Great Loop: Chesapeake & Norfolk

Days 77-80: April 4-7, 2023

We departed Coinjock and traveled up to Chesapeake, Virginia. The trip up was pretty mild. We had two bridges that needed to be raised in our path. They are timed on the half hour so we had to pick up the pace in between so we could make it through without waiting.

We landed at the Atlantic Yacht Basin, the temporary home for Saga and Lil Sudden for the next month while we traveled to DC and Seattle. We chose this marina and boat yard so some work could be done on the boats. Lil Sudden had some preventative maintenance and Saga repaired the damage from Ocracoke. Both required haul outs so they were “on the hard” while we were away. Steve decided to stick with the original plan of Bennett’s Creak. I don’t blame him. $400 for a month’s moorage is hard to beat!

Once settled in, Barbara was nice and gave Steve and I both haircuts before rushing off with friends that were giving her a ride to the airport for her trip back to San Diego for a couple months. We know we’ll miss her scrumptious desserts, salads, and sparkling drinks!

Norfolk

The next day we headed into Norfolk to explore. The first stop was a St. Paul’s Episcopal Church with a cannon ball in one of its sides (the area points to the small circular orb stuck in the brick wall). We visited the MacArthur Memorial and then strolled around a bit seeing the city. We checked out the Taiwanese Pagoda and Oriental Garden on the waterfront in Freemason Harbor where there was a pond with BIG koi fish. We then made our way through the historic Ghent district with unique home architectures on our way to the Chrysler Museum of Art.

Chrysler Museum of Art

After everyone had their fill of walking around, we went to the Chrysler Museum of Art. This is a very cool place and highly recommend stopping. They have glass of all different kinds and from all locations. Amazing! There’s other art too, including an exhibit from Alaska that we recognized right away from our travels there a couple summers ago. Below are just a few highlights of art pieces we especially liked: a cool chess board with glass figurines, Tiffany glass windows, a standing glass chandelier lamp (told Tonia that would not be boat stable), an art restoration in progress, a “tapestry” of multicolored electronic wire over motherboards (my fave), and a hanging steel sculpture with a single lightbulb inside.

Glass blowing at the Perry Glass Studio

Tonia, Mayli, and Michael liked the Chrysler Museum so much they went back the next day to watch glass blowing demonstrations. They even got to watch Grace Whiteside, a contestant on the “Blown Away” glass blowing competition, make a piece in the Hot Shop for the performance art show that weekend. The narrator, Robin Rogers, was also a guest judge on the show. (We watched that full season over the upcoming week that followed!)

Big Pizza!

Meanwhile, the guys were checking out the local fare. The ultimate choice was Benny Damato’s. It was a great slice! We keep reminiscing about that pizza!

USS Wisconsin

After the pizza outing was over, we headed to the USS Wisconsin, a World War II Iowa-class battleship. It was in the Pacific during the war and took part in the Battle of Iwa Jima and Battle of Okinawa. It was in service long enough to be refitted with modern missiles and take part in Desert Storm. What we marveled at was how big it was, especially compared to the aircraft carriers we’d already toured this year.

Video Game Exhibit

The Nauticus museum also had a gaming exabit that went thru the progression of video games thru the ages. Tonia had to check out Tetris of course.

Amazing Glazed Donuts!

Close to the marina was a donut shop called Amazing Glazed. They made fresh donuts just like Pike Place market. The difference is they were then topped with glaze, chocolate, peanut butter (for those with Tonia’s taste buds) or pretty much whatever your heart desires. YUM!

Coda & The Great Bridge

On our last day in the Norfolk area, it was time to move Coda up to Bennett’s Creek. That required the Great Bridge Bridge (yes, that’s the full name) to be raised and a locking thru the Great Bridge Lock. It was about a 2.5-hour journey to get Coda settled in. Then I was picked up for our road trip to DC (to be continued in next post).