Southside Daily

Virginia Beach has its very own ‘Miss Frizzle,’ and she has a nature bus to prove it

Melanie OcchiuzzoMay 19, 2019

Suzanne Moss drives the Nature Bus and brings people right into nature. (Southside Daily/courtesy of Dafna Sonnenthal)
Suzanne Moss drives the Nature Bus and brings people right into nature. (Southside Daily/courtesy of Dafna Sonnenthal)

VIRGINIA BEACH — Suzanne Moss is the owner and driver of the region’s very own Nature Bus, which she uses to take people on nature experiences around the state.

Three years ago Moss embarked on her journey to bring her nature-loving dreams to fruition by helping people connect with nature on the deepest level.

Moss is a retired elementary school teacher of 20 years and she’s always been very passionate about nature and the outdoors.

“I was always looking out the windows and wanted to be outdoors,” she said.

Teaching was an indoor job so now that she’s no longer “on the job,” she’s spending as much time as she can outside, she said.

The Nature Bus seeks to nurture peoples’ affinity for the natural world, according to the website’s mission statement.

Moss sees herself as a ‘nature-preneur’ and wants to use her nature experiences to serve not just people but the planet.

Starting in June, Moss has developed a packed schedule of nature experiences for every day of the week.

Riders of the bus can do anything from bird watching to touring the Eastern Shore, to learning about boating and even get a special historical tour of Virginia Beach every Thursday.

Moss partnered with several local and state organizations to help her programs run smoothly and uses those partnerships to broaden the scope of what people can learn and see on her nature experiences.

Her first partnership was the REI and in addition to working with the company she gets to use their parking lot as a launch point for her bus programs.

Moss also encourages people to check out her custom nature experiences where she works with groups to design an experience that will fit their needs.

She has an entire page devoted to the different kinds of nature experiences people can choose from called Imagine the Possibilities.

How to get on the Nature Bus

There are three different ways that people can get on the Nature Bus.

The first and recommended way is to visit her website, register for the particular experience and sign the waivers online, she said.

Second people can come straight to the REI parking lot at Pembroke Mall on a tour day to see if there are any seats available and sign up right then and there.

Finally, the Nature Bus drives up and down the hotel strip along Atlantic Avenue and people can hop on the bus from there if there’s room, she said.

To find out all the different kinds of experiences the Nature Bus provides, click here.

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