Courtyard Arlington Rosslyn

We had a two night stay at the Courtyard Arlington Rosslyn and it was unfortunately a disappointment. We found the staff to be friendly, and the lobby area to be nice. The location was ideal for being able to quickly get into DC via the metro or to use a jumping off point for Virginia attractions.

Our disappointments came through in a few areas. When we first got to our room, we found that one of the pillows had, what appeared to be, a blood stain on it. I reported this immediately to the front desk who then called someone to have it replaced. No one ever came to replace the pillow. This showed us that, first and foremost, that housekeeping does not check the linens thoroughly enough before placing them on a guest's bed. And secondly, that their staff does not follow through on their promises.

A second main disappointment was the wifi. Simply put, it did not work in our room during our entire stay. I asked the front desk about it, who referred me to a phone number. The phone number said, they'd just try "resetting" everything, but that didn't do anything. No one did anything helpful to rectify this problem.

The third issue was with billing. I booked this stay using a combination of a free night certificate and cash, booked directly through Marriott. Upon checkout, the front desk clerk refused to issue me a billing statement. She said I must have booked through someone other than Marriott, which was not true. In the end, I did not receive a billing statement for this stay.

I frequent the Washington area quite often, and unfortunately, this is a hotel that I will no longer stay at due to these issues.

Address: 1533 North Clarendon Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22209
Wifi: Free (But Not Working)
Parking: $15/Night
Restaurant: Yes
Bar/Lounge: No
Smoking: Non-smoking
Hidden Fees: None
Free Breakfast: No

The Island Creamery

Island Creamery in Chincoteague was named one of the best places for ice cream in the USA. We were surprised by the astronomical line out the front of the ice cream establishment. We waited about 20 minutes before ordering.

We ordered the chocolate dipped waffle bowl sundae. We chose the Iced Nirvana and the Absolutely Nuts as our ice creams and topped it with hot fudge, whipped cream and two cherries.

The ice creams were thick, rich, and creamy and the waffle bowl crispy and warm. The waffle bowl was dipped around the edges in dark chocolate.

There is seating inside and outside and there is parking in the lot out front and a parking lot behind the building as well.

Definitely make this a stop on your trip to Chincoteague, but plan some time to spend here with the wait and enjoying your ice cream.

Famous Pizza & Subs

We were surprised by how busy Famous Pizza in Chincoteague was on a dreary Saturday evening. However, the wait for our meal was worth it - the food was delicious.

We ordered an Italian cold cuts hoagie (sub sandwich) which was a good size and full of meat and veggies on a nice, soft roll.

We also ordered the baked ziti marinara with meatballs, which conveniently came in a carry out container, even when dining in (easier to take left overs back home!). The marinara sauce is house made and fantastic - better than my mom's sauce! Zesty, and salty with just enough acidity from the tomatoes allowed to shine through. And the pasta wasn't swimming in sauce, either, there was a perfect meat-to pasta-to cheese ratio.

For the kid's meal, we ordered the spaghetti with meatballs, without sauce. The waitress was very friendly and remembered to not bring sauce on this meal.

While the dining room was busy, there was a very long wait for carry out pizzas and meals. The pizzas looked amazing, as well. We would definitely recommend Famous Pizza if vacationing in Chincoteague.

Chincoteague Pony Center

We stopped by the Chincoteague Pony Center in the morning. The main building is mostly a gift shop, however, you can also purchase pony rides or riding lessons. On the dreary, rainy day we spent here, the outdoor pony rides seemed like a bad idea. However, the riding lessons - a 30 minute lesson with an instructor, inside, for about $30 more, was a bargain! And, our niece loved it!

The instructor was very good with her. She walked alongside the pony for the first lap around the ring, but then gave our niece instruction on how to control the pony and get him to do what she wanted. The half an hour went by very quickly and our niece enjoyed the riding lesson immensely!

Best Western Plus Chincoteague Island

Chincoteague Island has a decent amount of hotels to choose from, all of them being a bit laid back and small in size compared to the resort style hotels in nearby Ocean City, MD. The Best Western Plus Chincoteague Island was our choice for our short weekend getaway, and it is a solid hotel all around.

The staff we interacted with were all very friendly. The grounds are very clean as was our room. We found our room to be quite spacious and the beds were comfortable. There was a sink both inside and outside of the bathroom, which is helpful for multiple people getting ready in the morning. The only negative we had was that the Wi-Fi connection was on the slow side.

