Ernest Hemingway one said; “You can’t go back, but you can move forward.” I was recently reminded of that when I took my son to see where his dad used to live. Back in the 1980s, I lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was kind of a dream for a guy in his 20s to move away from a state with 6 months of snow, cold temps and gray skies and relocate near the oceanfront and warmer temps. It meant that I could go to the beach on Saturday mornings in the summer and spend much of the day watching and listening to the waves rolling in, the sound of seagulls and the blue skies and distant views that are all a part of beach life. It also meant weekend nights with my friends at oceanfront nightclubs, good music and the general beach vibe.
Working in financial services back in those days, and visiting my clients and prospective clients across Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and in other local communities meant lots of driving and really getting to know the Tidewater area as well as the locals did. As I departed on this trip, those were the memories I had after a 37-year absence.
Yet, the trip would be more than a self-serving trip to see those long-lost locations in Virginia that had meaning, as well as a visit to the Outer Banks, but also a trip to surprise my college-basketball-loving son with trips to the campuses of UNC and Duke; two legendary institutions for college basketball. The trip would also include a visit with my Aunt, who was in hospice care and the chance to visit with my cousin who I had not seen in 20 years, as well as with my brother and sister who planned coinciding visits.
My son and me touched down at Norfolk International and stayed our first night in the south end of the Virginia Beach tourist area. The next morning, we headed down to Kill Devil Hills and spent two nights and days in North Carolina’s Outer Banks with side-visits to the Wright Brother’s Memorial and Nags Head. We then drove across much of North Carolina to our hotel in Chapel Hill. The remainder of the trip took us from Chapel Hill up to Williamsburg and then back to Virginia Beach.
I will detail part of the trip here with pictures and then include a “part 2” along with additional pictures, since the whole thing is too much for one post.
We picked up our rental vehicle, a 2023 Cadillac XT5. I am not a big SUV person, but as long as we could hide our luggage and other possessions out of sight, it was suitable. The property we stayed at the first night in Virginia Beach was unremarkable and I got little sleep. My son and me took a walk up the boardwalk heading north and I was able to point out some sites. It was evening, so there wasn’t much time to explore. We also stopped at a nearby Harris Teeter for groceries for the trip. I am on a restricted diet, so at least I knew I had a few stand-by foods I would eat to get me by if we could not find suitable food along the way.
The next morning, we took kind of a circuitous route to get to the road that heads south to the Outer Banks so that I could show my son some of Virginia Beach, including Regent University and the Greenbriar area of Chesapeake, to get to the 168, that leads down to the Outer Banks.
The 90-mile drive to the Outer Banks along the 168, which turns into the 158, is mostly nondescript, but as you get to the Wright Memorial Bridge, you know you are entering an area that is bordered by water on all sides. The 3-mile bridge spans the Currituck Sound, between Point Harbor in Currituck County and Kitty Hawk, in Dare County.
Although we were in the Outer Banks in June, the start of the busy season, it wasn’t particularly bad. I had researched restaurants that might have a menu item that I could eat. We stopped for lunch at one of those restaurants I had discovered: Henry’s. We ended up going back two more times. The restaurant, right on N. Croatan Highway in Kill Devil Hills, is a great place to eat in that area. The grilled chicken salad was just what I needed.
The resort we stayed at in Kill Devil Hills was right on the beach with a view of the ocean from our second-floor room. It was a suite, so we had some extra room. We spent a little time on the beach, which would be the only real beach time during the trip. Some additional research I had done ahead of the trip was to find the best prices on souvenirs/beach towels in the area, and I discovered the Benjamin Franklin in Nags Head, which turned out to be a good choice.
One of the famous attractions in the Outer Banks is the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. The large property, if walked, would require a reasonably comfortable day. There is a good amount of walking and part of that is uphill to reach the actual memorial. A visitor is able to clearly see how long the actual flights were that the Wright brothers took. There is also a nice visitor center and store.
As a photographer, I believe one of my favorite locations during the entire trip was Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head. Since we were on the Atlantic Side, there was no way to get good sunset shots over the water. I did some research and found a yacht club on the Abermarle Sound side, so we headed that way ahead of sunset. It turned out to be a private neighborhood and the gate guard has not feeling charitable to a couple of tourists.
The next evening, I did some research and found out about Jockey’s Ridge State Park, which had lots of positive reviews. Wow, what a find. It is one of the coolest places I have ever been to and it would be any photographer’s favorite place if you had an entire day, morning to evening, to photograph the place.
Visitors arrive in a spacious parking lot that looks like it can accommodate several hundred cars. Once you get to the park, you understand why. After parking, there is a visitor center (closed when we arrived) and a long wooden trail that passes through low underbrush and short trees. At this point, the first-time visitor has no idea of what they are about to experience.
