The strip itself was a disappointment; too much “family friendly” renovation and junk for sale. The exact same tourist crap is for sale everywhere; even inside the state park, the store had far more in the shells-glued-together-with-ugly-seagull category than functional items like postcards or even beach towels. My only souvenir is a shirt from Jew Mom in a suitably-80s-looking electric pink. The uniformly-wide-and-flat boardwalk is unquestionably an improvement in function but not so much in form, and the endless signs about rules everywhere really detract from any architectural elegance. No matter, I grinned every time I realized I could see the ocean just by looking the right direction.
I didn’t feel like a tourist and therefore didn’t take any pictures in Va Beach. When I get home I’ll have to dig out some of my older ones and see how much my memory altered the view in my mind. The beach was familiar in the rain but less inviting nonetheless, so we decided to explore a different area for a little while and headed towards “The University”.