This past weekend I ventured out of Ohio and headed down to Virginia Beach / Norfolk for a bachelor party for one of my college friends, Tim. This wasn’t your typical bachelor party that you think of the minute you hear those two words together. No, this bachelor party was unique, and in about every sense of the word, very dorky.
Did anyone ever tell you that it takes a long time to drive from Ohio to Virginia? If not, I am telling you that right now. Me and some friends left Columbus around 4 P.M. last Friday and didn’t arrive in Virginia Beach until 5 A.M. Saturday morning, nevermind a 2-hour delay in Washington, D.C. and maybe a 30 minute delay in actual Virginia Beach. I was stuck in the middle seat of a small car for all those hours. Let me tell you, my ass was not feeling good. Luckily, we stopped often enough to give my ass a break.
The first stop, at some point around 8/9 P.M. was the only opportunity I had out of the car to take the photo of the day. I didn’t think we would stop again before midnight, we didn’t, and even if we did, it would be pitch black out. This stop was at a gas station, across from a Wendy’s that had a sign like it was in Las Vegas.
Not the photo of the day, but still cool nonetheless.
The above photo was almost the A Photo A Day until I went into the gas station and started looking around for a) food/beverage and b) a photo opportunity. The good thing is I was able to find Friday’s photo in a gas station off the highway. The bad thing is that I forgot to change the white balance, so therefore the image is a little orange. However, the appeal of the photo might be the orangish tint, because I had similar photos, that were pure white, and they did not turn out as well. The angle and everything about this photo just seems to work very well, at least in my opinion.
The 2-hour delay in Washington was to allow us to see the sites and try and see the White House. Unfortunately, the White House was inaccessible and dark. I guess G.W. was really tired last Friday night. On the other hand though, we were able to see other sites and below are a couple of photos I took from the car. The first photo below would have beaten out the gas station image above, except that it was taken after midnight. Also, I believe that Saturday’s photo is superior simply because of the light vs dark factor.
Jon and Kyle try to figure out the best route through D.C. They never found it.
The U.S. Captiol Building at night.
A pretty building at night. Do you know which building this is? I don’t.
The American Bar Association’s HQs.
The Washnington Monument and potential alien spacecraft.
Finally, after many hours in the car, and my rear hurting, we made it to Virginia Beach. At that point, we went to bed, and enjoyed a few hours of sleep. Saturday, we went to a local place called the Do-Nut Dinette to dine on some breakfast. This diner, or dinette, had a ton of character and really was a great place to visit. It is an establishment that you would see on the Food Network. As you can see in the picture below, 3 stud muffins also joined me for brunch.
Kyle, Tim, Jon…all looking good!
After brunch, we headed to get ice cream and then ventured to the costume shop to purchase the apparel for the day. We all had Hawaiian shirts so all we needed was the head gear.We ended up buying an 8-pack of really cheap pirate hats. We wore these hats all day and received many compliments and one or two negative comments. On the outside of the costume shop’s building was a mural, and with camera in hand, I had to capture the scene.
Pick Me, Pick Me!!! (Tim, Kyle, Jon)
After the fun with our noses, we headed back to Tim’s apartment for a quick swim in the Chesapeake Bay. At the time of swimming, the water’s temperature was a balmy 52 degrees. I was a wuss and only lasted a few minutes, while other’s were in for a little while longer. On the beach, I was able to capture a sight that every woman would want to see with their own eyes. Shirtless Mens World, eat your heart out!
Hubba-Hubba! Look at those guys…
After the fun in the water, we cleaned up and headed to Virginia Beach and to where the women were staying for the bachelorette party. There, I took Saturday’s photo of the day. It was not planned at all, and actually came out a lot better than I expected. Tim decided that him and I should take pictures of each other as we were taking pictures of each other. Confused? You will understand in just a sec. Something about this picture stood out to me and therefore I had to choose it.
Right behind the actual beach, was a statue of Neptune. I took a good amount of photos of him, but here is just one of my favorites…
Neptune!
As we were leaving the beach, a group of women in their 30s stopped us and said they had to take a picture with us because of our pirate hats. It turns out, they were having a bachelorette party and were definitely a little tipsy! It was a sight to see, especially when the one woman said in reference to Jon, “This one on the end needs some lovin’.”
Pirate Lovin’!
After the fun at the beach, we headed to MotorWorld to have fun on the Go Karts, not my favorite, and to play Put-Put, always my favorite. Below are a couple of highlights from MotorWorld…
This gorilla welcomes you to MotorWorld…
Me sitting in my favorite type of car! Ha! (Taken by Tim.)
Tim and Kyle got a little rough on the track.
Gotta love the hat…(Taken by Tim.)
After the fun at MotorWorld, we decided to get some food. First we went to Hooter’s, which wasn’t all it is cracked up to be. The waitress was good looking, but the cutest one was the hostess, who of course was not in the typical Hooter’s attire. After that, because we were still hungry, we went to IHOP to get some dessert. Keep in mind, at both these places, we had our pirate hats on and at both places we received compliments.
After our eating endeavor, we went to rent a movie, Super Troopers [edited, originally said Starship Troopers, whoops!], and headed back to watch it. Unlike everyone else, I fell asleep about 1/2 way through and only woke up periodically. When the movie ended, it was bed time for all of us.
Sunday morning consisted of hanging out with the women from the bachelor party, chatting and enjoying the great weather. At this point is when I took Sunday’s photo. A few of us headed to beach, which is basically in Tim’s backyard, and just walked along the sand. That is when I snapped a photo of everyone standing about an equidistant apart from each other, while they all had their backs to me and the camera. The positions of the people, the different color of their clothing, and the setting, in my opinion, all made for a great photo.
After hanging out, we said our goodbye’s and headed home. Luckily, the trip home was quicker, and I was in my driveway at 1030pm Sunday evening. All in all, it was a great trip with great friends. Sure it wasn’t your typical bachelor party, but that is quite alright with me, and I believe the other gentleman there would agree as well.
Thanks for reading…until tomorrow!
