A Simple View

Hilton Portal Perspective, 2011

You wouldn’t know it from this picture, but after a couple of months of there not being many people around in the resort area of Virginia Beach, the Boardwalk was full of people yesterday.

To be honest, it was busy two weekends ago, too, because of the Shamrock Marathon, an event that draws thousands. But after that crowd left, the temperature dropped, the rains came and the beach was back in a wintry mood.

The rainy weather moved off at least temporarily last night and the temperature edged just over sixty degrees. So I decided to go for a walk on the Boardwalk. I usually walk in my neighborhood, but the people watching is better on the Boardwalk and who wouldn't want to walk at the beach? We’re entering what the tourism industry refers to as the “shoulder” season. Over the last couple of months hotels and motels have been getting spruced up for the summer. Everyone wants to be ready by Memorial Day. The dull colors of winter are being replaced by the bright colors of summer.

Some of the crowd yesterday might have had to do with the fact that there were two big conventions in town this weekend; one a national meeting of high school coaches and the other having something to do with wrestling. Still, groups like this don’t usually spill out onto the Boardwalk quite in the numbers of people I saw yesterday.

Enough description, already. We’re stipulating that the Boardwalk was crowded, right? So with all those people around how did I end up with this sublime view of the ocean? The answer is that I happened to walk through a hotel on my way to the Boardwalk and just happened to look out the right window at the right time. If I’d had the camera hanging off my shoulder I might have just walked right by. But since I had the camera in my hand, all I had to do was lift it, frame it, check my exposure and push the shutter release.

I’ve lived around this beach most of my life. But it still surprises me sometimes. Looking out this window (and tuning out the whitecaps) I felt like I was looking at a Caribbean scene. Then I stepped outside and remembered there was a reason I’d worn polar fleece.