Virginia Trip Part 3: Fort Henry and Virginia Beach

 Then we walked the Boardwalk at Virginia Beach. Too many people to want to go play in the water. So different from the Oregon Coast!

 Being military sometimes has its perks. We wanted to see and Atlantic Ocean lighthouse and we discovered two at Fort Henry, a naval base. Since we were there, we decided to go to the beach since it was early in the day and very few people were out yet. This is very near Virginia Beach, which was packed. I was so grateful we decided to dip our toes in the Atlantic here instead. We were able to watch hermit crabs (something I've never seen before). There were so funny! Very like the crabs depicted in cartoons.

We got up early and beat the heat and had this military beach almost entirely to ourselves. It was beautiful and as warm as pool water.

The crabs kept us amused and we found plenty of shells to take home to the kids. 

We were able to see the light houses at Fort Henry, the oldest was built in 1791 and was attacked by the British in the War of 1812. 

This historic lighthouse replaced the old stone lighthouse, just 350 ft away. 

 I had to take a picture of the modern to old lighthouse, all three so near each other. My how things have changed!

We headed down to Virginia Beach before it got too crowded. Enjoyed seeing the many bronze statues along the boardwalk. This bronze of Neptune was HUGE!

Pics just can't do it justice.

Crazy amount of people! Too many for us. We walked several miles of the boardwalk, got a huge ice cream cone for lunch and then moved on to Jamestown. Didn't even try to get down to the water. We were really glad we had gone to the beach at Ft. Henry earlier that day. Wow, so hot and humid for this Oregon girl! I felt like I was melting, but I was so happy to be with my husband. We love to explore new places together and we both appreciate history. We are a good combo when it comes to traveling!