Day 11 - Thursday

Day 11 - Newport News & Norfolk, VA

As promised we were up early. Gloria was stirring by 5:00 am--an hour that precedes the rebooting of my sunny disposition by a couple of hours.  We got over that and hit the road by 7:00 for the  two hour drive to our next stop.  Today the Garmin took us from Stony Creek to Newport News entirely by back roads, some of them small enough to lack a center line.  The final mile or so was across the James River via a long bridge.  Newport News lies on a long peninsula bounded by rivers, so unless it is approached from the northwest via I64 at least some of the trip will involve a bridge or a tunnel or both.

Although the Newport News/Norfolk Virginia is an interesting place in general the main reason for our visit there was to spend a day with Don (my brother), Theresa (sister-in-law), and their two daughters Jessie and Nina. We were delighted to learn that our nieces, both nurses, were off from work and able to spend the day with us.  After meeting up at their house and grabbing a quick lunch, we drove south to spend the afternoon at the Virginia Zoological Park in Norfolk. The picture above is Don and I with an impressive elephant sculpture. Below Theresa and Gloria ham it up with a Rino statue.  The Park had lots of live animals also although sadly their elephants are moving to a larger facility. 

 It is great to see how zoos have changed in our lifetime.  Instead of being animal jails where wild animals receive minimal care, all the animals here are either rescues or involving in breeding of endangered species.  The habitats are clean, species appropriate and stimulating.  Still, it is with mixed feelings that I observed these magnificent but captive specimens.  Zoos are natural places for pictures, so here are a few more.

After leaving the park we encountered some of the insane gridlock that this region is famous for.  The Washington DC Beltway is crazy, but not as bad as this.  Since we were on vacation we took any road that was moving and got quite a tour including the downtown Norfolk tunnel, and another under the  James River below Newport News.  When we finally did get to our destination in Oyster Point, the GPS lost the satellite just before my turn, allowing another fun detour.
 
Part of the reason this blog post is being filed a day late is exhaustion fueled by a very early start and late end to the day. We had an outstanding suite at the Hampton Inn and Suites at Oyster Point in Newport News.  The six of us stayed up late in the spacious living/dining/kitchen catching up on family news.  I miss my family already and look forward to visiting here again.

One sleepy guy along the way.