Virginia Beach (area) trip

So, as previously mentioned, Arthur was being sent to a conference in Virginia Beach and we got to tag along! Only one other co-worker went along and she brought her mom, Ms. Francis. She came with Tristan and I as we explored the area. Arthur was in training most of the day, but was able to come out during breaks, lunch, and after class on days we spent at the beach. We parked our stuff right outside the hotel where the training was. We were there for 8 days, but spent about 3 1/2 days on the beach. The weather was pretty bad half the time.
We actually stayed in Norfolk, which was only about 15 minutes away. We stayed in the Marriott Residence Inn- Norfok Airport, which was rated the number 2 hotel in Norfolk by Tripadvisor :) It was a VERY nice hotel. Very clean, lots of amenities and a great staff... the most important things to consider about hotels.... location is NOT everything! We had a kitchen, which was nice and we cooked dinner 4 or 5 nights.
This is the bedroom section of the room. I know I've said it before, but we just love Marriott's! Their beds are sooooo comfy!! Tristan slept on the pullout sofa and was quite happy there :)
This was the indoor pool that we had to ourselves practically the whole time! They also had tennis/basketball courts, a gym and a free hot breakfast buffet... it was yummy too.

We were NOT impressed with Norfolk. The traffic was horrible and the city itself was pretty rundown. We had to travel through miles of ghetto just to get downtown and when we got there, couldn't find a place to park b/c of some Latino festival they were having.... the roads were poorly maintained as well... we just didn't like it.

We did like Virginia Beach, but I also don't know how it compares to other Eastern beach towns. If Ocean City or Rehoboth Beach are nice... I would pick them over Va. Beach. I also know that we couldn't find a hotel on the beach that met Arthur's per diem rates b/c they were all over $200 a night... even the Econo Lodge was $282 a night!!! After seeing some of those hotels and how old and dingy they were.... there is NO WAY I would pay more than $100 a night for those... NO WAY. I also read the reviews about most of them and in general they weren't very good, so I dunno.

We will be back to the area though. Next time, we'll stay in Williamsburg and hit up Busch Gardens and Water country USA, in addition to all the historic stuff and maybe go to Va. Beach for a day or two :)