Cape Charles II

This is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It's an unbelievable feat of civil engineering - it's 17 miles of bridges punctuated by two 1 mile long tunnels over the Chesapeake Bay. We came over to Cape Charles at night, in windy conditions, and the wind was buffeting the car. We could see the spray and the waves over the side of the bridge, and it was quite an experience. Going back towards Norfolk, the sea was much calmer, but it's amazing to drive on the bridge - you can only see ocean all around you, and it feels like it never ends.


By the tunnel closest to Norfolk, there's a little rest stop where you can pull off and they sell food and souvenirs, and there's a fishing pier for fishermen. We stopped so we could see the container ship going over the tunnel we had just passed through.
Me with my eyes closed on the beach of Cape Charles....
The sunset from the bed and breakfast we stayed at. It was amazing, and considering we got in on a cancellation, a fantastic deal!
These are sunken ships that act as breakers for the waves at the Kiptopeke State Park. From the Virginia State Parks website, "These ships were an emergency response to a critical shortage of maritime cargo ships in World War II. Operated by merchant seamen and a naval armed guard, they carried all types of war supplies throughout the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The nine McCloskey ships off the park’s shoreline were sunk to provide a breakwater for the Virginia Ferry Corporation’s ferry service linking the Eastern Shore to Norfolk. Today, they provide visitors a glimpse into the past and fishermen with fishing opportunities." Very cool!

In addition to all this, we walked through a field of goldenrod in the State Park that was full of hundreds of monarch butterflies! I've never seen anything like it. Perhaps they were migrating south? It was amazing!