"50 Years Later" Top 5 Page for this destination Norfolk Travelogue by grandmaR

Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

After we paid the toll, I could see the lighthouse far in the distance. I took some pictures out the back driver's side window, but they aren't terrific photos.

There are two tunnels to the bridge tunnel. The first one is the Chesapeake Channel Tunnel and the second one is called the Thimble Shoals tunnel. Apparently they have transponders of some type in the tunnels because the GPS did not lose track of us and knew how fast we were going.

Clam Chowder

Bob asked me if I wanted to eat lunch at the restaurant on Sea Gull Island right at the end of the Thimble Shoals tunnel. I thought we might be able to see Thimble Shoals light, but the restaurant is on the other side. A big 18 wheeler was tailgating us through the tunnel, and it is a very sharp turn off the road to get to the restaurant and I wasn't sure Bob was going to make it.

We ate by the window and we both had clam chowder (the traditional kind and not the Core Sound kind) and a BBQ sandwich

Navy boat

We watched some of those Navy vehicles that are powered by a big fan in the back zipping around - I saw a man try to take a photo of them with his lens cap on. It didn't work

Driving up to the house

We drove along Little Creek to our old house on Nathan Avenue. They have removed all the azalea bushes and replaced them with grass. They took out the big evergreen Xmas tree that was in the front yard They have replaced the cream shingles with aluminum siding. They removed the metal awning that shaded the picture window and the house looks naked without it.

Fence

They even have aluminum siding on the car port supports. They've replaced the chain link fence with a big board fence.

When I looked through a chink in the fence, I saw a pool in the back yard and also several of what look like storage sheds and another building which could be a garage. I verified this with Google maps.

But they still have the same steps and cheesy iron railing.

8217 Nathan Avenue in 2011

They have made the driveway a full double driveway instead of just two concrete strips and they've replaced the windows.

There was a little dog inside that I think was a Llassa who barked at me, and the big truck in the driveway had a vanity plate "Dogy Mom"

Nathan Avenue - more trees than in 1961

I knocked in a non-aggressive fashion on the door but nobody came - so we proceeded on to "Little Washington"