More Scenes from Virginia

It's almost Friday, thankfully. It's been a rough week, so we're eager for the weekend. The best part of the weekend for us here (besides being off work) is being able to be outside a lot (at least for now, while the weather's still warm, and until Ben begins classes and has to study all the time!). It's beautiful here, and the natural surroundings are a source of peace and wonder. Last weekend, we went kayaking on a local creek, and we'll get those photos posted soon too. For now, here are some pictures from the past month and a half to show you more of the area (if you aren't tired of it yet!).

You can skip to the pictures if you'd prefer, but if you're interested in where these were taken, here's a little geography lesson (which I think is accurate, as far as I can tell): The Virginia mainland has several peninsulas, one of which is the large one that we're on - including Williamsburg, Newport News and Hampton. To the immediate east of us is a little peninsula, which is called (or perhaps it's more accurate to say it contains) Gloucester. It's a major area for crabbing, and we hope to go there this weekend to try out our crab trap, which has had no action so far, sadly. (We've caught more crabs with our fishing net and fishing poles than the crab trap.) Anyway, to the east of Gloucester is a bigger (longer) peninsula which shoots off of the eastern part of Maryland and reaches down almost to the Virginia Beach/Norfolk/Portsmouth area of the Virginia mainland. It's called the Eastern Shore, and it is connected to the mainland by a famously long bridge-tunnel. Pictures of that and the Shore are below as well. Finally, a ferry (the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry) transports people and cars from the mainland of Virginia to the Williamsburg/Jamestown/Newport News peninsula. It's pretty fun to ride, especially 'cause it's free, and it's only a few miles from our house. Pics of that are below too. Congratulations if you digested and understood all of that...there will be a quiz!

THE EASTERN SHORE

Please meet Mr. Fox and Mr. Crab, residents of a wildlife refuge on the Eastern Shore:

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

(23 miles of bridges and tunnels that connect the Virginia mainland to the Eastern Shore)

Tunnel:

Bridge:

(Funny note: On every single lamp post top is a seagull. The seagulls are everywhere here, including the road, where some have met a not-so-happy fate.)

A tunnel is underneath the waterway here, which a barge of some sort is passing over:

THE JAMESTOWN FERRY
(connecting Williamsburg/Jamestown to the Virginia mainland)

Storm, rain, wind, or shine, the ferry runs...all the time (sorry, that cheesy little poem was accidental!):

There's almost always a beautiful sunset view from the ferry:



GLOUCESTER POINT

This is an area where some guys were crabbing from their boats:

The crabs in Virginia come in all shapes and sizes: