Serendipity!

The Exmore Diner located on Business Route 13 on Virginia's Eastern Shore. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 54mm; 1/1600th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

Serendipity:  

1.  an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident

2.  good fortune; luck

If you read my last post, you know that I spent the weekend on Virginia's Eastern Shore.  One weekend a year, a group of photography friends and I get together to photograph birds, wildlife and anything else we can find when exploring the backroads of that peninsula.  The Eastern Shore is one of those places where change comes slowly.

All in all, it was a very pleasant weekend.  Always the best part of the weekend is the fellowship, swapping of stories, etc.  As has been for the past few years now, there wasn't much in the way of migrating fowl, but the usual wading and shore birds were present.  A NWR ranger told me the migration patterns are changing.  I will be posting a few of my images of those in the near future.  

However, one of the guys showed me some images of a couple of places he found on his way to Chincoteague Island, which is where we stay for the weekend.  One of those places is the Exmore Diner, which I have pictured here.  I made it a mandatory stop on my way back south on Sunday.

Route 13 is the main north/south roadway that traverses the Eastern Shore through Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.  If you stay on Route 13, you are going to miss an awful lot of interesting things to photograph.  When approaching the many small towns along the way, you must divert to the business roads and get off the bypass roads.  Those small towns are throwbacks to a bygone era.  A case in point is this diner.  

Personally, I've traveled the Eastern Shore over a hundred times and have explored most of the backroads—both on the eastern and western side of Route 13.  However, somehow, I missed this diner.  When my friend Dave (TwoLaneTouring.com) showed me a couple of his images, I found it hard to believe I've missed this place over and over and over again.  It goes to show you that when you explore an area, you really need to explore it and not just drive through it.

The Exmore Diner first opened in 1954.  It hasn't been open continuously since but from what I've read it does a pretty good business these days.  Also, according to published stories, it is the only 'vintage diner' on the Eastern Shore.  It certainly is worth photographing.  I wish it had been open as I really would have like to gone in, eaten and made some images inside.  This is the first diner of this architectural style that I've seen that is yellow.  Very unusual, I suspect.

Just a reminder.  My wife and I will be moving this week so I am going to take the rest of the week off.  I'll be back next week with more interesting posts and photographs.  In the meantime, stay safe and stay sane.  

Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 25mm; 1/2000th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 17mm; 1/2000th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 24mm; 1/1600th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 16mm; 1/1600th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

Next time you are on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, as a photographer you owe it to yourself to stop by.  Have a meal also.  I would like to see this place continue to thrive and be around for another 60 years!

Join me over at my website, www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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