Saturday May 15, 2021.
Temp: 69/49, Humidity: 20/60%, Top Wind: SE10mph, Precip-none, Miles Traveled: 28, + 5 on foot
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What a beautiful day on Chesapeake Bay! This is a big body of water, especially wide at the southern end where we are. We had very calm water today. YAHOO!!!! It’s about time! 👏🎉. Just look at this! Smooth as glass.
We untied and were on our way at about 9:00. No trip to the donut shop this morning. I was going to go get my Captain some donuts, because they were SOOOO good, but with it being Saturday, the line would probably have taken too long. So, no fresh morning donuts for us.
Here’s the lighthouse and Fort Monroe. You can’t even tell that there is a fort over there! Although I guess you’d figure it out if cannon balls were being shot at you!
There was a great big gaggle of sailboats out on the bay, but they weren’t getting much wind. Good for us, not so great for them. 😉
The only waves were the ones we were making.
As we approached Cape Charles, there were six empty shipping container ships just hanging out on anchor, with nothing to do.
This was our route today. In 2018 we explored several places along the west side of the Chesapeake Bay, including going up the Potomac to Washington DC. This time around we’re trying to explore different places including the lesser explored eastern side. Our first destination is Cape Charles, and it was just a 28 mile trip crossing the bay on a nice calm day.
We arrived at the Cape Charles Town Harbor Marina. Our slip had about a 45’ finger pier, so we just pulled in bow first, got all tied up and settled, then went for an exploration.
We found this beautifully painted water tower that looks like a light house. That’s way cooler than just a normal water tower!
As we walked out of town, headed to the Cape Charles Brewing Company, we decided too late that we should have rented a golf cart. There are a couple of companies in town. And then we saw this! There was a sign on the road that said “no golf carts beyond this point”, and then a Cart Path took off across a field. 🤷♀️
Sure enough…. if you follow it, it takes you to the brewery!
This was a fun looking place! It was like a park, with families playing games and everyone having fun.
There was even a big fire pit circle.
There was a lot of seating outside, especially all the colorful picnic tables under the trees. There was also seating inside, but it was such a beautiful sunny 68 degree kind of day, most people were outside.
We picked a few beers to try, and enjoyed some time outside.
Cape Charles Virginia is on the southern end of the eastern peninsula of Chesapeake. It was founded in 1884 as a southern terminus for the railroad, opening up the seafood and farm produce to northeastern markets. It also linked northern communities to Norfolk across the bay by rail barges and passenger steamers.
Today’s pretty flowers.
After the brewery, we walked back to town, and decided to try the Buskey Cider Stop. They had a dozen or so ciders.
So we got a few to try. They all had very mild taste differences.
And they too have a nice little outside lot for seating and games like jenga and corn hole.
We continued our walk west, and found the beach. There is a lot of sand here on the bay!
What can I say? I love my life!
There is a very large beach here, there were people enjoying the beach, and people swimming too! Brrr! I don’t know what the water temperature was, but the air was barely warm enough for shorts.
This is looking back toward town, and the marina is on the right just past that jetty.
On the way back home, we spotted this Inn that was having a happy hour. There was nobody there, but we did our duty to contribute to the local economy. We had a crab dip appetizer that was excellent! We are in crab country, after all.
And we’re still a cute as ever, right?
It was a beautiful day, ending with a beautiful sunset. This is from the back of Island Girl. There is a restaurant right here at the docks, and there was a lot of fun and laughter going on this Saturday night. I think Cape Charles must be a ‘beach town’ getaway destination for Virginians. It’s not really a touristy feeling town, but it is clean and lively, with very few empty buildings, so I think most businesses must have done alright here through the pandemic. There are a few ice cream shops that were all highly recommended, but we didn’t try any of them. WHA?!
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Sunday May 16, 2021.
Cloudy all day -Temp: 68/49, Humidity: 33/62%, Top Wind: E9 mph, Precip-none, Miles Traveled: not much
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There are two bakeries in town, but the one closest to us is closed this weekend due to a family emergency. So we walked to the one on the edge of town. The Coastal Baking Company offers everything from biscuits & gravy to fresh baked croissants and cinnamon rolls. That last item is what we were after today. They only allow two people inside at a time, so the line waited out in the parking lot. We finally got our turn, and were terribly disappointed that they were already out of cinnamon rolls at 10:00. BOOO! So we got a couple of other things, and pouted all the way back home.
This cheered me up a bit, but didn’t do much for Kenny’s sweet tooth. 😉
We just kind of hung out at home most of the day. Finally around 3:30, we wandered up to the Distillery to check out their menu. They distill a variety of spirits, and have a really nice patio with music and comfy seating. Once again, a very small sign to tell you what the business is.
They don’t do “tastings”, but have a full menu of beverages that showcase their spirits. The gals are quite the mixologists!
Their outside patio area is really inviting and comfortable. They also offer charcuterie trays which were heaped with meats and cheeses.
I ordered an espresso martini with their vodka, and Kenny had something that was whiskey, apple pie moonshine, apple brandy, and cinnamon syrup. Both were quite tasty. HA! I sent this picture to my sons, and I get a text back “What in tarnation? A pinky-up kinda joint?”. He made me laugh really big out loud. 🤣
Back to Island Girl for some spaghetti and salad for dinner. It was cloudy all day, but it did warm up enough for short sleeves.
This shows the extent of our adventures in Cape Charles. Out to the right was the brewery, and all the way to the left was the beach and fishing pier. I just realized that I didn’t even go into the residential neighborhoods to check out the homes or the churches for cool historic structures. DARN! But I did get all of our reservations and planning done for our trip to Washington to see the kids and grandkids next month. We have good cell and wifi here, so I though I better get it all done and taken care of.
Tomorrow we’re headed to another small town on the eastern peninsula. Maybe I’ll catch some history for you there.