USS Midway

Yes, another Navy ship tour.  We took the day off from our camp host duties and mounted up for a ride.  We headed south on I-5 for about 17 miles to Oceanside where we left the freeway and followed the coast road south.  We went through the seaside towns of Carlsbad, Luecadia, Del Mar and La Jolla among others.  There were lots of stop signs and stop lights but also some wide open stretches along pristine beaches.  There was also still a deep marine layer so we were glad we had dressed in warm layers.

We finally arrived in San Diego about 11:30 and made our way downtown to the Navy Pier where we parked and purchased our tickets to tour the USS Midway.   Dianna had a voice mail message from her Mom telling us about the earthquake in Chino Hills.  We were on the scooter at the time and felt nothing, but the ticket agent at the Midway said they felt it there.   After eating lunch at the snack bar on the fantail we toured the ship.  They provided audio tour headsets that gave good explanations of where to go and what we were looking at.

The Midway was built during the later part of WW II but was commissioned one week after the war ended.  She was the largest ship in the world at the time.  She subsequently served in the Korean War, the Vietnam War and was the Navy Flagship during Desert Storm.  During those years she was heavily modified twice, including the addition of the first angled deck in the US Navy.  After serving 47 years, the longest of any Navy ship in history, she was decommissioned in San Diego in 1992.  She opened as the USS Midway Museum in 2004.

We have toured other aircraft carriers and other Navy ships, but the Midway is the most recently active duty ship we have been on.  Partly because she was in service so recently, everything is in very good condition and they have done an excellent job of turning her into a museum.  Most of the ship looks like it could still go to sea with just a small amount of work.

We could see several other ships in the area from the deck of the Midway.  One was the Monarch of the Seas which was tied up to the next pier.  That is the cruise ship we will be taking from Los Angeles through the Panama Canal to Miami later this year.  We could also see the USS Nimitz and USS George Washington across the harbor.  They are two of the Navy's newest carriers and both are nuclear powered.  Instead of burning 100,000 gallons of fuel a day, as the Midway did for 47 years, the nuclear ships need refuling once every 24 years.

After all the walking and stair climbing we were really pooped by the time we left San Diego at about 4:30.  Of course, we immediately encountered rush hour traffic as we made our way north.  We stopped in Oceanside for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, then zipped on home.  The entire trip was 133 miles.  We're tired, but had a good time.  This was our first real tourist type outing since  we have been here.

Oh, my aching back

Our niece, Marie, took and passed her state boards last Wednesday and is now a licensed RN. She moved out of Mom & Dad's on Saturday to her apartment in Brea and started her new job at Anaheim General Hospital on Monday in the ICU department.

Mom wanted her carpets cleaned before moving furniture around so Mayela, their caregiver, and I moved furniture & "stuff" all day Monday before the cleaners came on Tuesday. The contract said they'd move light furniture but they didn't even move the dining room table to a different position to clean under it so I am glad we moved everything on Monday. The cleaners came Tuesday morning and then Mayela and I had to move everything back Tuesday afternoon. We had to move some furniture two or three times before Mom was satisfied! She still isn't but that was all our backs could take. Richard and I will finish up in a couple weeks when we go back.

We completely rearranged her furniture to open up their living areas. Daddy's eyesight is getting pretty bad from his macular degeneration. He takes such tentative steps when he walks so I wanted to make it easier for him to get around. He likes it much better.

Deidra and Dominic arrive on the fifth of August for two weeks. Julie is having a bridal shower for Marie on the ninth so we'll go up that weekend. She has a pool in her condo complex so the guys can go swimming there while Deidra and I enjoy the shower. Hopefully us gals will be able to take a dip before we leave.

Dayna just got back from a week in Boston attending a conference on forensic accounting. She talked to people at NCIS, the FBI and the IRS. They would have to relocate if she got a job at NCIS but could stay put for either of the other two. She got back to find her supervisor had quit, her position has been changed so she is doing clerk work instead of accountant work and moved to a different department where she doesn't get along with the people. So, she is now very actively pursuing these other avenues.

Brrrrrrrrr!

For all of you who are sweltering through another summer with the AC running, consider my plight.  Today it never hit 70 degrees and I had to wear my sweatshirt all day!  From the looks of the weather reports in the areas where most family and friends live, it appears most of you were in the mid to upper 90's today.  Looks like even those of you living in Phoenix are experiencing a cold wave with temps below 100.  Do all of you have your sweatshirts ready?

Other than staying warm, there is not much to say about our summer.  We are not bored, but there is not a whole lot going on either.  Dianna is visiting her parents again this weekend so I am "home alone".  We occasionally take a little ride somewhere, but mostly just enjoy the sceenery and weather here on the bluffs overlooking the ocean.  Retirement is a tough job, but I'm sure glad I get to do it.  :-)