'Out, Damned Spot!'

Some people go to the beach for a week and become bronzed beach goddesses. I go and get freckles. Lots of freckles. In fact, I looked in the mirror and thought my face was dirty, I had so many freckles. Ugh. The Pippi Longstocking look is so not in.

Poor Liz got fried - and even has a handprint tanline on her stomach, where she couldn't reach with the sunblock.

Obviously, I'm back from my week (or partial week) of sun-filled splendor. We had so much fun!

On our way there, Liz and I stayed with her sister Tina, who apparently lives in a palace (or a wicked nice house) in Fairfax Station, Virginia. She shares a really large house with a few other people who have lots of shoes on their porch. Shoes piled on shoes, which makes sense - I wouldn't want to scuff up hardwood floors either! I was going to take a picture but one of her housemates was watching me and I didn't want to look like a hillbilly.

Viking Power
In Virginia Beach, Liz and I stayed at the Viking Motel. It was a one star motel, so we were a little nervous. No reason to be - it was great. The rooms are very basic, but clean and you can't beat the price - $95 a night and just steps away from the beach - it only took 30 seconds to get to sand and surf! Since we were only in our room for showers and sleeping, it was perfect.

Aquarium Action
When we got there on Tuesday, it was pouring rain so we went to the local Aquarium - along with everyone else who couldn't go to the beach that day. Surrounded by screaming children who kept running into us - yikes! Plus the exhibits were not all that exciting.

Although we did learn that male turtles try to hook up with female turtles by waving their claws in the gal's face. If the she-turtle is into it, she floats to the bottom for some under-the-sea love. If not, she hits him in the face. And fiddler crabs - the he-crab waves his big claw around. If the she-crab is impressed, she goes to a burrow with him. If not, she ignores him. If only human relationships were so simple!

Love the Beach!
Our next two days were beautiful so we lounged on the sand and splashed around in the water. In fact, if my entire job could be splashing in the water, sleeping on hot sand and eating fresh seafood, I'd be a happy gal! We bought a tube and rented a boogie board so we could make some attempts at "surfing."

Under the Boardwalk
At night, we walked up and down the board walk - 3 miles across. We also rented a tricycle built for two. It was like a Big Wheel on crack. Very fun - and great exercise! The boardwalk is fantastic - there are live music acts at night (really bad music acts- I've never heard so many out-of-tune people in my life) and there were tons of stores filled with tacky beach merchandise.

And Bosleys, Oh My!
One of the very special treats was the sighting of hunky bronzed hotties. I've never seen so many pretty people in one place in my life. When eating dinner one night, we heard some guy yelling "Charlie's Angels, Charlie's Angels" at a trio of cute 12-year-old girls who were joyriding on a bicycle built for four.

About 20 minutes later, we see said yeller - a 40-something David Hasselhoff wannabe wearing white swimming trunks that left little to the imagination. He kept tossing his lustrous sun-kissed locks while flicking his matching white towel over his shoulder. As the girls came by again, he yelled "Charlie's Angels" at them again and then lurched on by to prowl for additional buxom 12-year-olds. We tried yelling 'Bosley' at a few hotties we spied, but it didn't have the same effect. Alas!

I have lots more pictures - but need to get the underwater camera (with our "surfing" pictures) developed. I'll post them later.