My first experience with Virginia Beach and poison sumac left me itching to return

In May of 1990, as a sales manager with my company, I was asked to help train a new salesperson in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, an area that includes Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Newport News. The young lady would have this beautiful area as her “territory” and it was full of great potential.

Unfortunately, the time I was needed coincided with our 15^th wedding anniversary so that meant I’d be away for that big day but my wife and I made plans to celebrate after I returned from my weeklong trip. We were scheduled to work in the Virginia Beach area on the second day. Although I had been in the Hampton Roads area while playing ball in college, I had never been to Virginia Beach. The area was beautiful. The beach itself was clean, the concrete “boardwalk” had a brand-new bike path, the ocean was lovely and there were a multitude of hotels and restaurants in the area.

I resolved to take the family to Virginia Beach for a week’s vacation in August. Soon after I arrived home, I made the reservations for the trip. We would be staying at the Sheraton Hotel, right on the beach. Out the door and onto the sand … you can’t beat that. As the summer progressed, the kids got very excited about the trip. Rosie was 11 and Mike was 8 and they, like Luann and I, looked forward to this new adventure. They were especially interested in the travel route, since it would involve taking us over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. This 17-mile-long feat of engineering was something to behold, as it took you both above and under the bay.

Two days before the trip, the radiator in my car sprung a leak and had to be replaced. Thankfully, this happened while we were home and not on the trip so I had no problem taking the car to a local radiator shop to get the job done. In shorts and T shirt, sitting in the waiting room, I started chatting with Joe, the owner. One thing led to another and when he found out that I sold specialty chemicals, he asked me if I had anything that would kill poison sumac. Being raised in the city, I wasn’t familiar with that particular plant but did have a terrible encounter with poison oak one summer. I asked to see the area involved and he took me behind the shop. As I approached the mini jungle, I had trouble seeing the plant so I took a closer look. I checked my product data sheets and determined that our best “weed killer-soil sterilant” would indeed take care of his problem. So, I made the sale which made me happy since it would offset some of the cost of my new radiator.

A win-win situation?
About an hour later, I started to itch, first my leg, then my arm. I jumped into the shower but it was too late. Blisters were beginning to erupt. By the next morning, I had a bunch of them on both legs, both hands and both arms. They varied in size from tiny to marble size with the largest being on my left knee. I went to the doctor’s and she confirmed it was poison sumac.

Although I was not contagious, the family didn’t want to come near me. I was covered with Calamine lotion, gauze pads and tape. I looked like a cast member from the “The Mummy.” Of course, I had to have some fun with the situation, so at the right time I would sneak up on my kids and walk toward them, zombie-like just to hear their squeals as they scurried away.

The trip was still on. If I had to drive the 300 or so miles to Virginia Beach, at least I could control the itch with the medicine the doctor prescribed. The fellow vacationers would just have to get used to my appearance. I engaged in some wishful thinking that things weren’t that bad and I would be able to do everything I planned. So, to confirm my beliefs, I called my brother-in-law Fred, a brilliant physician who specializes in infectious diseases.

“Fred, I guess the salt water will do the blisters good, right”?

“No, there are bacteria in the water so you best stay out”

“But at least the sunshine will help dry them up, right”

“No, it will only serve to irritate them. Better keep out of the sun as much as possible. Just keep using the Calamine and keep them dry.”

So much for my medical opinions!
However, the trip came off and we made it there OK. I wore shorts and T shirts every day and had my share of quizzical looks on the bike paths. The biggest saving grace was that that the poison sumac had no adverse effect on my appetite. The first night there we discovered “Captain George’s,” a fantastic seafood buffet. Nothing makes you forget about a case of poison sumac more than a dish of shrimp and scallops along with some hush puppies from the Captain!

We enjoyed the trip so much that we returned to Virginia Beach three times. We visited the Captain on the first night of each trip. Those times the only itch in the restaurant, happily, was the “scratch” I needed for the cost of the meals.