Girls Weekend

On Friday, Ken flew off to California for our niece Annika’s wedding.  While Jeanette and I were sorry to be left behind, we made the most of it by renting a car and exploring the area.  After four days of torrential rains, we were eager to be outside, even though it meant squishing across sodden ground through the unrelenting drizzle.  Our first stop was the Norfolk Botanical Gardens with its myriad of themed gardens – a Japanese garden, a colonial garden, a healing garden, a children’s garden, a rose garden, a Renaissance garden, a statuary garden – easily 40 or more discrete spaces with special landscaping.  

While autumn is setting in and the gardens are nowhere near their full-bloom glory, the many hues of those hardy flowers remaining were rich and vibrant in the gray mist.

Saturday dawned rainy and breezy – again.  Umbrellas in hand, we set off to historic Portsmouth and the Farmer’s Market, just a few blocks away from the marina.  We picked up a nice selection of fresh vegetables from just across the North Carolina border.  We had planned to spend the afternoon at the nearby Children’s Museum but when we walked in the door and were greeted with a long line of crying, fussy children, Jeanette, thankfully, nixed the idea.  On Sunday, we visited the Hermitage Museum and Gardens, an arts and crafts house that was the former home of Florence Sloane, collector of antiquities and avid supporter of women in the arts.  The house itself was fascinating, with odd touches like kitchen witches carved into each side of the fireplaces and secret passageways crisscrossing the compound.  Her collections leaned toward Asian art with some beautiful seated Buddha’s and a bronze temple bell.  The gardens featured a rose garden, a formal garden, and a wetlands garden.  The very high tides flooded some of the walkways but Jeanette had enough space to burn some energy and we both soaked up the beauty and tranquility of the setting. 

We woke Monday to rain, in defiance of the forecast that promised sun.  Sigh.  No matter, we drove out to Virginia Beach and the Aquarium and Marine Science Center located there.  The aquarium was fantastic, not for its collections, specifically, but for the interactive exhibits that provided opportunities for learning about salinity and conductivity, density of sand/silt and water clarity, echolocation  and sonar, chart interpretation, and the prehistoric origins of Virginia.  I’ve inserted many of these topics into Jeanette’s lessons to take advantage of our Chesapeake Bay location and was happy to have them reinforced in such a fun way!  The sun peeked out long enough for us to enjoy an extended nature walk along the salt marsh before heading back to the marina. 

 With Ken home Monday night, we decided to dash out to Virginia Beach Tuesday morning before dropping the car off at noon.  Nothing looks quite so forlorn and melancholy as a beach town buttoned up for the winter.  Add to that a gray, blustery day and it almost looks forbidding.  The waves were crashing along the pier and seagulls wheeled overhead – a little too close for comfort, at times.  We cheered ourselves with mochas, steamed almond milk, and gluten-free goodies at Badass Coffee before turning for home, another successful foray under our belts.