san diego

Mark had a business trip to San Diego last week for a couple of days and I got to join him. He spent all of his daytime in meetings, but we were able to spend the evenings together. On Wednesday night we headed over to Petco Park for a Padres baseball game.
Here's the "padre", or Friar Frank:
There was a cold wind blowing that evening and we were freezing:
We stayed for 7 innings and headed back to the hotel to warm up. A night picture of the park.
The next day was warmer and there wasn't any wind. Yay! The temps still didn't get above 70 degrees, though. I spent time relaxing, reading, watching tv, and exploring the harbor. Along the harbor is this huge statue of a sailor kissing a nurse.
In the afternoon I took a harbor cruise and got to see the naval base, a bunch of sea lions, submarines, and one of the world cup sailboats out for a sail. I have pictures of all of those, but forgot to insert them. So, oh well. Maybe another post. The second evening we got to go to the the USS Midway. An aircraft carrier turned museum. The evening was a part of Mark's conference, so we got to explore and eat dinner on the ship. It was AMAZING! The ship was built and ready to go into WWII about 2 months before the war ended. Therefore, it never saw any action in WWII, but has been in every conflict since through Desert Storm. The ship was turned into a museum in 2004.


It is so huge! And yet so small when you consider the runway.
There are lots of aircraft on display out on the runway.
A look up at the flags. They represent a code or message, but we didn't get time to figure that out.
Touring around inside meant climbing up through these narrow ladders and steps.

I'm steering the boat!
Mark is the captain.
Another look at the runway.

He might be the captain, but I'm the boss -- it even says so on my chair.
They had a couple flight simulators up and running, so Mark took a turn. (I'm a chicken) He and his flight partner got to try out the controls while waiting for their turn inside the simulator.
Getting comfy inside.
Ready for takeoff!
UP...
and over.
Mark said it was a really fun ride. Maybe I shouldn't have been a chicken.
There was lots of other aircraft that you could explore inside. I'm amazed at all the buttons and switches inside the cockpit.


Dinner was a buffet of green salad, pastas, roast beef & potatoes, and desserts. It was very good. It was a short and sweet getaway for us since we flew home the next day, but much needed. The kids and Grandma Vawdrey did just fine without us. Many thanks to grandma
for being willing and available to spend a couple days caring for the boys so we could get away!