At least the trail we took, eventually comes to a raised wood observation platform about 10 feet tall. There is sand all around it and you can see where dozens of people have removed their shoes and just left them at the base of the tower. After de-shoeing, you realize that there is just miles of sand and giant dunes ahead. In the distance is the sun setting, hundreds of people flying kites, grounded hang gliders and a mesmerizing vista.
The park is home to the highest sand dunes on the Atlantic coast. It borders the Roanoke Sound. On a nice day, it is the perfect location to watch the sun sink below the horizon. It is surreal in many respects and the picture above only captures one small segment of the hundreds of acres of sand, sand dunes and colored sky.
Although my plan with this trip was for it to be a “photo trip,” it never really was. This photo was one of the few that allowed for some creativity, although the small number of images I captured during the rest of the trip were just touristy-type images.
My son also engaged in some creative picture-taking and video. After spending two days and nights in Kill Devil Hills, we left and headed west towards Durham-Chapel Hill. Heading back on the 64, you cross the Melvin Daniels bridge, with water views on all sides. The road then passes over Roanoke Island, before crossing the Croatan Sound on the Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge. This is a long bridge and wide body of water. A short drive further and you pass over the Alligator River on the Alligator River Bridge. I was hoping at this point, that our rental car was up to the task and in good mechanical condition.
This part of the trip just went through heavily-wooded forest and there are actual alligators in the area. It was still a long drive to where we would stay in the Durham-Chapel Hill area. I wanted to surprise my son, a big college basketball fan, with trips to the campuses of both UNC and Duke. We decided to eat something after we arrived and then visit both schools the next morning.
Both the University of North Carolina (UNC) and Duke University have beautiful campuses. UNC is home to the Carolina Basketball Museum, a must-stop for any college basketball fan or fan of the GOAT Michael Jordan. The museum, which opened in 2008, is free to the public and opened daily and on Saturday mornings.
It has a lot of interesting Tar Heel memorabilia, along with the winning ball from the 1982 UNC-Georgetown NCAA final.
There are also some items from the NBA. It makes clear the rich history that UNC has had in college basketball. The staff at the museum are very welcoming and the displays are well-labeled and the whole place is spotless. The museum does close three hours early on days that UNC men’s basketball plays a home game. Most likely because it is on the ground floor of the Ernie Williamson Athletic Center.
There is some paid/hourly parking nearby on the university campus grounds, including a parking garage that we used. There is some amount of walking involved, so best not to go on a very hot day. After leaving the museum, we went to the UNC book store, which is full of apparel and UNC memorabilia and really impressive. It puts many dedicated retail stores to shame.
I am not a big college basketball fan, but the multi-story book store and apparel and spirit shop had an impressive inventory. After leaving the UNC campus, we made our way to the nearby Duke Campus. The Duke Campus is really one of the most beautiful university campuses in the country. The historic buildings, the campus chapel and others are built in both Gothic and Georgian architecture. The campus is divided into a West Campus and East Campus and sits on 9,000 acres. Considering its size, it is interesting that the university only plays host to about 6,400 undergraduate students.
Although I really wanted to see the Sarah Duke gardens, the kind of destination that photographers love, we never did get to it. My other choice as a photog was the Duke Chapel, built in mid-1930s, it is an outstanding example of Gothic Architecture and a functioning church, used for both church services and as a campus meeting place. Depending on the time of day, it presents many opportunities for a photographer, including the two “cloisters,” which would probably look much different in photographs depending on the time of day. I took several pictures of each.
A cloister at the Duke Chapel, photographed in June of 2024, to the left, is just one example of the architectural subjects available to a photographer visiting the Duke University campus. The morning or evening sun would provide a much different photograph and probably a more interesting image.
Much of the exterior of the building is reminiscent of European architecture and provides many opportunities for images. The chapel also includes a 210-foot tower housing a 50-bell carillon, which is a dominant feature in the skyline of that part of the campus. The Duke Book Store is also impressive and is on a par with UNC. The store is in the Bryan Center and would put most retail locations to shame.
While in the Durham-Chapel Hill area, we ate a couple of times at a local Panera Bread location, which offered me the opportunity to get a good salad with a few adjustments. This worked out well because having the availability of a chain restaurant on my low-fat diet came in handy.
After two days and nights in the Durham area, we departed, heading north on I-85 towards the Richmond, Virginia area, and then changing highways to 295 and then 64 in order to continue on to Williamsburg.
I will detail the second part of the trip, our time in Williamsburg visiting with family and the remaining time in Virginia Beach in another (part 2) post.
