Sandbridge Beach Vacation

Sandbridge Beach is a nice strip of beach 20 minutes away from Virginia Beach. It has an outer banks look and feel, but with much more to do. The beach was beautiful and the house we rented was perfect. We went through Sandbridge realty. There were no problems at all.

Quick Tips:

Research Sandbridge beach/Virginia beach on the Internet before you go to get a feel for all the activities in the area. You can plan everything you want to do ahead of time.

Best Way To Get Around:

You need a car.

We rented a house through Sandbridge Realty. The house was called Frikiatthetiki. It was clean, spacious, and perfect for my large family. It was only a block from the beach. It was very accessible and it was easy  to get back to the house for lunch and putting the kids down for a nap. It was 20 minutes away from all the fun stuff you can do in Virginia beach. The pool at the house was huge! We loved this house. Sandbridge realty was very easy to deal with.

I'd say the price range of this restaurant was more like 25-35$. That was not a range to choose from so I picked 20-30. This was the most delicious Surf and Turf I have ever had! They had all sorts of sushi and seafood dishes. I tried a bunch of different pieces. I don't remember which ones, but they were all delicious. The prime rib was melt-in-your-mouth and very tasty. I had giant stuffed shrimp. I ate every delicious morsel on my plate. My whole family shared their meals so I got to taste everything. There was not a single unhappy person at our table. The service was pretty good. I was impressed especially since our party was so big. The bill came to be $438 big ones for eight adults and seven kids. I guess that's not too bad. We got a 10% off coupon from some guy on the street. He looked like he worked for the restaurant. I forgot to use the coupon, but maybe you won't forget to use if you get your hands on one!

This restaurant can also be described as "bang for your buck." We got a lot of food. Most of the adult meals were around $15. This food was awesome. I had BBQ ribs, beef brisket, roasted chicken, corn muffin and corn on the cob. Everything we ate was simply out of this world! The desserts were awesome too. I tried the Kahlua brownie and bread pudding. They were sinfully delicious.  The service was quite unique as well. Our waitress was totally on the ball. She got us everything we needed and was always around making sure we were OK. I saw twp managers walking around the place making sure everyone was OK too. One made it to our table and he was more than happy to get us more wipes for our very saucy fingers. The service was exceptional. Now I really don't know what Famous Dave's location we were at. All I know is that it was exit 158 off I95. If you are ever on I95 around exit 158 you have to stop and eat here.

This place was an old time photo shop that had all sorts of old time props from every decade. We dressed the kids and my parents in garb from the Southern civil war times. The result was an awesome picture that we will treasure forever. The background setting in the photo shop was perfect too. The price was worth it. It was $10/person sitting fee. I got an 11x13 photo and that was an extra $20. The 8x10 photo was $10. The pictures were printed right there and I received them in 12 minutes.

Virginia beach boardwalk was a very long fun place to walk with a beautiful view. There are not a lot of shops on the boardwalk. You'll find those on Atlantic Ave. There was a long pier where we ate seafood. It was pretty darn good. There were some shops on the pier. You also had to pay if you wanted to fish off the pier. We rented two large family bikes and rode along a separate path on the boardwalk. It was a blast. There was plenty of room on the bikes to put our kids and babies. The babies went in the basket.

This pirate cruise was a lot of fun for the kids. The crew acted their parts very well. They told stories and acted out some skits. They got the kids involved. I think this was a very fun activity for the whole family. The cruise went out into the Atlantic and then came right back. The bulk of the ride was in the bay. The waters were too rough to stay out in the ocean for too long. Make sure you take Dramamine one hour before launching! There is a chance of seeing some dolphins while you are out. We did not see any dolphins, but my sister did when she went on the cruise. I think it lasted about an 1 1/2. The kids all got treasure maps and some treasure to bring home. It cost my family $94 for two adults and three kids. I thought that was a bit steep, but what are you going to do! Check out the pics of this trip. Also, check their website www.PiecesofEight.com.

