Late start, but not bad.
August 27, 2008, 11:28 AM
I got a late start on Tuesday, owing to a sore foot. But the day definitely made up for the late start. I kind of explored around the city a bit by car, and it was certainly worth the time, as I got to see what kind of city Virginia Beach was in the “local” department, vs. the resort area. Not bad. I don’t think I’d want to ever live here, if nothing else but for the constant sound of jet noise due to the presence of the Oceana Naval Air Station in the town. You can hear those jets even when you’re driving in your car. Very disconcerting, because I’m thinking it’s something wrong with the car or something, and it’s the military flying jets overhead. And then a jet flew directly overhead – that’s ear-splittingly loud. Give me a Wheelock 7002T to the face any day, thank you.
Due to a strong wind blowing over the area, the ocean was a bit rougher than usual. The strong waves actually reshaped the beach somewhat – it was a smooth slope down to the ocean from the main beach on Monday, but today, there was a noticeable step down to the water, as the waves carved it out as they took sand out to sea. I went down to the water in the early evening, and got in this rough surf, and the waves were noticeably more forceful than the day before. And I got sand up my suit. No fun. But it was a good experience out there.
Then in the evening, I went to Flipper McCoy’s, that vintage arcade I was telling you about. They had Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting Edition, which, for those who aren’t famiiar, is a sped-up version of Street Fighter II Champion Edition with extra moves and new colors. It was the third release of Street Fighter II in the arcades. It was released to the home market as “Street Fighter II Turbo” on the SNES, and “Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition” for the Genesis. I played as Ryu against Guile, and got beaten badly. Sad. Then I also got to play a round of Super Mario Brothers in a stand-up unit, which was kind of interesting. For those of you who’ve never played Super Mario in an arcade before, the game is largely identical to the 8-bit NES version, but a few minor details in some of the levels differ. Then lastly, I got to play one game each of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. I played fairly well in both, but I did far better on regular Pac-Man. I don’t know… the original Pac-Man seems to be just a lot better than Ms. Pac-Man, yet Ms. Pac-Man is what you see in the arcades and other places far more often. Of course, the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga combo machines (which is what Flipper McCoy’s had) have an “easter egg” in them to unlock the original Pac-Man game, which brings regular Pac-Man back to the arcades – if you know how to find it. But playing Pac-Man on a vintage machine is WAY cooler.
And to top off a wonderful day, I took a walk. I walked 24 blocks. I walked down the boardwalk and the beach for 12 blocks, from 19th Street to 7th Street, and then changed from the boardwalk to Atlantic Avenue for the 12 blocks back. It was a wonderful walk – it was slightly on the cool side, and I actually struck up a conversation with a couple on the beach from Beckley, West Virginia who were making their first sand castle. How neat!
And there you are. Now let’s see what Wednesday holds for us…
Web site: Isis's Flickr page. I hope Isis continues to stay safe and have fun at the DNC and the RNC...
Song: Tech-No
Quote: By the way, there's cloud cover and possible rain forecasted for the next few days, so this may preclude a third sunrise photo set. But as long as the weather stays nice for the fireworks at 10:00 tonight, though, I'm okay with that.
Categories: Travel, Virginia Beach