Friday, July 11, 2003

PLANES! EVERYWHERE!

Thats right, kids, its day 2 in norfolk. This morning we got up at the buttcrack of dawn, got breakfast, then drove the 20 minutes out to virginia beach so that we could take the HRT(Hampton Roads Tranportation) exclusive tour of the Naval Air Station at Oceana, the largest NAS in the world. We got there early, so i had time to walk around the beach in my bare feet for a while. Such a pretty town, beautiful beach, etc etc etc.

We took the tour of the base, and got to have lunch at the officers club on the base. Saw alot of incredible aircraft, f-14's, f/a-18's, E-6's, f-16's(why air force jets were on a naval base, well never know) and had 2 great tour guides to give us all the information. We were able to get on the "flightline" as the military guys call it, which is the tarmac where all the aircraft are parked right by the runways. After lunch, we went to what they call "The Petting Zoo" which is where they take 1 of every aircraft the navy has ever used and put them all in a row so people can walk up to them and see what they look like and feel like as well as get a real scale of size. We also got bumper stickers for me and my mom that say "I (heart) Jet Noise - The Sound of FREEDOM" So funny! Why is it funny? Cause its true! There were full squadrons of aircraft flying around the base, i tried taking some pictures of them, but because they have the gull grey low vis paint job on them, it was impossible to get pictures to come out. Which is the point of that paint scheme! It was awesome. Nothing i could write here could do it the slightest bit of justice. Youll just have to look at the pictures on my website, which are now up for the first 2 days!

Day 1 - Downtown Norfolk and the Harbor Cruse Tour
Day 2 - Virginia Beach and Oceana Naval Air Station

I hope you all check them out! Im having a blast here, and those pictures are a good representation of whats going on!

Tonight is going to be pretty low key, maybe go swimming, get something to eat (30 minutes inbetween of course ;-) and probably an early bedtime. Tomorrow is the big commissioning, and we have to be there in our seats by 10 AM, however there are going to be 20,000 people there according to our tour guide on the bus today, so im thinking we need to get there alittle early. Im sure to have plenty of awesome pictures from tomorrow, its going to be one hell of a ride. Leave me some love in the chatterbox and let me know what you think of the pictures!

I know you all miss me ;-)

(psst, i miss you, katie!)

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Positive: BOATS! AND NOW PLANES!
Negative: So frigging hot here, its over 110 heat index...blah
Quote: "That plane is for anti-submarine warfare, but they dont use it for that anymore, cause noone has squat on our subs anymore..." - Tim, the Navy officer who did some tour guide stuff for us who is a member of VFW - 101, The Grim Reapers
Song of the day: God Bless America
Cool Mac Moment: .Mac, for letting me post my pictures on my website!
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