Weekend in Cape Charles

I just returned from a girls weekend in Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore. Here is our trip recap, including a visit to the beach, lots of seafood, and strolls around the historic downtown.

My two friends, Hillary and Ellen, and I just returned from a nice girls weekend in Cape Charles!

Hillary and Ellen are my “Survivor Friends.” We love the show and have watched hours upon hours of it together. You might recall that five years ago we did a similar trip to Norfolk where we had a Survivor Retreat and watched a whole season together.

This time we didn’t have a season to watch (we’ve seen them all!), but we did weave Survivor themed activities into the weekend!

Destination: Cape Charles

We chose the coastal town of Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore for its proximity to Charlottesville (about a 3 hour drive) and charming downtown.

We all have followed the bloggers of Young House Love for years, and loved watching them renovate two houses in the town. And so we knew this would be the perfect spot for our trip!

If you’d like a great overview of Cape Charles or are considering a trip, check out John and Sherry’s Guide to Cape Charles. They lived there for a summer (before selling their rentals and moving to Florida!) and we used their post as a planner for our trip.

We rented a cute house a few blocks from the beach

Here’s the link on VRBO.

It was perfect for our weekend trip: great location, cute decor, 4 bedrooms (we had an extra one) and 3 full baths.

We drew rocks, Survivor style, to determine who got which bedroom.

Friday: Taste + Kiptopeke

On our drive down we played “Name That Tune” to fire themed songs. (Fire = Life in Survivor!)

The drive went so quickly without two kids in the car : )

We stopped at Taste to pick up sandwiches to take to Kiptopeke State Park for lunch.

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The weather was a bit cloudy, but we were thankful for no rain.

I had a lovely sandwich on ciabatta and THE BEST SEVEN LAYER BAR!

We ate on the water at a picnic table with views of the concrete WWII ships now home to thousands of birds! They are so creepy to see on the horizon – like a ghost town of ships.

Afterwards we hike-walked around the park for about an hour before heading to Cape Charles a few miles more north.

Downtown Cape Charles

We checked into our rental house and went on an exploratory walk around downtown Cape Charles.

Naturally our first stop was a visit to the Young House Love houses! So cool to see them in person. I would have LOVED to stay in one of these! (From the looks of VRBO, you can rent the Duplex now.)

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Downtown Cape Charles was much more vibrant than I expected! Lots of cute shops and restaurants. Most people were wearing masks, as did we.

Cape Charles Beach

We knew coming in September was a gamble with the weather, and it was too cold for swimming.

I would love to bring my family back here in the summertime! The Chesapeake Bay is calmer than the ocean, and even at high tide the water is shallow. There are epic tide pools – perfect for young kids.

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We also need to come back when the famous shaved ice stand is open!

Drinks + Dinner at the Shanty

We had happy hour on the porch of our house – cheeses and crackers we brought in a cooler from home (plus pimento cheese from Taste!). Plus we did a rosé tasting with wines we brought from home.

We agreed we wouldn’t eat inside restaurants to minimize exposure. We had planned to get take out from restaurants and eat at our house, but luckily Friday was warm enough to eat outside.

At the YHL recommendation, we went to Shanty for seafood.

It was dark already – so here is a flashy pic of our fried oysters, hushpuppies, and paprika Brussels. We also had Angry Calms that were divine! The service was great too – shout out to Becky!

Game Night

Hillary and Ellen LOVE games, and we played them all weekend! They taught me how to play Sushi Go, which was really fun, and then we played Jeff Probst bingo! (Sushi = rice = Survivor!)

Saturday Morning

On Saturday morning we slept in (!), drank coffee, enjoyed yogurt bowls with homemade pumpkin muffins, and headed out for a walk-run.

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I covered about 5 miles between a HIIT run and a power walk all around town.

Lunch: Deadrise Pies and Mason Street Bakehouse

We picked up salads from Deadrise Pies and bread from the Mason Street Bakehouse to DIY lunch at home.

Blustery Beach Visit

We had hoped to spend a day on the beach, reading books and wading into the water.

However it was SO windy and sand was blowing in our faces, so we said hello and went back to our cozy home for more games!

We played Azul and then this cool game with rubies and jewels and enjoyed this delicious wine.

Dinner at The Oyster Farm

The Oyster Farm came recommended and we chose it for our second night’s dinner.

Again we debated between getting take out or sitting out in the open air and the views called to us! It was a bit chilly, but we loved the vista.

We loved the fresh raw Virginia oysters paired with Sauvignon Blanc.

And we shared three small plates – Thai shrimp, lobster mac and cheese, and sesame ahi tuna. Plus a wonderful crab dip as an encore!

That pink sunset!

And last but not least, Brown Dog Ice Cream. We had purchased two pints from the take away window earlier in the day.

OMG, you guys, this was the absolute best ice cream! They had tons of amazing flavors. We had both Vanilla Caramel Brownie and Pumpkin Candied Pecan and we couldn’t choose a favorite.

And that’s a wrap of our weekend in Cape Charles!

Outwit. Outplay. Outlast!