So it was Fleet Week in New York. Everywhere you turned you could see groups of navy officers exploring the city. There were lots of special ships and such docked at the harbor for the week for the public to peruse. We originally thought we would explore the USS Intrepid, but when we got to the dock, we found another aircraft carrier, the USS Wasp, was allowing free tours. Free admission rules, so off we went to explore! The wasp is a "smaller" carrier in that it only has helicopters landing on it, rather than planes, so the flight deck is much smaller, but impressive none the less. There were several helicopters on the deck for people to explore. The kids chose this one -- and I don't even remember what kind it was and didn't take an outside picture! Anyway, there were seats for about 24 troops, although at max capacity it could lift 50.
The kids patiently waited in the seats to get a chance to crawl into the cockpit. All those switches, gauges, buttons, dials, and screens are amazing! I love Zach's serious face here.
The kids also had a marvelous time climbing all over the forklifts that were parked around on the deck. I don't think they were really supposed to do that, but they did anyway, and no one told them no (except us parents, of course).
Down below the flight deck in the cargo area, there was a variety of army vehicles to peruse including this troop truck, a tank, a cannon, a hummer, and several others.
Can't remember which cockpit this seat is from, but Jacob & Matthew each had to climb up the tiny little one-person ladder to get in there. Jacob tried on the night-vision helmet too! I think he's got some growing room in it.
We spent a hot and humid, yet very interesting, morning aboard the Wasp. Awesome.
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