Twenty hours in Norfolk

 

Growing up in Arizona classifies me as a west coast girl. It wasn't until I moved to Texas that I was exposed to a Carolina accent or this idea of dressing up "nice" to go out on the town. Board shorts aren't appropriate bar apparel? who knew. Thus my toes have never touched East Coast waters. To be fair they still haven't, there was far too much ice in the water.. you get my drift. I had the opportunity to stay waterside on the port for just under 24 hours and it was beyond beautiful!  My friend and I moseyed around the port to soak in the view and noticed mermaid statues everywhere!  Norfolk adopted a campaign ten years ago to make a mermaid their mascot in order to attract tourism. It gives tourism and locals a physical symbol of Norfolk. And it worked.  I love mermaids and I love Norfolk. I couldn't help but snap a few of all the mermaids. I also couldn't help but feel like I needed some chowder. So we set out on a quest to find some traditional old port city grub. Boy, did we hit the jackpot. We found an old church that was converted into a restaurant called the Freemason Abbey. However sacrilegious it might be, we chowed. literally.  They had the most delicious crab chowder. Add some sweet biscuits and we were donezo. We definitely stumbled into a small gem.  After our bellies were nice and full, we walked around downtown and popped into some of the stores.  For a Saturday it was a little desolate but nonetheless, walking around the snowy streets was a nice change of pace.  So if you get a chance to explore Norfolk, Virginia- try it out!  Eat the chowder and give into the mermaids.

xoxo