Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach is a city on the East Coast revolving around (drumroll) a beach. Norfolk 20 miles west seems to take all the industrial and financial load of the area, leaving solely rest and recreation to Virginia Beach.

There's hardly a nastier place than beach in a cloudy weather: it looks gloomy and lonely. A beach is all about the sun. Hence a preoccupation with sun symbolism in Virginia Beach.

Can a sun have sunburns?

At the beach

Beaches entered the mainstream culture over 150 years ago, and it's very difficult to create something surprising or unique in this segment of tourism.

Massive quantities of sand are a must.

Then comes a boardwalk, fully exposed to the breeze.

Better beaches -- which VB certainly is -- would have a lot of beach-themed art.

Poseidon, the God of Sea.
Liable for property damage during storms.
A search and seizure warrant has been issued.

A mailbox.

Further away there's the first line of hotels, making the view from the second line miserable.

Facing north.

Facing  south.

Some hotels are cuter than others.

Then come beach stores. I keep wondering if the association between garish clothing and beaches is purely cultural or somewhat fundamental.

Behind the first hotel line lie long straight roads.

An entertainment park doesn't survive the competition with the beach and has very few visitors even on a sunny Saturday...

... because people don't need an amusement park to be amused:

Way to spend your weekend.

Beyond the beach

There isn't much interesting beyond the beach, which is an indication of just a beach city.

Here's a lake.

A gigantic Cavalier hotel.

A strangle arena.

Lawns and forests.

An alley of famous Virginians.

A crack party.

A convention center.

A go-cart race track.

Nasty bikers.

This was a road around Fort Story, which I have repeatedly and vainly tried to enter after hours:

Another place worth mentioning is that strange spiritual place -- Edgar Cayce Association for Research of Enlightenment. I didn't make it there on time, but from the outside it looked meditative enough. My spiritual awakening will have to wait.

The headquarters building.

A grove and a pond.

A labyrinth for solving life problems.

Shamrock Marathon 2014

Luckily, I visited Virginia Beach during the St. Patrick's weekend when the Shamrock Marathon was held. I even ran a half the day before, but that's of little importance to this post.

Seconds before the start.

All forms of green and weird ran this race:

This guy started a marathon juggling five balls.
Hope he finished it.

Green facial hair is a thing.

I cannot believe managed to look right in the camera and smile.

A huge party on the beach followed the race. This is one of the few races that hand out free alcohol after the finish.

He's about to pull out a gun?

The party brought a transportation collapse to the long straight roads of Virginia Beach.

My friends and I stayed in the cabin-like resort Turtle Cay. There were painted turtles and a heated pool that we never used.

The only turtles I saw in Virginia Beach.

The inner yard of Turtle Cay.

My last message to you is this:

Verdict: VB is a nice vacation place once a year or retirement, but I'm not seriously considering living there.