Happy Travel Tuesday friends! This past weekend my summer adventures continued with my first trip to Virginia Beach!
Evie and I, my cousin, started taking bestie trips in 2011 right before Aaron and I were married. We have missed our annual trip the last two years, so with were determined to make this one happen. We grabbed the first weekend we were both free, found a good Groupon deal and planned our little trip!
One thing I didn’t count on though was how busy things would be at the beach in the summer. I’ve been to the beach many times with my family, but ALWAYS in the off season. This time, I was in for a treat!
Note: the below photo was not taken at Virginia Beach but at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This lovely spot was nearly tourist free and my kind of beach spot.
If you enjoy quite places where you can relax in the lovely nature around you, I would suggest the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. They had several nature trails, a lovely drive through some small sand dunes and it’s only $5 to enter! Getting away from the hustle and bustle is always worth it!
Saturday morning we hit the beach at 10:15 armed with the essentials. Priorities, right?Thankfully we didn’t choose the main beach area at Virginia Beach, we picked the small public beach in Sandbridge.
As most of us experienced this weekend, we were hitting close too 100 degrees back home here in Pennsylvania BUT in Virginia, we were hit with over 100 degree weather so add that and heat and sun to some beach sand and you get burnt toes! Ouch!! I’ve felt hot sand before, butt this sand was the worst!! 
Some of the trip highlights:
– Our wonderful Groupon deal was for the charming Founders Inn. I would highly recommend it! Our room was very nice, the service was excellent and the location was not to far from everything but far enough that you were’t stuck in traffic all the time.
– Duck Donuts… my darling senior Miranda introduced me to Duck Donuts when we went to the Outerbanks for her senior session last year so I was thrilled to find one in Virginia Beach.
– The actual Virginia Beach pier, the one on the main beach, was pretty fun. Now you do have to pay the $2 fee to go out on it but I enjoyed it, so it was worth the $2! A family had caught a horseshoe crab and weren’t sure what it was, so I got to fill them in and watch the little kids and their excitement. A gentleman caught a stingray while we were there and the best view of the boardwalk was from the pier at night.
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Next up, we stopped in for a quick run through, literally, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center. THEY HAD OTTERS!!!! Aaron and I adore otters!!! Evie was there for the turtles and boy did they have a lot of them!
For those who are friends with me on Facebook, you might have seen my post about Virginia Beach parking garages… It took us an hour to go down two floors!! Yikes!!! Needless to say I was near tears a few times. I am quite afraid of parking garages, cramped spaces and lots of people and cars. Ahhh the definition of fun times right?!!?!? Thankfully Evie was a champ and she helped me stay calm… with selfies!!! 
Our final adventure stop was in Culpepper Virginia. I will drive 2 hours out of my way to spend a hour in this little town. Evie and I found it on our first trip in 2011, and since, I have been back 4 times. If we would move to Virginia, it would have to be near Culpepper.
I was a little bit sad though this trip. I had made a friends with one of the art gallery shop owners and he had to close his business last year. He was such a sweet older gentleman and I greatly enjoyed chatting with him each time I visited.
Up next, in August, will be our New Hampshire trip so stay tuned for that grand adventure! You can follow along on Instagram @JacksonSignaturePhotography OR click HERE.
– Tiffany
