On this trip we planned to stop in Wilmington, NC so we could take a picture of the battleship U.S.S. North Carolina to use in the category of Giant Human Creations. Well if we had done a little research, we would have discovered the the ship was undergoing repairs to its hull in a dry dock right there on the Cape Fear River. Because of the work it was moved closer to the pier and inside a coffer dam making it partially hidden from view from shore. Also especially unhelpful was the half flooded parking area left over from hurricane Irma. So we missed out on the battleship.
We thought we were going to get a make-up opportunity in Newport News, VA this morning when we found a little tidbit in the throw away touristy magazine in our hotel room. An aircraft carrier was undergoing overhaul at the shipyard and is visible from Victory Landing Park. We could see part of the ship from the road in front of the shipyard, but as we got there you couldn’t see anything of the ship unless you were in the park itself. Trouble with that was the park is a walk-in place and Miatas, while probably small enough to drive on the walkways, that would probably be highly frowned on. So we missed out on the carrier.
We didn’t miss out on the supermarket right across the street from tonight’s hotel in Lexinton Park, Maryland. And while this morning’s trip down near the Newport News Shipyard didn’t net a giant human creation, it wasn’t a total loss because on display outside the yard is the very first ship they built, the tugboat Dorothy. A tugboat is worth two points in the Destinations category. We also scored 5 points for capturing a place of personal significance to us. Donna and I first met on the Patuxent River Naval Air station a little over 42 years ago. They don’t allow us mere civilians on base, so we stopped in and visited the museum just outside the gate.
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- Tugboat: We had hoped to get a Giant Human Creation of a aircraft carrier in dry dock at the Newport News Shipyard, but we couldn’t get a good angle on it, but in driving around looking we stumbled on the tug boat Dorothy, the first boat produced by the yards in 1890. (9/27/17)
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- Place of Personal Significance: In 1975 a very attractive E3 Airman Avionics Technician and a moderately handsome E4 Petty Officer 3rd Class Avionics Technician were assigned to fix several of the same pieces of electronics at AIMD on the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. A friendship developed. After a while their shop supervisor feared a romance was building, so he seperated them, she stayed on 1st shift and he was moved to 2nd. This ironically sparked the friendship into a romance. Forty two years later, 41 of them in marriage, the romance survives enough that the two of them still willingly cram themselves and their baggage in a small sports car and drive for days on end taking pictures of themselves, their car and random objects along the road. (9/27/17)