There was a good amount of parking for guests and the pool area was nice. There are also tables outside where you can enjoy the breakfast or food you bring into the hotel. The location is perfect as it is right outside the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and it is the closest hotel to the beach. In addition, it's a short drive to any part of the island for shopping and dining.

Address: 7105 Maddox Blvd, Chincoteague Island, VA 23336
Wifi: Free
Parking: Free
Restaurant: No
Bar/Lounge: No
Smoking: Non-smoking
Hidden Fees: None
Free Breakfast: Yes

NASA Wallops Center

About a 10 minute drive from Chincoteague Island, VA is the NASA Wallops Flight Facility. It is free for all guests to enter, and is a great stop to hit either on the way into Chincoteague Island or on the way home. This is best experienced by children, and you shouldn't expect anything like NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

This is a small facility that weather satellites are typically launched from. There's various displays around showing visitors what is done at this facility, as well as interactive exhibits and toys to entertain younger kids. In addition, you can see an actual moon rock here.

Assateague Island National Seashore - Virginia

Located right after the final hotel of Chincoteague Island, you'll find the entry to both the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge as well as to the Virginia side of the Assateague Island National Seashore. In the wildlife refuge, there is plenty of birding that can be done, ponies to be seen and a lighthouse you can climb (but make sure you get there with plenty of time before closing as they do close the entry way for the lighthouse about 30 minutes prior to closing time). For the ponies, you won't find them out everywhere like on the Maryland side, but penned up in a large enclosure. Once you reach the seashore, there is a National Park visitor's center as well as a beach. We found the beach to be a bit dirty, especially for something maintained by the National Park Service, and in comparison to the Maryland side of the island, which was disappointing. However, it's still a decent place to visit.

11th Street Taphouse Bar & Grill

We ate at the 11th Street Taphouse in Virgnia Beach on a beautiful evening and sat out on the patio. The patio is located alongside a busy sidewalk that many pedestrians and bicyclists used to access the beach, boardwalk and bike path. There is also another restaurant and bar on the other side of the sidewalk that, at least the night we dined, has a live band that you could enjoy from 11th Street Taphouse's Patio.

We ordered the Mahi Mahi, and the Swordfish, which was one of the catches of the day. They were both served with potatoes and green beans.

Both of the fishes were good, but the sides were strange to me. The potatoes definitely had an under cooked and overcooked taste and texture to them - the inside being under cooked and the outside on the overcooked side. They were also not well seasoned.

The green beans were overcooked for my taste, I prefer them to still have a bite to them and not be completely be softened from cooking. I couldn't identify the seasoning on them, nor the added ingredient (garlic? almonds?) that was served with them. 

That said, the patio, with large tables as well as comfy wicker chairs and small tables, is a nice place to sit out and watch the sunset.

Rockfish

Across the street from our hotel, The Breakers Resort, was Rockfish. This was the second Beatles themed restaurant we ate at during our visit to Virginia Beach. 

We ordered the fish and chips and the fried fish sandwich; both are made with rockfish, a white flaky fish. The fish and chips platter is two large fillets of fish, while the sandwich is two much, much smaller fillets. In fact, the pieces of fish we had, while being the same fish, tasted very different. The smaller pieces had a "fishy" taste, while the fish and chips fillets were much more mild.

The interior of the restaurant has a very subtle Beatles theme. There are posters and memorabilia, including guitars on the walls, but done tastefully. There are also two patios, one for the bar, which is seat yourself, and one for the restaurant, which can fill up pretty quickly on a nice evening. The bar patio the night we ate here was next to empty and we were able to get a seat against the railing overlooking the boardwalk without a wait.

However, the one negative we did encounter sitting on the bar side of the restaurant was, the 2 bartenders that night were also the wait staff for the bar area, so the service was a little slow. Also, I ordered a margarita and it never showed up. The bartender did offer to make it after we informed him of not receiving it, but we had already finished our meal and were ready to head back to our hotel room.

eat: An American Bistro

Eat, which is located at the very north end of the boardwalk, was a great find for a very nice dining option. We were seated in the dining room, but from all of the tables, diners get a beautiful view of unfettered ocean. Being on the end of the boardwalk, there are fewer crowds, and fewer people for that matter, spoiling the view.

We ordered the "Spaghetti la Mamma", a huge plate of perfectly al dente spaghetti, coated in a decadent tomato sauce with huge chunks of seasoned beef and topped with melted mozzarella cheese. It is also served with a mozzarella stuffed meatball - a meatball, stuffed with mozzarella cheese and basil, rolled in bread crumbs and then fried. The dish as delicious all around.

