USS Midway, Kiss Statue and Bob Hope

The folks visited San Diego again on Saturday.  Dad wanted to tour the USS Midway.  Mom wasn't thrilled about it because they had just toured the USS Hornet near San Francisco.  However, Mom said this one was more fun and it was pretty crowded.  The USS Hornet had more employees than visitors which is sad.  The Midway gives visitors headphones so that they can take an audio tour. Mom always finds tours more interesting when there is an audio tour.

They started off their visit eating lunch on the deck.  Mom had a BLT and said it was really good.

This was their view while eating.  The netting is to keep the birds out, but there were still some birds inside.

The USS Midway was commission in 1945.  It was the largest ship at the time and was too large for the Panama Canal.  It had a crew of 4,500.  600 men in engineering, 225 cooks, 200 pilots, 40 corpsmen, 5 physicians, and 3 dentists.  They served 10 tons of food daily. 13,500 meals were served daily.  Each day they went through 3,000 potatoes, 1,000 loaves of bread, 4,500 pounds of beef and if pies were served, they would go through 500.

The USS Midway was decommissioned in 1992.  It opened in 2004 as a museum. 1 million people visit the museum each year.

There were several flight simulators on board. The folks didn't do that, but they along with many others laughed at a woman who screamed throughout her entire ride.  They thought she was an older woman, but turned out to be in her twenties. 

They toured the flight deck, the barracks and basically saw what life was like on board the ship.  They also watched a movie called the Battle of the Midway. The Midway was not involved in the battle, but the ship was named after it.  They said the movie was really good.

This is the flight deck. It is 4.02 acres according to the brochure.

A ship that takes people on a cruise of the bay.

A view of part of Seaport Village.

Unconditional Surrender Statue

Bob Hope tribute

Bob Hope

MetLife Blimp

The weather was beautiful on Saturday and the folks had a good time learning about the USS Midway.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Would Love To Run On The USS Midway

Seaport Village - 20 Years Later

The folks visited Seaport Village 20 years ago and Mom wanted to go back.  It was a place that she fell in love with back then. 

Seaport Village is in San Diego and is built on the water.  It consists of shops and restaurants. The shops all have a theme such as kites, wind chimes, candles, eye wear, shirts, etc.  The first time the folks visited, Mom had never seen anything like it and thought it was so much fun.

The wind chime shop.

Dad said they stayed at the Marriott last time.

The duck pond.

A lantana plant.  Mom loves lantanas. 

The folks ate at a seafood restaurant while there.

This was their view.

Inside the restaurant.  Almost every table has a water view.

Fried pickles

 Mom had fish and chips.  Dad had a seafood platter. They said it was good.  No leftovers for me.

This guy thought he might get some food, but there is glass between him and the folks. He was outside their window for most of their stay.

Mom enjoyed visiting Seaport Village again.  She said it didn't have the same magic as it did 20 years ago.  She didn't expect it would.  She still enjoyed it though.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Happy That The Sun Is Shining Again

El Nino Has Arrived

The first thing Mom said when she found out we were coming to the San Diego area was El Nino.  She had heard that this area was going to be hit hard. They showed videos of past flooding on the news which made Mom nervous.  Well, our first taste of El Nino arrived on Monday.  Monday was just a few showers but people were flipping out.  Tuesday, we had heavy rain.  It rained most of the day.  Wednesday, we had some heavy rain but it was not as bad as Tuesday.  However, on Wednesday we had thunder.  Thunder is not common here.  Then, we had a tornado warning issued.  At first, we didn't think it was for us, but they repeated it and it was for us.  Mom opened up the windows so she could hear if the sirens were going off. They weren't.  The skies were white.  Mom has never seen white skies when a tornado warning has been issued.  She decided it wasn't real.  They came on the news again and said it was heading straight for us and that it would just pop out of the clouds.  They also said that San Diego County does not have tornado sirens.  The radar did show a large red blob headed towards us which usually means very heavy rain.  Mom decided that maybe we should take shelter in the bath house since it is a brick building.  She packed up a blanket for me and a towel to dry me off since we would be walking in the rain and put those in a trash bag.  We headed to the bath house.  No one else was there.  We felt kind of silly and probably looked homeless.  She checked her phone and the warning had been cancelled.  BOL!  Mom realized she didn't take her purse with us so that could have been a problem if a tornado had taken our RV away.  She needs to be better prepared for the next time.  After we got home, we received a text from Dad asking if we were doing okay.  He later told us that there was hysteria at his work over the tornado warning. He asked if a tornado had been spotted or if it was radar indicted.  No one knew what that meant. Thank goodness it turned out to be nothing.

Mom's main concern here has been flash flooding and mudslides. The news people have been very upset about the weather and Mom has learned it it best not to watch much.  After Tuesday's rain, she decided we were going to be fine.  She talked to a worker here today and he said that they usually loose a tree after heavy rain, but that is about it.  We have been watching the lake levels and they look about the same even though the water comes from the mountain. That is what our brochure says.  There has been a little bit of mud and debris on the streets, but they have been cleaning it up quickly. 

Our satellite has been going out a lot with the rain, but Mom hooked up the cable so we haven't had a loss in programming.  We can't miss our programming.  If anyone watches Days of Our Lives you know why.  BOL!

Do you want to see some photos from our park?  Sure you do!  BOL!

A little bit of mud came down.  Mom pictured the whole thing coming down.

We like the big rocks here.

Water coming into the lake.  It was faster last night.

One of the three lakes.  Mom likes watching the ducks.

Our street. See the hills in the background.  We are surrounded by hills.

These RVs are below us.

Another view of our street.  You can see on the left how the RVs are down a level.

 

We wondered if they would have mud in their sites.  They didn't.

Our wet site. The backside of us is a street.

This is the dog park.  It is huge.

Dog park.

However, the dog park is full of holes. There were some really large ones, but they filled most of them in on Monday.  This is a small one.  We saw a Jack Russell fall in a hole.  I haven't been able to run due to the holes.

 

Do you see the RVs near the top of the photo?  They are at the highest point We haven't walked up there yet.

This sign hangs on the restroom door.  It just appeared one day.  Makes you wonder. 

Rainy days are good for sleeping

...and watching TV.

We have three more days of predicted rain and then a break for a day or two and then more rain.  We think the worst is over for now.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Not Fond Of This El Nino Guy