Misc Photos

Demolition Men

demolition-men

Donna and I went to the Western Carolina State Fair this evening to watch the Demolition Derby. Judging by the crowd, so did a lot of people. The show was scheduled to start at 7:00, but it was well after and there wasn’t any action. Donna said, “If it hasn’t started by 7:20, we’re leaving.” I think they started playing the National Anthem at 7:19. We watched the first heat of six cars, but after that 20 minute session we had had enough.

We then roamed the fairgrounds looking for the 3 for $10 Mini-Funnel Cakes that one of Donna’s co-workers had told us about. This option seemed ideal as we could get one I wanted, one she wanted and another to share. The directions that we were give:, “Once through the main entrance hall it is the first one on the right.”

I asked the girl at the window for the Mini-Funnel Cakes and she said, “We don’t have them, they’re on the other side.” We walked across the fairgrounds to another funnel cake booth, the guy inside said, “We don’t have them and I don’t know of anyone who does.” I recommended circling around one more time. The third funnel cake booth we found didn’t display anything like small cakes and there was no mention of them on the menu so I didn’t even ask.

We didn’t check at the non funnel cake booths, so maybe they were at one of the cotton candy places or corn dog emporiums. Possibly they were available and it was like a speakeasy thing where you have to have a password. Or maybe the Mini Funnel Cakes are like one of those things that pranksters send rubes for that don’t really exist, like blinker fluid or a left-handed monkey wrench.

Yawn

yawn

Can you tell we’ve been to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia recently? Yesterday was the Valve Store’s Family Fun Day and instead of the usual picnic on the front lawn and handing out tickets to the Eastern Carolina Fair, the company gave everyone and their extended family tickets to the zoo and served us lunch there. Donna and I got there just as the gates opened and caught some of the animals before they had a chance to put on their game faces.

United States Custom House at Dusk

us-custom-house

Wandering around Charleston, South Carolina looking for just the right restaurant to buy a $100 dinner for two in to celebrate our 40th Anniversary.

4 Hours & 41 Minutes

Sunrise Over Hartsfield

We watched the sun come up while waiting to board our 8:20 AM flight and when we arrived at our destination 4 hours and 41 minutes later it was not even 10:00AM. That’s how long you have to sit in an airline seat to get from Atlanta to San Diego. We checked in, unpacked our suitcase and walked across the street to get our second lunch of the day. From there we walked a couple blocks south to visit the U.S.S. Midway.

It has been 40 years since I was last aboard and when I walked into the entrance area that led to the hanger deck I noticed it still smelled the same. We didn’t bother with the self guided tour and just wandered around on the tour route.

The only place that was really familiar was the mess deck, but that was mostly because the places that were open to the public were the surface Navy areas where I didn’t spend a lot of time in. Our berthing area was never always in the same spot each time aboard because our little detachment was only part of the Air Wing some of the time. I would have liked to think I could have found our little Maintenance Shack because it was in the same spot all the time, but I’m not so sure. But it didn’t matter as most of the aviation areas were not open to the public anyway.

We did take the guided tour of the island to to get to see the Bridge, the Chart House and PriFly (the airport tower.) Very interesting. The only time I was ever in the island while on board was to pass through on the way up to Vulture’s Row or the Crow’s Nest to take pictures of flight ops. Last stop was the Gift Shop on the fantail where I bought a hat and some postcards.