We also ordered a fish dish off the specials menu - which was light and lemony and lovely.

On the side, we ordered a deviled egg - you can order them individually. The egg is large, overstuffed and sitting on a bed of the tangy, creamy yolk mixture.

This is definitely a must-dine in Virginia Beach.

Rudee's On The Inlet

We found Rudee's On the Inlet in the menu book in our hotel room. The menu looked good and we always like the marina side of the shore because it's calmer, quieter and always a little more laid back. However, we didn't know until we got to Rudee's that they offered glider dining - heck, we didn't even know what glider dining was before we got there.

The gliders are a table and two benches that has a glider movement over the base. The table and benches all move together, so you are always near the table for your meal, apps, or drinks. The benches also have cup holders on both arm rests.

For our meal, we ordered the fish and chips sandwich (blackened, not fried) and the cheeseburger, as well as an order of hush puppies. The hush puppies were delicious - pop-able, crispy, and just about the right amount of sweet from the corn.

The fish sandwich, which was ordered blackened instead of fried, was bigger than the roll it was served on (a good thing, if you ask me!) and the blackening was spicy enough without being overly mouth burning. 

Abbey Road Pub & Restaurant

We stopped at Abbey Road for breakfast, which they only serve on the weekends. We ate on the patio, which was relatively empty, considering it was a holiday weekend. The interior is decorated with Beatles memorabilia and many of the dishes have fun Beatles-themed names. 

We ordered the Eggs Benedict with tomatoes (Egg Days a Week) and the sausage egg and cheese breakfast wrap (The Beatles Burrito). Both served with home fries.

The eggs were perfectly cooked - firm on the outside while still runny on the inside, and when you cut into them, the yolk oozes all over the dish. The hollandaise was creamy and lemony, rich and decadent.The wrap was warm and toasty, and the sausage was throughout the entire wrap.The home fries were crispy on the outside and soft inside.

Abbey Road serves breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays starting at 9 a.m. and serves until 4 p.m.

Military Aviation Museum

When most people come to Virginia Beach, they don't leave the touristy area of the boardwalk and Atlantic Avenue. However, there is much more to explore beyond the beach! One place, about 20 minute driving distance from the boardwalk, is the Military Aviation Museum. 

Here, visitors can view planes from both World War I & II. The planes are in excellent condition, with most of them still being air-worthy, are still flown near the museum and at air shows. 

We found the docents to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful during our visit, sharing stories of the various planes we were looking at, which gave us a great look into our history.

On some days, you also have the opportunity to fly in a WWII era airplane (With an additional cost). Also, for those at the beach who see planes flying with advertising banners, this is where they take off from. If you're lucky, while you're at the museum, you can see how these planes pick up and drop off these banners, which isn't as simple as you may think. To get the banner, the plane has to do a slight nose dive and with great precision, align the plane to pick up the banner with a hook.  Not so easy!

Old Cape Henry Lighthouse

Located about a 15 minute drive from the main boardwalk area of Virginia Beach is the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse. The lighthouse is located within an active military facility, Fort Story. Due to this, be aware that when entering, your car will be inspected by military personnel. In addition, you will need drivers licenses for all adult visitors, as well as the insurance information and registration for your car. If you're driving a rental car, you'll need to show your rental agreement in lieu of the insurance/registration. On a busy day, this can take a while, so please plan in advance.

Once you get to the lighthouse, you'll see both the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse, as well as the current one. Only the historic building is available to climb. Once through the gift shop (where you pay), you'll have some stairs outside to climb just to get to the base of the lighthouse. In this area, you get some good views, but of course, the best views are at the top of the light house. We found it was definitely worth the climb up and it's a good alternative to just sitting on the beach all day.

The Breakers Resort Inn

Along Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach, there are numerous lodging options and choosing the right hotel may be daunting. After many hours of research, we decided to give the Breakers Resort Inn a try. We were glad we did, as it was an enjoyable stay with a very good rate compared to other hotels in the area.

The location is perfect, right on the beach, but not at the most crowded area, allowing it to be just a little more quiet than some other areas of Virginia Beach. The room itself was very clean, and had a nice big balcony overlooking the ocean. In addition, our room had a nice Jacuzzi, as well as a very large refrigerator. The bed had a firm mattress, which is good for some. We also found the staff we interacted with to be pleasant at all times, and knowledgeable with any questions we had.

