After skydiving we decided to spend the next day at Rehoboth Beach. By 7 am, after a quick breakfast at the hotel, we were driving to one of the clean Delaware beaches. On the way we noticed Tiki Murph and stopped to take a look. Tiki Murph sells beautiful outdoor entertainment products: custom built Tiki Bars and Tiki Huts, Tiki statues, wood and painted figures. Tiki refers to large wood and stone carvings of humanoid forms in Central Eastern Polynesian cultures of the Pacific Ocean (from Wikipedia). See for yourself.
In about half an hour we reached our beach destination. Rehoboth Beach is a city in Sussex County, Delaware. Rehoboth from Hebrew means “broad spaces”. Rehoboth Beach is a frequent summer destination for Washington, D.C. residents as well as visitors from Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Vacationers are drawn by the town’s charm, night life and clean beach. There are wooden boardwalk, eclectic shops, restaurants, and sporting activities on the beach.
We are getting very close to the beach.
The Boardwalk there is very small compared to Ocean City, another popular beach destination on the East Coast. It is charming though…
Beach is already crowded.
It was a hot day, around 100 °F/38 °C. The sandy beach was nice and clean, but very crowded. Water in the ocean was definitely refreshing and clean, no seaweed. We spent about 3 hours bathing and jumping in the ocean to cool off. Ocean wasn’t exactly calm and it gets deep very quickly, so people were hanging out on a small stripe of water next to the beach. One of the more exciting moments came when we saw several dolphins swimming and jumping relatively close to the beach.
Kids were building a castle from the sand.
Water in the ocean was very refreshing.
By the time we were ready to drive back home, there were no parking spots available anywhere close to the beach. Which seemed promising that we might not hit too much traffic on the way home.
The route home to Virginia ran through the farmland mostly. We saw many corn fields and produce shops. We stopped at a couple of them and loaded the trunk of our car with fresh fruit and vegetables from local Delaware farmers.
We were just going to get stuck in beach traffic, so per the advice from a produce shop salesman, we took a detour on Rt.16 West and followed it through a residential area. We also got to see a bison pasture. I did not get a chance to take a picture of the pasture, but pics from the Internet posted below depict it accurately. A mature bison bull weighs about 2,000 pounds and a bison cow approximately 1,100 pounds. They can run up to 30 miles per hour. Buffalo vs. Bison? In North America it is bison; accepted as “buffalo”, as well. There are about 500,000 in this country. The Colvin Bison Farm, which is settled on the outskirts of quiet Greenwood located in Southern Delaware, is in a rural setting of woods and grassy pastures. Bison meat is tender, flavorful and not gamey at all, with less fat and is lower in cholesterol. The combination of all those things is what is making bison at restaurants so popular according to the Colvin Bison Farm web site. I like bison burgers, they taste great.
Source: aboutmybeaches.com
Of course, we eventually hit the beach traffic anyway… We had to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which is among the world’s longest and most scenic over-water structures. It is a beautiful bridge and the view from the bridge is incredible. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is officially called the William Preston Lane, Jr., Memorial Bridge. Popularly called the Bay Bridge, this facility near Annapolis crosses the Chesapeake Bay as part of US-50/US-301. The bridge’s dual spans, a set of two bridges running parallel to each other, provide a direct connection between Maryland’s Eastern Shore recreational and ocean regions and the metropolitan areas of Baltimore, Annapolis, and Washington, D.C. (from Wikipedia).
Source: wikipedia
At the end of the bridge on the right of the picture there is popular Chesapeake Bay Beach.
Chesapeake Bay Beach with the bright orange sand on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.
Source: roadstothefuture.com
We stopped at the River Bay Roadhouse reataurant for a late lunch/early dinner in Annapolis, MD. Food was delicious and the atmosphere was nice there.
