Sittin around.
I've been doing a lot of sitting around lately. Thankfully I've been in some pretty cool places and decent hotels. I wish i had my camera with me on this rotation because I could have gotten a lot of great pics. I spent my weekend in the Oakland/San Fran area and I'm spending the holiday by myself in Anderson, S.C.
I had not been to San Fran since I was a kid, so it was cool to go check out. Seeing as how I'm such a huge History Channel dork, there were a lot of historical things to go check out. My new all time favorite place to hang out is the USS Hornet. It sits docked at the old Alameda Naval Air Station and was about a 20min walk from my hotel. I spent 7 hours there on Sunday and still didn't get to see everything. In fact, my clothes that I wore that day still smell like aircraft carrier. It was awesome to have followed in the footsteps of Neil Armstrong as he first returned to Earth from the Moon. (The Hornet was the aircraft carrier that picked the crews of Apollo 11 and 12 from the ocean) I was able to take 2 tours of the ship. The first was the engine room tour that brought us into the depths of the ship. We got to see the engine rooms, parts of the galleys, the catapult, brig, weapons assembly room and a host of other sights that you cannot see on your own. The second tour was of the Island above the flight deck. I got the chance to sit in the Captains chair.....pretty neat stuff. The ship is a historical landmark. Every inch of the nearly 900ft long ship has a story to tell. From fighting the Empire of Japan in WWII to the coasts of Vietnam, the Hornet saw it all. It was difficult to soak in all the history involved with the ship. I'm still contemplating things I saw that day. If I ever get the chance to go back, I'll get there even earlier next time to I can spend the entire day there. Absolutely astounding!
That was Sunday. On Saturday the Captain and I walked down to the docks to catch a ferry over to San Fran. For 11 bucks we caught a ride to and from the Fisherman's Wharf area of the city. I don't remember much about my last trip to S.F because it was so long ago, but I do remember seeing a picture of me sitting on a crapper in a cell at Alcatraz. I have vague recollections about a story told to us on the ferry over to the island that they had a trained shark to swim around the island. I know its a bunch of BS now, but back then I thought it was cool. We went over to where they sell the tickets for the Alcatraz tour and to our dismay they were sold out until the next Thursday. (Note to self: plan ahead on vacations) So we then proceeded to see the sights around the area including Lombard Street, the Seals in the bay, all the seafood restaurants and the SS Jeremiah O'Brien. Again, thanks to the History Channel and Modern Marvels for my prior knowledge about the ship. It was cool to go see in real life.
Here are some more gratuitous pics of "been there, done that".
The view from my hotel room in Queretaro, Mexico
I'm probably going to get thrown in some sort of CIA jail, but here's a pic of White Sands Missile Test Range that I snapped on our way into ELP.
I had not been to San Fran since I was a kid, so it was cool to go check out. Seeing as how I'm such a huge History Channel dork, there were a lot of historical things to go check out. My new all time favorite place to hang out is the USS Hornet. It sits docked at the old Alameda Naval Air Station and was about a 20min walk from my hotel. I spent 7 hours there on Sunday and still didn't get to see everything. In fact, my clothes that I wore that day still smell like aircraft carrier. It was awesome to have followed in the footsteps of Neil Armstrong as he first returned to Earth from the Moon. (The Hornet was the aircraft carrier that picked the crews of Apollo 11 and 12 from the ocean) I was able to take 2 tours of the ship. The first was the engine room tour that brought us into the depths of the ship. We got to see the engine rooms, parts of the galleys, the catapult, brig, weapons assembly room and a host of other sights that you cannot see on your own. The second tour was of the Island above the flight deck. I got the chance to sit in the Captains chair.....pretty neat stuff. The ship is a historical landmark. Every inch of the nearly 900ft long ship has a story to tell. From fighting the Empire of Japan in WWII to the coasts of Vietnam, the Hornet saw it all. It was difficult to soak in all the history involved with the ship. I'm still contemplating things I saw that day. If I ever get the chance to go back, I'll get there even earlier next time to I can spend the entire day there. Absolutely astounding!
That was Sunday. On Saturday the Captain and I walked down to the docks to catch a ferry over to San Fran. For 11 bucks we caught a ride to and from the Fisherman's Wharf area of the city. I don't remember much about my last trip to S.F because it was so long ago, but I do remember seeing a picture of me sitting on a crapper in a cell at Alcatraz. I have vague recollections about a story told to us on the ferry over to the island that they had a trained shark to swim around the island. I know its a bunch of BS now, but back then I thought it was cool. We went over to where they sell the tickets for the Alcatraz tour and to our dismay they were sold out until the next Thursday. (Note to self: plan ahead on vacations) So we then proceeded to see the sights around the area including Lombard Street, the Seals in the bay, all the seafood restaurants and the SS Jeremiah O'Brien. Again, thanks to the History Channel and Modern Marvels for my prior knowledge about the ship. It was cool to go see in real life.
Here are some more gratuitous pics of "been there, done that".
The view from my hotel room in Queretaro, Mexico
I'm probably going to get thrown in some sort of CIA jail, but here's a pic of White Sands Missile Test Range that I snapped on our way into ELP.
posted by Windsor at 6:40 PM
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