There were two negatives we did find with the hotel though. The free internet that was provided was very slow, and also difficult to get a connection on in the room. The hotel needs to work on better placement of their wireless routers to optimize the experience for guests. The other minor issue we had is we found the towels that were provided in the bathroom to be a bit small and thin. When going to a hotel, it's nice to have nice, big and thick towels. 

Address: 1503 Atlantic Avenue, Virginia Beach, VA 23451

Wifi: Free

Parking: Free

Restaurant: Yes (Breakfast and Lunch)

Bar/Lounge: No

Smoking: Non-smoking

Hidden Fees: None

Breakfast: A la carte in the restaurant

In-room safe: No

Douglas MacArthur Memorial

Right in the center of downtown Norfolk, the Douglas MacArthur Memorial stands out as an impressive tomb for the former General of the United States Army, as well as an excellent history lesson to all who visit.

There is a separate building that serves as a visitor's center, with knowledgeable docents, a gift shop and a 30 minute movie presentation. In the main memorial building, as soon as you walk in, you'll see the graves for both General MacArthur and his wife, Jean MacArthur.

The self guided tour takes you through the life of General MacArthur's parents, to his childhood and throughout his career up until his death. It then continues on past his death talking about his wife's contributions as well.

For anyone with an interest in WWII or US Military History, this is a great place to visit in Norfolk. It is also right across the street from the MacArthur Center, a mall in the center of the city, with plenty of parking.

Blue Talon Bistro

While walking around Colonial Williamsburg, we were looking for a place for lunch that had light fare and delicious food. Blue Talon Bistro was perfect - a menu with depth that suits every taste was exactly what we were looking for.

Not to mention their famous "Historic Tap Water." Ice cold and perfect on hot summer days.

We order the mac and cheese and the chopped salad. The mac and cheese was creamy, and made with Parmesan and cheddar and mixed so perfectly that made me want to swim in the cheese sauce. It was also served with a side of Virginia ham, which adds a nice saltiness to the dish that it was almost missing without it.

The chopped salad had so much going on that it almost needed more lettuce. However, the bacon and salami, plus spiced nuts with the house vinaigrette was delicious. I loved that the salad was huge, and would be a perfect lunch or dinner entree. I ate about half of it and was stuffed!

Gabriel Archer Tavern at Williamsburg Winery

Off the Williamsburg Colonial Parkway is the Williamsburg Winery, home to the Gabriel Archer Tavern. Thi soff the beaten path restaurant is quaint with out door seating, as well as indoor. The outdoor seating is under a patio surrounded by a thick vine cover, blocking out damaging sun rays while still allowing in the light.

On the drive into the restaurant, you have to drive past the vineyards, a beautiful drive down a small lane to the winery, tavern and Cafe Provencal.

We ordered the Chicken Piccata and the ham steak. Both were cooked perfectly and all entrees are served with a seasonal vegetable, we had roasted potatoes and fresh green beans.

The chicken piccata was incredibly tender and the sauce was the best piccata sauce I had ever had. I wanted everything in the sauce: potatoes, green beans, we even tried dipping the ham in the sauce.

The ham steak was nice and thick, without being too much. There were cider glazed apple slices served on top, and a cinnamon, apple, wine sauce on the ham. The sauces was spiced perfectly with enough flavor to pair with the ham without over powering the ham.

Busch Gardens, Williamsburg

There are plenty of theme parks that feature unique roller coasters all around the country for Thrill Seekers.  Most of these also offer other forms of entertainment such as shows for the adults who prefer things more tame and children's rides for families.  In the Mid-Atlantic region, Busch Gardens Williamsburg (a.k.a. Busch Gardens Europe) provides all of these and is probably the best known.

We spent our July 4th holiday here and expected it to be quite crowded due to most people having the day off, but to our surprise, the park wasn't really too full, especially the first half of the day.  For every ride we went on, we walked right on to it and didn't have to wait in a single line.  In general this is great, but we did pre-purchase the "Quick Queue" for $20/person that would've allowed us to skip lines.  This ended up being a waste of money since there were no lines to skip, so I'd recommend passing on this option when purchasing your ticket.

The rides themselves were fun.  Our favorite was probably the Griffon which contained a 90-degree drop to start out the ride.  Another highlight was the Curse of DarKastle, which rode you through a castle featuring a sinister man trying to attack you with 3D visuals.  It got so frightening for one little girl in our "car" that she was hysterically crying by the end.

We definitely had a good time at Busch Gardens.  However, it is a place that you can go just once, have fun, and not need to return .  When buying a pass, also consider the Bounce Pass, which will get you in to Busch Gardens, Water Country USA and Colonial Williamsburg for just over $100/person.