Resting time is over. Rest is a weapon according to some, but it is time for us to hit the road again as we are sharp enough :-)
We will drive through 3 US states today, including one state twice. In order, Maryland, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
Just after 8am, we have packed up the car and are ready to go. Thanks again, Mary, for letting us stay at your place in Chester. Very good indeed.
We drive east on road 50, then road 404 when suddenly we hit Delaware... I mean Delaware... (With apologies to Wayne...)
It is a misty rainy morning and the ground looks very lush. Delaware appears to be a rural state but despite this Delaware seems quite progressive on its road rules. It's the first US state we have driven through where fines apply to drivers using handheld cell phones or texting whilst driving (yippee). Signs about this appear at the borders. They also enforce mandatory headlight use whilst driving.
We stop in Georgetown, DE for a morning cuppa.
We chose the Georgetown Family Restaurant and decided to order a 2nd breakfast, just because the menu prices were so cheap. A full breakfast of a pancake, an egg and bacon for $2.99. Bargain.
Our server Betsy was giving us a serious amount of entertainment value. Betsy clearly had a very kind heart, but she was perhaps not the sharpest tool in shed. Both our orders came out wrong for a start and she apologised and didn't know why the kitchen did what it did etc. She was very chatty and told us that she heard that Australians were unfriendly and that her mum went to Europe but didn't like one place, but she couldn't remember what place it was and why her mum didn't like it. She had lived in Delaware her whole life. Yep, we tipped her well. We just couldn't help liking her.
Here is Hans at the establishment.
Georgetown, DE, has this lovely central place downtown called "The Circle" which is surrounded by a court building and law offices, all in beautiful old buildings.
And this is sooooo cute.
Moving on east, we hit the Atlantic Coast at Rehoboth Beach, DE.
On the 9th January, we were at Santa Monica Beach in Los Angeles and now for the first time on this trip, almost 3 months later, we've gone coast to coast. Yippie!!
We liked this sign. It explains the rip phenomena for outsiders unfamiliar with those. Maybe something for Australian beaches...?
Hans went down the beach to feel the Atlantic water at Rehoboth Beach. In 1 word, friggin cold!
Rehoboth Beach has this lovely boardwalk which we wandered up and down for a little while. We love boardwalks.
After stocking up on lollies from two of umpteen lolly shops / candy bars, we continue driving south. Shortly after we have a scary moment on the road with a seriously drunk (or drugged or sleepy or a combination thereof) driver ahead of us. We've never seen anything like it. We are driving on a 2 lane road, flat and straight and he's weaving from the shoulder on the right to the shoulder on the left. He nearly went off the road twice. Some drivers were silly enough to overtake him, but we backed far off, and breathed a sigh of relief when he swung from the left lane into a driveway on the right and stopped. Whew!
Heading south, road 113 runs in the middle of a long narrow spit and then we saw this Anzac Bridge lookalike come up at Indian River Inlet, where the sandspit runs out.
Then suddenly, we are back in Maryland again. And then we drive into... Berlin.
Yes, it is Berlin, MD, und hier ist Der Polizei.
Berlin, DE is a lovely little town. We wandered around its centre for a while looking at buildings and taking photographs.
Berlin is also progressive town in that free WiFi is provided all through its downtown. We had heard about whole US towns being Internet enabled before we left Australia, but we hadn't seen any town like that until now.
We continue to drive south on 113 and then 13 and then suddenly we are in Virginia.
And then, the highlight of the day, we are driving the 17.6 miles long Chesapeake Bay Bridge - Tunnel. Here is a map overview.
And here are some facts and figures.
The toll to cross Chesapeake Bay threw us a bit, $12 for a car, but it was well worth it. Below we have just passed the toll booth and are ready to conquer the bridge.
Here we are driving into the first of two 1 mile long tunnels.
And up again on the other side.
At the southern end of the 2nd tunnel, the furthest south, there is an observation area where you can stop the car and wander out, which we did. This is how it looks on the surface between the two tunnel openings.
Di at the observation area, with the remaining of the bridge south behind her.
We drive onto land and follow the shoreline, first east and then south on Atlantic Avenue to our hotel Country Inn & Suites.
Viriginia Beach has a strong Australian Gold Coast feel to it. There is a beach, then a promenade, then hotels and then the road and that runs on "forever" or so it feels. We are smack bang in the middle of this.
This is the view from our hotel balcony first to the north...
And then to the south... We see the pier from our window and decide to check it out...
Hans at the Virginia Beach Pier.
Here we show what cheapskates we can be. It costs $2 each to walk out on the pier and we decided not to. Not today anyway...
The row of hotels looking north from the pier. Gold Coast all right.
Atlantic Avenue is filled with ice cream parlours, cheap eats, t-shirt shops (we saw 3 for $10 in one place, looked awful), "visitors information" where all they want is just your money for tours and cruises etc. There are still a lot of teenagers around, so Spring Break must still be happening in some places.
Dinner is very good. We found a Mexican restaurant called Cancun Fiesta on Atlantic Avenue where they offered fajitas for two for $25, piled high with strips of beef, chicken and shrimp and with all the usual trimmings. Very nice indeed but we ate too much and have to waddle back to our room.
We are back in the room not long after 8pm. As we have been on the go since 8am, we decide to call it a day. Let all the young people go out and have their fun on this Friday night. We will join them tomorrow night. We've done enough for today. Good night.
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