#650 Virginia's US Route 60

To complete our Virginia Beach trip, we decide US Route 60 will get us back across Virginia with the most fun possible.  (And soon we will be using US Route 60 to get us back across the country to our Aurora home, but that's another story.)

For now, we are eager to avoid I-64 as much as possible and see a little more of Virginia.  Within spitting distance of our Virginia Beach hotel, we find the "END" sign that marks the beginning of our trip and we start there.

A few minutes up the coast, we are winding our way through Virginia's most popular state park, First Landing State Park.  With more than a million visitors per year, this entire park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bridges and tunnels are always fun, so we enjoy the 3.5-mile combination of the two when crossing the harbor via the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.

We find some of our favorite things along Route 60 like libraries...

 And the magnificent crepe myrtle.

A paper map was needed to find Route 60 through Newport News but we made it through thanks to one Garmin GPS, one iPhone with Google Maps, one Virginia highway map, and one thoroughly impressive navigator!

More of our favorite things include historic sites... 

 And well-sited craftsman bungalows.

Richmond has much to offer along Route 60 with its Poe Museum...

 its 17th Street Farmers' Market...

 and, of course, this geographic marker on the grounds of the state capitol. 

US Route 60 is developed all the way from Virginia Beach through Richmond.  Once we cross the James River and get outside the Richmond loop as far as Powhatan, the drive becomes relaxing and lovely.    

We celebrate with lunch at the Cumberland Restaurant...

and we think about all the things along the way that we'd like to visit next time.

We turn north at Amherst on US Route 29 toward home.  Soon we will return to Amherst and continue west on US 60.

Yours in following US Route 60 wherever it may lead,
Mary