On the High Seas

How did we spend our Monday? The first day of 'full blown' school? We spent it touring the USS Ronald Reagan, one of the biggest air-craft carriers in the whole fleet! Well, Isaac, Abi, and I did, Dad was at work and Mom had to take Bear home because they wouldn't let him on the ship (not exactly sure why, but what security says goes). Bear was a little disappointed until Mom told him that he could watch some Little Einsteins at home. That cleared the whole matter up real quick.

The USS Ronald Reagan is HUGE and my pictures do not do it justice, at all. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the ship from the parking lot where you could actually get the scope for its size. So you'll just have to trust me when I say it is HUGE. After meeting our 'tour guide' and receiving our 'Escort Required' tags :

we began our tour. (The ship is not a tourist attraction, but when you have great friends who are happy and able to make these things happen for you, you jump at the chance.)

This was right under the flight deck. That line going across the picture was pretty much the halfway marker, so imagine three football fields and that's about the size of this area. All of the planes that this ship carries can fit in here. That's what I said, it's HUGE.

It was all very busy. There is a large difference between an active ship and a war memorial like the USS Missouri, that's for sure. Quite a bit of physical exertion was required on our tour.

We saw:

The chains that hold the anchors. We walked through halls with the constant danger of tripping and doing much personal damage (whatever you hit would probably go unharmed).

And last but certainly not least, the flight deck. I could not count how many planes were up there, though I'm quite sure our guide told us that. I was too busy taking pictures.

This is a prop plane - the big disk shape on top is a satellite. The prop plane's job is surveillance. It has to be my favorite type of plane, not that I know all that much about what they do and how they do it, I just think they look cool :)

Thank you, Mr. Wischmeier!!!

~RML