Odd and Interesting Fun

Having successfully captured King Neptune and the beach at daybreak (see previous post if you missed it), I set out to capture the other two oddities on my list and six remaining LOVEworks.

The Virginia Beach LOVEwork was first, then I was off to see “‘Hugh Mongous,’ the simian mascot of Ocean Breeze Waterpark.”

How can you NOT smile at him? He’s one big, colorful, smiley gorilla dude.

It was only later when scrolling through pics and seeing the previously unshared selfie of Hugh and I that I realized we are wearing the same glasses.

What can I say? The big dude has style!

From there, I headed inland to capture the LOVEworks in Newport News and Norfolk. On the way, since I’d be passing Mount Trashmore, I decided to stop and see the Whispering Giant (big carved Indian, more on that later) that’s been there since 1976.

 

I found the Newport News sculpture without incident. The first one in Norfolk was a bit of a challenge. I ended up at the Virginia Zoological Park, adjacent to Lafayette Park (the park where I was supposed to be). That’s where I saw this sculpture…

A VERY cool, life-sized elephant, fashioned of butterflies, holding a butterfly.

I know I use the word “cool” too much. I can’t help it.

I was on my way back to the car when I spotted this peeking through the bushes at me.

Another giraffe. How odd. I never see giraffe sculptures then, in less than 24 hours, I see two. Hmmm. (I had to manuever a bit to get that picture.)

I eventually found my way to the appropriate spot in Lafayette Park, thanks to the helpful lady at the zoo info desk. I captured the final Norfolk-area LOVEwork at the airport, which felt a bit weird. Who visits airports just to see stuff?

That’s where I realized I’d neglected to take my ATM card along on the trip. I had $5 cash and no ATM card. Crap. Oh well, I’d survive, hopefully without having to get a cash advance on the credit card.

From there, I headed north across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, an engineering marvel I’ll describe another time.

I forgot to mention that the skies had been really overcast all morning. It finally started raining shortly after I reached Virginia’s Eastern Shore. By the time I reached Cape Charles, the next-to-last LOVEwork location, the skies let loose. A downpour. Ugh.

I did manage to capture a picture of the lighthouse water tower, which is one of the RoadsideAmerica stops I’d planned before leaving home.

Oh, and I was really tickled to see this as I was leaving Cape Charles…

I’d never actually seen cotton growing before. To the best of my knowledge, anyway.

I shot those pictures very quickly, since I had to pull into someone’s driveway to do so.

As I continued north, I passed another oddity I had NOT planned on stopping to see. But, since I did actually see it, I figured I should stop for a pic.

Again, road trip pics with the car are not nearly as interesting (romantic?) as road trip pics with the bike. 🙁

I’d been planning on grabbing lunch in Cape Charles, but the rain changed my mind. The further north I drove, the hungrier I got. I was half-hoping I’d see a Bojangles. The other half of me was thinking I’d just eat in Chincoteague, my destination for the day.

Then I saw a pretty big and interesting billboard advertising The Great Machipongo Clam Shack (web site) in Nassawaddox, Virginia.

The name makes me sorta giggle for some reason. also, I like clams. So I told myself that, if I passed it and the parking lot was full enough, I’d stop. Sure enough, there were quite a few cars parked at the place, so I hung a U-turn and visited the The Great Machipongo Clam Shack.

I’m glad I stopped. The food was delicious.

The sweet potato fries were served sprinkled with sugar instead of salt. I’d never heard of that, but those fries were damn good. I may never eat them with salt again. The shrimp were, by far, the best fried shrimp I’ve ever eaten.

The crab on the window had caught my eye on the way in, so I snagged a pic before I left.

From there, it was about an hour to Chincoteague. I was anxious to get to the island before dark so I could scope-out the wildlife refuge and maybe see a cool sunset from the marsh. But it was still raining. Perhaps I’ll get to see another marsh sunset sometime soon.

I’ll tell you all about Chincoteague and Assateague Islands in an upcoming post.