Last weekend we went on a travel. We finally went on our trip to Norfolk Vee-A to visit with Cody and Maral, and to run the hottest race yet, The Rock n Roll Virginia Beach 1/2 Marathon. That’s a lot to say.
We arrived on Saturday after three plane rides that were one after the other. No waiting there. As soon as we landed it started to rain, but that didn’t dissapate the heat or humidity any.
Maral picked us up and we were able to get our race packets in the nick of time. Well, we weren’t really late to pick them up, but I was worried that if one thing went awry I wouldn’t be racing in the AM.
And I almost didn’t. Dave set the alarm which didn’t go off but fortunately Cody was driving us to the race. Otherwise, I would have overslept and missed the start. Yep—that was a bump in the road but we made it, had a bite to eat, and prepared to run.
Phew-it was hot. I know, I know, enough with the heat but seriously, it was in the upper 70’s when we started and dew points in the lower 70’s. At least it was early and we had a lot of shade. I was almost used to the heat by this race, my fourth hot 1/2 marathon race of the summer. I was able to run the whole way and my finish was slow-2:16, but about the same as the last race. Cody suffered mightily in the heat and wasn’t happy with his time at all. I know the feeling. It gets so painful when you are too hot and can’t cool off. The last mile was on the boardwalk in the sun. Ouch. Mile 8-10 was also in the sun and that got unpleasant. Cody said that’s where he really started to feel the pain. Sigh.
But we all lived to tell the tale. We immediately went to the VIP area and had some mimosa’s, bad beer, and I got an orange crush.
I met up with Tiffini and Ali watching the reggae band on the beach.
After an hour or two we decided it was time to go. Dave and I went back to the hotel, showered (well, I showered) and we found lunch and a couple more beers at a Mexican place up the street. We stayed downtown and it was really close to Cody’s apartment, shops, waterfront, and good food. Very convenient.
We napped and then went out to dinner with Cody and Maral and a great little place in the old part of Norfolk.
Cody’s apartment is super nice and I took a bunch of pictures of the view from their little deck and windows.
The street below
And this one was on the side of the building below our hotel-
I thought it was cool but strictly nighttime…..
On Monday Cody took us on a boat ride tour of the harbor. It was hot, just saying, but super fun. I really enjoyed it.
Our boat-The Victory Rover
Us on the boat--
Where Cody works
Oldest Naval Hospital in the US
The Harbor
World’s Largest Naval Base
Huge Aircraft Carriers
Sailboat in the distance
I had a great time.
We drove around and saw Cody’s old place where he lived when he first arrived in Norfolk four years ago. Gosh, it is that long? I didn’t take a picture because it was a bit scary. I can see why he wasn’t all that happy there, but he saved a ton of money so it was worth it for the year. His apartment now is 180 degrees from the first place. But there are a lot of good stories around it.
The next day we were on our own. We took a walk and saw some glass headed people….
Old houses and foot bridge,
and we went to a naval museum and toured the USS Wisconsin-
It’s a huge boat-
It holds 1900 men and women, however, during it’s active duty it held 2900. Have mercy cause the quarters are tight.
You can store your stuff under your bunk….
Better like your room mates. AND-can I say—it was pretty hot and stuffy down there. Maybe out at sea in the winter it’s super cold down there. Either way, it can’t be pleasant.
We took a selfie on deck.
After lunch we went to the Chrysler Art Museum. It’s free and the exhibits were fabulous. I only took one picture, and that was outside!
I highly recommend this place. It was huge and I don’t think we saw everything, but we needed a rest after being on our feet most of the day.
After resting, we grabbed some sushi (I’m a sucker for sushi) and got some takeout for Cody and Maral, who both worked all day.
I was so sad to leave on Wednesday. Cody took us to the airport and we flew back, in our usual seat in the very very back of the plane. (The last seat on the plane was the theme of this trip, along with the mermaids). It was pretty chill, more chill traveling home than on the way out.
And now I’m back to work. In a bit of a daze but back. And a week from Monday I’m off to Scotland. I’m really looking forward to it, but I miss these two and their cute apartment and the easiness of vacation.
I guess I’ll try to eek out one more week of work and then leave it all behind again as I cross the pond. Woot woot.
Oh, and did I mention Buzz? He’s livin’ the life……
