Sunday, August 17, 2014

Kiptopeke, Chincoteague, False Cape--Completion of Bucket List #1 7/30/14-8/4/14

We did it! We visited all 36 Virginia State Parks!

We arrived at Kiptopeke on an overcast, muggy July day after a white-knuckled drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Towing the camper over that bridge was a very scary experience for someone with acrophobia and claustrophobia!






 
 

The campsites at Kiptopeke were sadly small, crowded, and mostly open. We were not impressed with the camping facilities as such. We found a site and got set up. We decided to head out to the bay with our kayaks almost immediately, as the weather forecast for the rest of the trip was not good. We figured we'd get the kayaks wet before the rain set in.







The boat launch was convenient and had a nice spot for kayaks and canoes, set off from the "big" boat ramp by a dock. We put in and paddled out a bit, but I didn't want to go too far because I don't like getting into the channels where the power boats will sooner run you over than slow down. We stayed near the rocks and the seagulls. This still gave us a good view of the concrete ships that make up the breakwater off the beach. These were WWI vessels that were later sunk here to protect the peninsula.







After we paddled around and got bored--going nowhere is never that much fun in a kayak--we put the boats up and grabbed our beach chairs and books. We sat on the beach and read until after 6:00, when we finally headed back to cook dinner.


The rain began during the night and continued off and on for the next three days. Bored already by lunchtime on the second day, we hopped in the truck to explore the Eastern Shore. We basically just started driving north. Before long, we realized we were within half an hour or so of Chincoteague, and decided we weren't going to miss the opportunity to check it out. What cute little town! It turned out the we were there the very day after the pony auction! The town was still busy with tourists like ourselves.















We drove around until I accidentally found the park where the ponies swim in from Assateague. The island was a little closer than I imagined, although I knew you could see it easily from reading Misty. Looking carefully, we could just pick out what we believed was a herd of ponies on the beach! We seriously considered putting the kayaks in and paddling across to the island--it's close enough--but since it was raining off and on and it was already after 4:00 p.m., I reluctantly vetoed that plan. I really hoped we could come back up another day but knew it was too far for that to be likely.

We were up very, very early on Saturday for the drive back into Virginia Beach. We wanted to be at Back Bay Wildlife Refuge by 9:00 a.m. for the tram ride into False Cape, not wanting to have to hike seven miles in the heat and rain. We got there with time to spare and wandered around a little while we waited. When the tram arrived, we were not really surprised that we were the only ones there for the trip. The driver was about eighty years old. His granddaughter, a young college student, was with him, as well as a friend and former tram driver who was an extremely spy 95 years old! The tram took off promptly at 9:00 a.m. with just the five of us aboard.












We saw plenty of birds but not much else on the tram ride. The driver stopped several times to point out plant life or birds, and he even picked a couple of plants to show us. Bad, bad!





 




























Eventually we reached the False Cape sign. I was so glad we took the tram--it's a long way and while it's flat, it was waaaaay too hot to be walking that far.








 
We stopped at a very cool live oak that the driver said was always a popular photo spot. He said he couldn't even begin to estimate the number of pictures he'd taken of people there. He also got his photo taken with his granddaughter, and said they had done that every year since she was five. Cute!



Soon after entering False Cape we reached the Visitor's Center, which is a regular modern, air conditioned building with real rest rooms. I don't know why I expected something a bit more primitive, but it was nice. The new "Southern Most Virginia State Park" marker was very cool, and Dave chose to have his "36" picture taken with it. I went for the regular sign that said "False Cape". YAY!!!




Dave found a geocache...with help from our driver.












 
Bye, False Cape.




 
This building is cool. In the fall and winter, visitors aren't allowed farther than this, and this field is flooded as a habitat for migrating water fowl. This glass is all one way, and people can observe and photograph the birds.


Shortly after the tram left the Visitor's Center the skies opened up again and poured. We were once again grateful for the tram instead of being on foot. The rest of the tour was cut short but that was ok with us--we'd gotten what we'd come for.

We returned to the parking lot, got the truck, and headed in to Virginia Beach for lunch. There is only once choice as far as we're concerned--Dockside has to be the place if you're only eating one meal at VA Beach. We both ordered the seafood platter. Everything was good, of course, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the flounder.

Sunday morning dawned with less gray in the sky. By mid day it was nice enough that we decided to head out to the fishing pier for awhile. We picked up bait and appropriate sea tackle at the shop. Dave caught five little sea bass. I had several nibbles but only caught one sea robin the whole day.






All of them were thrown back (I swear Dave caught the same sea bass two or three times) and after a couple of pleasant hours of this, we took advantage of the actual sun and went down to the beach again.


This time we went to the beach on the other side of the boat dock. This was even more quiet, with only a couple of people wandering by the entire time we were there. There was a sailboat moored offshore flying the Jolly Roger.




We packed up early on Monday morning and headed home. I was a little less terrified on the bridge-tunnel this time, having driven it three times by now.

This was a very pleasant trip and we were very glad to have completed our quest! I would go back to Kiptopeke to use it as a jumping off point for Chincoteague, perhaps. I don't know if I would camp at False Cape; it seems like an awfully long way to carry in gear, and the bugs are awful.



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