to the Isle of Capri.  It is an Italian restaurant, my favorite, located on the sixth floor of the Holiday Inn.  Once again, Trip Advisor did right by us!  When you got to the hotel, there was an elevator dedicated solely to the restaurant!  It went up through a glass shaft so that you could survey the ocean during the assent.  The doors opened to a foyer with a nice Italian feel, where we were greeted by the hostess.  She led us to a table overlooking the shore where our waiter met us with a tray of olives, bread, butter, and parmesan.   The restaurant was classily decorated and had a ritzy feel to it without being outrageous.  The service was good, the prices were fair, and the food was great!  If you ever go to Isle of Capri, make sure you go before 6:00 pm because they have early bird specials!  We were pleasantly surprised by this fact, and even more pleasantly surprised by the quality of the specials offered.  Bilbo got the chicken parmesan and I got the spaghetti with meatballs.  We both thoroughly enjoyed our entrees, but we especially loved our free dessert!  That’s right!  They gave us a free dessert for our anniversary (after Bilbo requested it)!  It was a chocolate torte with raspberries and chocolate sauce.  Mmm, mmm, mmm!  It was scrumptious! 

In our next blog, we will tell you about the rest of our trip to VA Beach and Williamsburg.  There will be special guest stars, lots of history, and a trip to Margie and Ray’s Crab House.  Before signing off, I would like to congratulate Jaye for being the first winner of an RB giveaway!  She will receive a small gift from Colonial Williamsburg!  I would also like to encourage everyone to become an official follower!  Once we have reached 30 followers, we will do a drawing for a handmade RB gift!  I know you are reading, so join already, it’s the only way to leave comments and get our giveaways!  Until next time...