Bits of Virginia Beach

We drove over to the beach at Virginia Beach to have some fun in the sand and sun. The water was cold (like in the 60s Fahrenheit) so we did not do any swimming. We did some exploring instead.

By the shore

The original photo of above!

Looking south

Looking north

The beach has a boardwalk that goes for a couple of miles along the oceanfront. It has the typical mixture of high-rise hotels, restaurants, snack shops, and merchandizers. 

Northern end of the boardwalk

We looked for nice shells and rocks but had a hard time making good finds.

Found on shore, not brought to shore by us

A claw without an owner

Daughter and bird on the wing

The personal houses along the beach are large and amazing. I wonder how much they cost. Probably in the millions?

Large and cozy

A large statue of King Neptune sits along the boardwalk. Created by Paul DiPasquale, it was built between 2003 and 2005 and is 34 feet tall. The statue is impressive and a park across from the king has a stage for entertainers to perform.

King Neptune

More beach

Fun sign showing how far it is to other places

Further down the beach is the Naval Aviation Monument, whose entrance (from the ocean-side) is dominated by the Norwegian Lady statue. A sister statue is located in Moss, Norway. Both statues commemorate the wreck of the Norwegian ship Dictator off Virginia Beach in 1891. Many locals helped save the passengers and crew of the ship as it sank.

Map of memorial

Norwegian Lady

Story about the wreck

The memorial has several spots dedicated to flight, so 20th century accomplishments.

Naval Aviation Monument

Information about the Doolittle Raid is on the World War II section.

Doolittle photos

Preparing to deploy sculpture

Pre-WWI--the beginning of military aviation

Homecoming

Modern era with cleaning crew

We went to lunch at a pizza place called Dough Boys then tried to get dessert at Sugar Planet. The planet was closed! The sign directed us to other locations north and south.

Disappointing!

We left from our parking garage, which had a geocache on the top floor. I took a photo looking down on the beach with Neptune on the far right.

One last view

Geocaching April 2025

The month started with Double Trouble - A Challenge Cache that was near home and requires finding two caches with the Challenge attribute. I had 55 qualifying caches!

My daughter had a high school music department trip to Orlando, Florida, where they performed at Universal Resort Florida. Near the Hard Rock Cafe is Divided We Fall... a virtual which features a piece of the Berlin Wall. The site is almost behind the cafe, so not usually visited.

Wall and me

Another virtual cache had me taking a picture with the Universal globe. The cache is called The Globe. 

Me and the world

Another virtual cache, Benchmark Hounds: Orlando, had me looking for survey markers in the sidewalks. I took a picture by the Cowfish Grill. 

The Restaurant of Dr. Moreau

The next day, the trip went to Disney's Magic Kingdom and another virtual had me taking a pic by the famous castle.

Fancier in real life

The final day of the trip we were in Disney Hollywood Studios with another virtual cache. Here I am by the spot to get answers for the cache owner. 

Rock 'n' roller coaster

Back at home, I started picking up some mysteries to fill some days: CCT 1/4 of the USA (finds in at least 13 states!), Random Wiki Puzzle: Free (Kate Ryan Album) (questions on tracks!), Crabbing with Grandpa (a virtual jigsaw puzzle), and Don't Call Me Antonin (a cipher puzzle). 

Crabbing

For spring break, my family went to Virginia Beach. We stopped for lunch in Fredericksburg and found the virtual cache Fredericksburg Battlefield Virtual Reward 4.0. 

Spoiler-free pic at the visitor center

In Norfolk, I went to a meet-up, then found Love Letters, a cache by the water, along with Boom by the water and PiperSmiles #1 by Mount Trashmore.

Letter from loved ones in the military

River by Mt. Trashmore

On the Virginia Beach side, I found a bunch by the shore. First was Haunting of Historic Cavalier Virtual 4.0 by an old and haunted hotel.

See the ghost in the picture? Me neither.

Along the boardwalk are The Sands of Virginia Beach, Dalongestnameforacachethatwouldfitinthisspacecache, Neptune Rocks, Norwegian Lady, and Led Zeppelin. 

Famous Neptune statue

Beach view

Norwegian Lady

#11 Chrysler Treasures - The Vegetable Vendor and #12 Chrysler Treasures - James Baldwin are tributes to an art gallery in Norfolk that we didn't visit. Maybe next trip! These were out in nature. 

Lake with caches

We went to the local Aquarium that had an adventure lab and a virtual Phoca vitulina. 

Virtual by an outdoor tank

A nearby park has Pickleball is the New Tennis, Lacerta, and Washington's Treasure, a delightful mystery. 

Duck Washington watches over the treasures!

On the way home, we drove up the Delmarva Peninsula and I picked up Welcome to Maryland!, 5 O'Clock somewhere (at a brewery), and Barflies (not at a brewery!). 

By the welcoming cache

The brewery hide

Back home, I found 12 Days of Christmas - Day One on the day before Easter, so that's something, right? I also found PG County Multi-Cache Challenge nearby.

After Easter, I took the kids to a tire playground in Patapsco State Park and found Chip Off the Old Block. Later that week I went for Quick PNG, RWLS Sunny Skywalker Sangiovese Strikes Samuel (a Random Word Letterbox Series member), Sanctuary, and Big Pine 1 to finish off the treasure hunt for the month. 

Filling some mystery calendar days at the end of the month were Quarantine Grey Matter: #1, and Cryptic Triptych. Muggleville 2 was a regular cache at the same time though in a very different area. The next day I discovered SPECTRE H.Q. and Drop Some BUX in Hillandale! at a shopping center. 

My wife had an appointment in DC, so I drove her down and did a lot of walking around the Capitol area, finding a dozen caches: The Summer House, Capitol View, Not Your Granny's Garden, Disabled Veterans We Salute You, American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, Virtual Reward 4.0: Satellites of Hope, Neighbors, Do You Feel Stupid Yet?, A Head and a Piece of Wood, Banded Iron-A Record of Ancient Seas, An Englishman in DC, Manifest Destiny, and Inescapable Network of Mutuality-MLK Library. Whew! Here's some photos from that day...

Inside the Summer House

Capitol view!

Botanic Gardens

Street mural

Guess the friend

Library find spoiler

Blocking the Englishman in DC, so not a spoiler

The month ended with 63 finds and an overall total of 1820 finds.