In a recent letter to the Virginian-Pilot editor (Monday, April 27, 2009), Wilson J. Matos of Las Vegas commented on how he and is wife had occasion to visit the Norfolk area earlier this month. They went to see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore, the Freemason Abbey, Waterside, Nauticus, saw the naval station and the Botanical Garden and took the Elizabeth River ferry to Portsmouth. They visited Williamsburg and Jamestown, and drove to North Carolina to see the beaches of the Outer Banks.

Not a mention of Virginia Beach. No visit to the Town Center ... no 31st Street ... no Convention Center ... no Contemporary Arts Center ... no Sandbridge ... no Lynnhaven Mall ... no ex-TPC golf course ... no aquarium ... no amphitheater ... no ex-soccer stadium. Yep no Virginia Beach! It got passed right on by!


Maybe too, off-season tourists don't know Virginia Beach is open.