The Sixty-Fifth...

Number Sixty-Five:





Crabshack Seafood Restaurant, Lunch, Crab cakes







A four day weekend equaled a day trip to somewhere! How about to The Mariners' Museum in Newport News. This place is huge, we barely scratched the surface after three hours, most of that on the Ironclad (Monitor vs. Virginia) exhibit. That exhibit is spectacular. You are immersed (and submersed, heh) immediately as you sit in a ocean blue room to watch the witness testimony and shadow recreation of when the Monitor sunk, then you make your way around to the actual red lit lantern that was brought up, after just seeing the drama of it being the last thing anyone ever saw of the ironclad over 140 years ago. Well done. But that is not all. You then come out to a partial lifesize replica of the shipyard where the Virginia was clad in irons. And more, more more more! So thorough, and the finale after all that goodness; you get a window view of the actual Monitor being conserved! Wow. And that was just a small portion of this spectacularly well done (and well financed) Museum. Wow.

Pretty much the only lame thing about it were the gift shop employees, who would rather talk about going to the movies with friends than answer any questions with accuracy or knowledge; the dingbats could not even answer where Route 60 was, which happened to be the road out front, complete with proper signage for when people leave. Their best answer to that question? "Ask the people at the information booth of the museum, they're like a hundred years old and would know that. Oh Cindy, did you go to the movie theater blah blah blah..."

That's okay, I would rather get information from them anyway, and I most certainly did!

One kind of rule that I like to have if we visit the tidewater area for an extended time and go out to eat is that it must have seafood. We were originally going to some place called the Train Station, but another good rule to go by when you are looking for a lunch spot is to ask a local. This "hundred year old" lady suggested the Crabshack, right on the James, right by the James River Bridge. Score! Some damn fine crab cakes!