Virginia Beach with Eldo and Sparky, Jr.

Our first day occupying ourselves while Kelly was at work was to visit Virginia Beach....a nice beach with a long boardwalk...and of course, tons of touristy shops and restaurants along the boardwalk and close by....

The beach was nothing special...when you have the white quartz sands of Siesta Key, Holmes Beach and Anna Maria Island on the home front, any other beaches pale in comparison with their brown sand.

But we enjoyed our walk along the boardwalk very  much.....There's a cool HUMONGOUS statue of Neptune on the boardwalk...And everybody tries to climb on part of it to have their photo taken even though there's a sign that says "please do not climb on the statue."

The boardwalk is like a mini walking tour with signs along the way and places to stop and explore, like this coast guard station.....

And this memorial tribute to the branches of the military with cool laser (?) photographs on marble, whatever the latest monument technology is....There were people sculptures of the different branches of the service as well depicting military scenes, a father coming home to his family, a women officer working alongside the men, etc.

Each side street feeding into the walking/jogging path of the boardwalk (which is paved) had unique artwork.

Sparky liked the shells along one side street....

And here's something new....because there are a fair number of homeless people in the area apparently, a meter was erected near the boardwalk to encourage direct donations to provide a more permanent solution with services and shelters, instead of doling out money here and there to people on the street, which encourages more panhandling.

Later, Kelly joined us for a cool concert on the beach called "Sandstock", a three day show, which featured some excellent bands, all free. This is an annual event. Sandstock is Woodstock inspired and held on the beach. This year regional and local bands covered everything from Pink Floyd to Journey to the Allman Brothers, Pete Seger and Steely Dan . So we got our mojo on for a little bit.....

This gal was definitely channeling the Woodstock era...

But here, Eldy is just chillin' with Kelly.

Kelly took Sparky on a pedicab ride, a first for Sparky. It was really fun, and the guy pedaling the "cab" was really fast! Up and down the boardwalk we went for about 15 minutes. No charge, you just pay the guy what you think the ride is worth for however amount of time you ride.

Pedicab selfie

On our way back to the trolley ride back to the campground, we saw lots of street entertainment. Every group playing on the street had these "Beach Street" signs behind them. What was really different about the usual "street fare" music was, no open guitar cases for tips. The city apparently hires the groups to play and you're not supposed to tip. This was a ukelele duo who were awesome!

A fun day, a fun night, and tomorrow, Sparky is going to go to the Virginia Beach Aquarium with Kelly!  Bye for now......