So Long San Diego

Today was our last day in San Diego. We had to catch our flight tonight so the beach was out. Instead, we headed down to the USS Midway aircraft museum. The museum is located in a retired aircraft carrier right on the water in the San Diego harbor. Before the trip, Alison researched the museum and thought it would be a cool place to visit. Her grandfather, Vail Nielson, served in the Navy during World War II on the Shasta, an ammunition ship. He trained in San Diego. Alison is really proud of her family heritage. We talked a lot about her grandpa and his experiences on this trip.

The Midway was a really interesting place. There were a lot of old planes and helicopters on board. We wandered around learning about the history of the Midway. It was commissioned a week after the end of WWII. It was the longest-serving carrier operating for 42 years. We saw a lot of interesting exhibits on the ship. There was an exhibit showing how a plane engine worked. Blake enjoyed walking us through the mechanics of an engine. We also listened to a presentation about how planes landed on the carrier. It required a great amount of finesse. A plane would come in fast and catch a wire, which would take it from 160mph to 0 in seconds. They would then have to quickly taxi the plane out of the way because planes would land every 45 seconds. We also found out there were four carriers in the harbor. The Midway and three active carriers. It is very unusual to have that many aircraft carriers in San Diego. There are three for a few days because a new Vice Admiral, Nora Tyson took charge of the fleet in San Diego.

One of the most interesting areas of the ship was the command center. The Midway was the flagship during Desert Storm. The command center area is set up exactly like it would have been during the battle. It was interesting to see the old technology they used to execute the attack. It was also interesting to hear Blake and Debbie talk about their memories of watching Desert Storm on CNN. This area was the highlight of the museum. At one point we saw a quote that I really liked. It said, "All gave some and some gave all." We are blessed to enjoy the freedoms and opportunities provided by this great nation and those blessings have a cost. It has been paid by great men and women who have risk and have risked their lives to protect those freedoms.

After exploring the Midway we headed over to old town San Diego. We wanted to see the Mormon Battalion visitors center. We thought it would be like any of the other church visitors centers -- a go at your own pace/see some church artifacts kind of a deal. It was much different than that. We arrived and got signed up for a guided tour. While we waited for our tour to start we watched part of Meet the Mormons. When it was time for our tour a sister came to get us. She took us to a room with a bunch of pictures and started telling us about the Mormon Battalion. Then the pictures came alive and were part of her presentation. It was a little cheesy. The remainder of the presentation was a series of videos and discussion about the Battalion, their march, and their time in San Diego. It was really interesting (and also a bit cheesy). It did do a really good job of teaching us a lot of details about the Mormon Battalion in a fun and interesting way.

Once we wrapped up the tour we headed back to Old Town to get some lunch. We found a good place to get Mexican food. I got the strangest burrito. It was called the California burrito. It had steak, fries, and cheese in it. It was so good and so greasy. After lunch, we walked around Old Town. Alison and I found a Christmas ornament to buy. We have a tradition of buying an ornament from everywhere we visit. Then it was time to call it. We headed to the airport and came home.

This trip was a great way to end my last summer before I start work. It was fun to relax and play in the sun.