Shore Lines a Virginia Beach Blog

Editor’s Note:  The month of May signals the start of “FREE & FUN”  (two of our favorite words!) just about every weekend in Virginia Beach, and this weekend is a prime example! The soothing sounds of steel drums will fill the air beginning tomorrow evening as the PANorama Carribean Music Festival returns for another two-day run at the 24th Street Seaside Palladium.  Grab your beach chairs and plan to relax and get into the island groove!  Also returning this weekend is a family favorite: monster trucks on the beach!  Kalbones Off Road Monsters On The Beach is loud, fast, and exciting. A course is built right on the beach at 6th Street with bleachers overlooking from the boardwalk. Sand dunes and junk cars combine to make the race course fast and fun for drivers and spectators alike.  New for 2013…Freestyle Motocross!  Thrill to the high-flying action of freestyle motocross as part of this year’s shows!  This is a ticketed event, with prices designed to fit the family budget.

 For those who prefer things a bit quieter, Local Walking Tour Guide & author Katherine Jackson shares a blog post  about a drive in the country and a walk in the park…………..talk about relaxing! 

Take your pick* – we’ve definitely got something for everyone  in Virginia Beach.   Have a blast and see you on the beach, or in the park!   (*pun intended……………read on and you’ll get it!)

A Drive in the Country and a Walk in the Park

Sunny and warm, last Sunday was a perfect day for a drive in the country and a walk at Munden Point Park. Virginia Beach has a number of outstanding parks – 265 according to the city’s website – but Munden Point Park in the southern part of the City tops the list. Twenty-two miles from the oceanfront, the park is well worth the drive, and a pleasant drive it was – past horses grazing in pastures filled with buttercups, past farm fields growing green with new crops, past crossroads called Pungo, Back Bay, and Creeds. Situated on the North Landing River, the 100-acre park doesn’t have walking trails per se, but I spent more than an hour exploring the riverfront, walking along the wooded edges of the fields, and wandering through landscaped areas where giant azalea bushes attracted scores of butterflies. The park, once famous as a waterfowl hunting site, is now a naturalist’s playground where birders sight herons, orioles, nuthatches, warblers, goldfinches and other species. As I walked along the edge of Oakum Creek, a pair of geese with their young ’uns paddled away from the shore. Parts of the park have been planted as ornamental gardens, but parts are left as tangled woods where cypress trees line the waterfront with their knees pushing out of the water. The park offers lots of amenities – picnic shelters with grills, a disk golf course, canoe rentals and a boat ramp – but a highlight is the view of the river. Benches provide quiet places to sit and watch the wind ruffle across the river and weave through the marsh grasses on the far shore.

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