Virginia Beach – Full of Award Winning Fun
When you cross the finish line at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, you won’t be alone in the winner’s circle: The City of Virginia Beach has collected its own share of medals and awards over the years. If you can find time between warming up for the race and cooling out at the beach, you’ll want to enjoy some of the city’s award winning attractions.
The Beach’s most recognizable landmark, the Virginia Beach Boardwalk was originally built out of boards in 1888. A fire burned the four-block promenade, but it was rebuilt twenty years later, this time in concrete, and expanded through the years. The most recent renovation of the Boardwalk has won a number of awards, including the Best Public Improvement Project in Virginia Beach and an American Coastal Coalition Award for Best Restored Beach.
A walk, a bike ride, or a run along this 3-mile esplanade—the homestretch on the racecourse—will illustrate why these awards were merited. During the season, the Boardwalk is a panoply of sights and sounds, from the beloved Atlantic bottlenose dolphins jumping through the waves to pelicans soaring overhead. The Old Coast Guard Station at 24th Street and the Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum in the historic DeWitt Cottage at 12th Street are landmarks worth exploring. Giant sculptures of sand castles, sea turtles and beach balls provide plentiful photo-ops. At open-air cafes, musicians serenade guests, and during Labor Day weekend, oceanfront stages at 7th, 17th and 24th Streets, as well as special stages set up along the Boardwalk, will host more than forty national and regional bands during the Verizon Wireless American Music Festival, presented by JABRA.
Just south of the Boardwalk, and also on the racecourse, the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center frequently has garnered recognition for excellence, including an award from the Southeast Tourism Society. With its 700,000 gallons of aquariums displaying everything from sand tiger sharks and stingrays to sea turtles, it’s not surprising that the facility is one of the Top 10 Most Visited Aquariums in the country. The museum’s hundreds of interactive displays, its outdoor aviary and its Owls Creek salt marsh walk—with a 30-foot observation tower—provide visitors with plenty of information about Virginia’s marine environment. The aquarium also offers dolphin watching and ocean collection boat tours for those who would rather watch animals in their natural habitat.
If you’re itching to get a line in the water, rest assured that there are plenty of fish in the sea, so many that Field and Stream magazine designated Virginia Beach as one of the Top 25 Fishing Destinations in the country. Deep-sea charter boats and in-shore head boats depart from Rudee Inlet at the south end of the resort each day. You might not catch a 1,093 ¾ -pound blue marlin like the one on display at the marina, but you may return to shore with a catch of tuna or wahoo worthy of an award citation. The waters are also seasonally populated at Lynnhaven Inlet by fishermen scooping puppy drum, speckled trout and flounder.
Natural habitats also can be seen within Virginia Beach’s borders at Virginia’s state parks. The maritime forest at First Landing State Park at the north end of the city has been welcoming visitors since 1607, when the first English settlers stopped by for a visit before sailing up the James River to establish Jamestown. With 19 miles of trails through moss-hung woods and cypress lagoons, the park is an awesome place to run, walk or bike. Be sure to keep an eye open for osprey, eagles, herons and other birds that soar through the park.
At the south end of Virginia Beach is False Cape State Park. As one of Virginia’s best kept secrets, the state park is a respite from the bustling resort city. With 4,321 acres along a barrier spit between the Atlantic Ocean and Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, this park offers six miles of desolate beaches and nine miles of hiking and biking trails. This is the kind of place where you can walk on the beach without seeing a soul. (Shhh—just don’t tell anyone.) You can also canoe or kayak into the park across Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Once you’ve seen these two parks, you’ll likely agree with the judges who awarded Virginia state parks a National Gold Medal.
For those who enjoy tennis, the Owls Creek Municipal Tennis Center on the racecourse just south of the Virginia Aquarium was recognized as the Virginia Tennis Facility of the Year by the Virginia Division of the U.S. Tennis Association. Golfers will be happy to know that courses designed by Arnold Palmer, Rees Jones and Pete Dye are among the top in the state. And although it has yet to win any awards, the city’s new Skate Park at Mt. Trashmore offers the half-pipes and vertical thrills that skateboarders shred.
Following an active workout, relax and unwind with a massage. The A.R.E. offers a variety of health and spa services, emphasizing the powers of spirit, mind, and body in improving health. Also offered are health assessments and evaluations, which can be tailored to meet individual needs.
If you’d rather do something cultural, check out the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia (right), located just a few blocks back from the ocean on 22nd Street. With an award-winning architectural design, the gallery will house a photography exhibit titled “In Response to Place: Photographs from the Nature Conservancy’s Last Great Places” during the Labor Day weekend. A fantastic glass chandelier by Dale Chihuly and the outdoor sculpture garden are also worth a visit.
And at the top of its long list of accolades, Virginia Beach was awarded a Shining Example Award from the Southeast Tourism Society for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon. You’ll soon understand why.
After you’ve been in Virginia Beach for a few days, you’ll likely agree with USA Today Weekend magazine, which voted Virginia Beach a Best Place to Live in America, and with Men’s Fitness magazine, which recognized Virginia Beach among the Top 25 Fittest Cities. With a calendar full of fun things to do, a healthy environment, temperate climate, and prosperous economy, Virginia Beach is a winning vacation destination.