Busch Gardens really is one of the most beautiful theme parks where I have ever been. It is $54 for an adult ticket. That is very expensive, so if you want to get the most out of your day, plan it very carefully. The park is separated into countries – Ireland, England, Germany, and Italy. When you first get into the park, there are a lot of hills! I believe this is England. All I could do was smell food. The smells were out of this world. The bakery was the strongest smell in England. When we got to Ireland we saw the Pet Shenanigans show. This was great for the kids. They had dogs, cats, mice, pigs, ducks, and birds that were all trained and put on a great show. It was very cute. All the dogs and cats in the show were rescued from animal shelters around the country.

We ate lunch in Ireland. This was the best food I ever had in any theme park. We had barbequed chicken, ribs, and beef brisket, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and a biscuit. This food was out of this world. I craved barbeque foods for the rest of the week because of this meal. They probably use Anheuser Busch signature barbeque sauces to make these meals. I saw American Jukebox in Ireland. This show is singing and dancing to hit music from the past 40 years. The singing, costumes, and dancing on stage were great. I caught most of the 70s numbers and I have to say these performers were professionals!

In Italy I saw the Viva Italia show. This was some seriously good opera-style singing. My 6-year-old daughter did not want to leave. There were nice bistro-style chairs in stadium seating so you can eat and watch the opera. It was an excellent show.

Every single country had plenty of kiddie rides to choose from.

My husband and brother went on the Griffon. Now this was the supreme thrill. They said it was the most awesome ride they were ever on. They were woo hoo’ing all the way to the end. When I saw them, they were smiling ear to ear.

All the shops in the park had reasonably priced items. You could get jewelry, shirts, bags, towels, and of course Anheuser Busch barbeque sauces. There was one shop in Italy that you have to see. It contained nothing but hand crafted ceramic flower arrangements. The store was gorgeous and these flowers covered every shelf. The flowers were also fixed to picture frames. I saw an 8x10 for $50. These flowers were absolutely beautiful. See my pics. They did have a table arranged with items for under $20. I took a few pictures of this store. Check them out.

I really loved Busch Gardens. Next year I will plan the day better so we can squeeze in more shows. This was great fun for the entire family.

The aquarium was 10 minutes from the beach house on Sandbridge beach and 10 minutes from Virginia Beach. General Booth Blvd. leads you directly into the Virginia Beach strip.

I found that the aquarium was one of the less expensive things to do at Virginia Beach. It was about $12 for adult admission and $8 for kids from 3 to 11 years old. Admission for the IMAX theatre was extra. We did not go to the IMAX theatre. The aquarium was plenty for our bunch.

This is a great place if you have curious kids who love to see fish and animals of the ocean. You can spend several hours at this museum. It consists of two buildings and a nature trail that connects the two. Starting off with the Marsh Pavilion would be best because Bay Ocean Pavilion is more interesting and fun for the kids. The saying "save the best for last" is always true.

The Marsh Pavilion consisted of exhibits of life that lived in Marshes of course! Snakes, lizards, otters, and plants are among the few. They had magnifying glasses to see these critters up close. Kids love that. As soon as you walk in on the right there is a discovery room and an otter exhibit. My kids enjoyed these a lot. The otter were very active and playful. Later that day my 5 year old son practiced swimming in the pool like an otter. Just twisting and turning and doing what the otter do. It was cute. The nature trail connecting the buildings was long so wear comfortable shoes. It is a beautiful trail with views of the bay. There’s plenty of photo opportunity. There is a setup of an Indian teepee somewhere in the middle. My Kids loved that. They love to explore and touch everything! (I guess most kids do).

The really cool exhibits were in the bay/ocean building. There were sharks, sea turtles, and stingrays. The kids got to feed a horseshoe crab. They turned it upside down and let the kids drop food in its mouth. The kids watched in awe as it used its arms to find the food and move it into its mouth. Check out my pictures! There is a fun submarine near the shark exhibit. There are a ton of buttons in this thing. The buttons do nothing, but every kid in that place loved to press them all. It’s so funny to watch. I had to drag my kids out of this submarine.

We did not eat at the museum. The food did not look spectacular. Save your money and drive 10 minutes to a great Virginia Beach restaurant instead. I recommend Mahi Mah’s. Yum!