Virginia Aquarium & Yorktown- Monday, February 20, 2012

The first order of business today was a change of hotels.  Julie was very disappointed to find out that last night's hotel was two blocks from the beach.  She figures if she's going  to be bringing students all the way to Virginia Beach for a hotel room, she wants them to have an ocean view.  So, we found another hotel close by, and it was much more like what she had in mind.  We watched the ocean's big waves from the balcony while angry sounding seagulls seemed to hover by our heads.

We got to the Virginia Aquarium early, and were ready to go in just as they opened.  Of course, we were here last year, so we remembered many of the exhibits.  Julie liked the Komodo dragon who seemed to open his eyes to pose each time she took a picture, and then closed them again when she was done.  Anna liked the huge crocodiles from Indonesia that lay grinning at the bottom of their tank right next to the glass.  Dad liked the grumpy looking sea turtles that swam up to visit us and the little baby ones in the next room.  Emma liked the rays that she touched as they swam past her in the touch tank.

Julie's students will be going to the IMAX 3-D movie called, "Life Under the Sea," but since we saw it last year, we opted to go to the one called, "Born to Be Wild," instead.  It is the story of two different people and their projects to save orphaned elephants in Kenya and orphaned orangutans in Borneo.  The baby animals were all very, very cute!   Morgan Freeman narrated the heart warming story of how the two women were working to try to raise the animals in such a way as to eventually be able to reintroduce them to the wild.   We all loved their stories!

The sun had finally come out.  Even though it was still a little chilly, it was still a nice walk through the wooded area to the "Marsh Pavillion.". We spotted some herons and other waterbirds along the way.  We all liked the otters again, but it was a little disappointing to see that only one was in a playful mood.  The others seemed to be huddling together in a nap pile.   We took a quick look at the other animals there and walked through the aviary.  It was then getting to be lunch time, but we enjoyed the walk back through the woods.

We eventually found the Dough Boys Pizza where we ate last year, and we were a little disappointed that they weren't still offering barbecue pork as a topping.  After lunch, it was decision time.  Julie was originally thinking of taking the students to Yorktown or Jamestown, but has decided that it wouldn't be the best use of time.  We decided to go to Yorktown anyway, partly because we went to Jamestown last year, and partly because we haven't been there since we lived in Virginia.  It's an hour or so drive to the "Historic Triangle" from Virginia Beach.  Anna and Emma both took a nap, and Scott, somewhat ironically, graded a pile of homework questions that happened to be about Yorktown.  

We got to the Yorktown NPS Visitors' Center about 2:30.  We looked in the small but interesting museum there and saw one of George Washington's tents, a Hessian flag captured at Yorktown and a cannon that the Marquis de Lafayette said he had captured. We walked to the Yorktown Victory Monument, where we took some pictures.  Scott bought a battlefield tour CD, and since it was relatively short, we still had enough daylight left to do it.  We saw the earthworks left from the British and Allied lines.  We saw a deer standing peacefully near the road.  But the coolest thing might have been when we were parked outside the Moore House, where the surrender negotiations took place.  A pair of bald eagles flew by.  Julie spotted each of them first, but we only got a chance to take some blurry video as they flew past.  Still, they were an inspiring sight, considering where we were and the fact that it is President's Day today.  The tour ends appropriately at "Surrender Field," where we spent a few contemplative moments.

For dinner, we wanted Carolina-style barbecue, and Lizzie the GPS said there was a place across the York River in Gloucester.  It turned out to be out of business.  We found our way to the huge Yankee Candle store, but got there only 15 minutes before it was to close.  Julie had enough time to load up with some candles, but there wasn't enough to really enjoy it.  For dinner, we ate at Red Hot & Blue, a Memphis themed barbecue place.   Then we made our way back to Virginia Beach so the girls could swim before bed.