It was another beautiful Sunday and on the spur of the moment, I decided to hit the road again. This time my destination was the little town of Gloucester, Virginia to check out the 30th annual Daffodil Festival. I’ve been to Gloucester a few times before but never for the festival. My first stop was the Botetourt Elementary School to see what the daffodil show and competition had to offer. Here I discovered a dozen different species of daffodils…most with fancy names that I could barely pronounce. There were trumpet daffodils (the ones that we’re most familiar with), cyclamineus daffodils (sounds a little clinical to me), split-corona daffodils (no relation to the beer) and bulbocodium daffodils (Bubblicious anyone?) but no “jonquils” except for a species called jonquilla.
Is my family the only one that occasionally refers to daffodils as jonquils? Regardless, the name “Jonquilla” sounds elegantly southern to me.
I love to photograph nature and as I headed to Gloucester, I anticipated some great daffodil photo ops. Unfortunately the growing ones were just about done for the season and I didn’t have much luck with that. The festival was still great, however, with lots of people, pets, food, music and fun. Regardless of what they’re celebrating, small town festivals are the best!
No road trip is complete without finding a great place to eat and I discovered one that promised a “shell of a good time”.
The York River Oyster Company is located on the bank of the York River (surprise) and was just the kind of place that I was looking for. Being a sucker for waterfront dining with a fun atmosphere and great food, this place did not disappoint. We have a popular drink at the Virginia Beach oceanfront called the “Orange Crush” and here I found a version of it with a splash of cranberry juice. For starters I ordered a cup of she crab soup. I was impressed by the tiny cup of sherry and the delicious slice of cornbread with sweet whipped butter served on the side. Crab cakes are my favorite so for lunch I ordered a crab cake sandwich (without the bun) and a side salad. The crab cake was delish with plenty of lump crab meat and not a lot of filler. After all was said and done and as promised, I guess you could say I had “a shell of a good time”. If you’re ever in the area be sure to check it out!
Sounds like a sweet time!! It makes me wish I like seafood more than I do and especially crab cakes. They always look delicious but I’ve never acquired a taste for or any other seafood besides shrimp and flounder. However, I do love the source of seafood 🙂
Wow…sounds like a fun day…you surely do seek out fun and unique things to do!