Apr 18 - Kiptopeke State Park and Cape Charles, VA

  Yesterday we explored the east side of the Eastern Shore penisula.  Today, we went to the Western side, facing the Chesapeak Bay.  Viewing the shore on the Eastern side, isn't very beachy.  However, the Western side has incredible beaches.  We first went to Kiptopeke State Park.  This park has long beaches, hiking trails, and fishing piers.  The piers were originally put into place before the Chesapeak Bay Bridge was erected, and they operated ferries from this site to get across.  To do so, they put Nine WWII concrete ships as a breakwater.  They stopped using the ferries in 1964 when the bridge was completed, and the ships are still there.  It was such a beautiful day, we hiked the beaches and the piers, along with a few of the trails.
  Then we drove over to the nearby town of Cape Charles, a small town on the shore.  It used to be fishing and agriculture, but is now focusing a lot more on tourism.  They also have a really nice beach and very long fishing pier.  While sitting on the pier, we saw two peregrine falcons nesting on a nearby tower.  Impressive. 
  On the way home, we snapped a photo of one of the farmers field.  It was huge, and covered with beautiful yellow flowers.  There were several farmers fields with them, so I can only assume it is a cash crop, but we don't know what.  But it was breathtaking to see such a huge blanket of yellow.
  This evening is VERY windy.  As I type this blog at our dinette, we are rocking with the wind.  We haven't done that before.  I guess this is the edge of the big storm in the South.

Kiptopeke State Park photos:

Cape Charles photos:

Farm crop--huge fields of yellow flowers: