#87 4-23-09 Norfolk, VA

On Thursday the weather finally was sunny with no chance of showers, so we drove almost 100 miles to visit Norfolk, VA.

We had reservations to sail on the Elizabeth River on a sailing ship. As you can see Frank was able to help the crew raise the sails.

We weren’t the only passengers aboard. Most of us sat in the sun and enjoyed the ride.

The captain was full of information about the ships in the harbor. Above and below are pictures of the Wisconsin, a battle ship that is permanently moored in Norfolk.

Below is a ship that is being repaired. Have you any idea what the big square box looking things are? That is where the crews are lodged during the time the ship is being repaired.

Below is another thing I learned. This is a floating dry dock. Growing up around San Pedro, I never even thought about anything like that. I thought all ships had to come into port and go into the built in dry docks to be repaired. Did you know that ships also have to be de-magnetized? There is a place here in the port where that is done too.

We saw all kinds of boats and ships. A paddle wheeler below is steaming up the Elizabeth River.

The sail boat below looked like it was going to ram right into us, but passed harmlessly by our stern.

These tugboats are escorting a barge filled with containers. We watched until it went under one of the bridges. A tight fit!

Now this is a retirement home. Sun rooms on the roof over looking the harbor, sandy beaches in front, and cool breezes. And if you look really close you will see two old cannons left over from when there was a fort located behind the beach.

As we pulled in to dock, there was another sailing ship. The crew was working hard to get her ship shape.

Some years ago the city of Norfolk had a contest to beautify their city with mermaids. This is one of over a hundred through out the area. This one greeted us as we boarded and disembarked from our sailing trip.

I couldn’t resist the sign about the mermaid. A little different story.

Hanging in the shopping mall at the Marina is this mermaid with a painting of the Wisconsin decorating her torso. Pretty cool.

We enjoyed our day at Norfolk, but made a decision not to do any tourist visits any further away from the RV than 50 miles. We will move our RV closer to the sites and visit from there. We were pretty tired by the time we arrived back in Chesterfield, VA.