From Florida to Oregon

Mom, Dad? Where are you? When will you get home? We miss you!

But we were having so much fun on our first vacation together since 2006! If only Luke were a little older he could have come and enjoyed everything we were doing. It would take AnnaMae a few more years and she could have come with us. As it was, we had 4 flights to get home, and running through airports with the kids then shoving them on airplanes would have been a supreme pain. All things must come to an end, but not without lots of fun and enlightenment in between...

USS Alabama
Saturday we left New Orleans and headed toward Pensacola FL. To get there you cross the bottom of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and then Florida. It's only a 3 hr drive, but you see 4 states. On the way along the Gulf Coast we stopped at the battleship USS Alabama where they have a giant museum just outside of Mobile. It's really an all-day event, though we only had about 3 hrs. There was so much we didn't see!

I'll leave you a few pictures from the experience. The thing was massive...A true marvel of modern engineering, and it was de-commissioned over 60 years ago! All the wires, steel, and maze of hallways. With a full crew it held 2,500 men. I don't know where they all fit because once you get inside everything is so small. Where did they fit all the food for that many hungry men?

The thing was covered in guns. Almost every inch of open deck space was a weapon. We climbed into gun turrets, around gun turrets, and over gun turrets. Brian sat at many gun stations, some of which still moved around. We got photos of guns, saw the munitions storage, gun repair facility, and training areas where people practice loading the guns. This truly was a weapon of war. In 1944 it was on about 11 different missions, mostly in the Pacific, attacking Japanese positions and defending Aircraft carriers. We were interested to note how many Japanese tourists were visiting the battleship, taking photos and climbing around. How far relations have come in 60 years!

It took over a hundred men alone just to operate one battery of the giant guns you see in the photo behind me. A hundred men! I know little about today's military, but I have a feeling that it takes many fewer men to run our current large guns.

And think of the conditions- humidity, heat, storms, surrounded by enemies. All alone on a desert of blue. This is what sat out there protecting our Western shore from Eastern invasion. This ship was authorized to be built in 1934, although it wasn't commissioned until 1941. or '42. We knew early that we were going to war, and we had some incredible technology for the day. You can read typed reports of the Kamikazi attacks and what they recovered off the bodies of the dead pilots. Think of the honor and glory the Japanese were bestowed by their Emperor to attack the American ships. We also bestowed honor and glory for defending our way of life, and they proudly show how many Japanese airplanes they shot down painted on the superstructure as well.

What an honor to be allowed to travel back in time to see the real live tribute to our grandfathers. Boy Scouts can stay the night on the sip and really get a flavor of life on the sea.

On the ship they have a list of all the men who served there. I found a "Carl Hallock" which is the name of my uncle who has passed on- though I don't know if it's the same person (all Hallocks are related). He would have been the right age. My dad always lamented that he was too young to go to WWII, so his older brother was enlisted, and my grandpa Hallock was too old, however he was still re-commissioned as an electrician on the large ships (I don't know if he went out to sea or if he just worked in dock though). Every able hand was needed back then. America was pulling out of the Great Depression and we were more productive than we had ever been before.

An interesting side note, but when I took economics in High School, we looked at market trends. In America we go through 7 year cycles. Every 7 years we cycle from prosperity to recession. Every 70 years we have a much larger recessionary event. This current recession falls perfectly in line with the cycle and we had been warned a few years ago to be prepared. We should know better, and learn from history.

A question- do I look better with or without my glasses? I have the same glasses that I got back in 1994. I only use them for seeing things far away and driving at night. My office-mate, Justin, says that I act smarter when I wear my glasses. I think I just look more like a know-it-all librarian. Sophisticated or snobby? what do you think?

Pensacola, FL
We got into Pensacola late Saturday nite and found the house of the dear, sweet lady we were staying with, Jan Marie and her husband, the Colonel. Both were retired military, which is not surprising, since there are 7 military bases in Pensacola, and even NASA has a base within an hour of there. Pensacola is the oldest city in America, and it is celebrating 450 years this year. The King and Queen of Spain visited just last week (as all the locals were quick to tell you a dozen times while we were there).

Laura had visited here about a month ago, so when she was doing my nails before the trip she made me get my toes done in glitter so I could have pretty toes for walking on the beach. Everyone in my Sunday workshop LOVED the glittery toes, since papercrafters love "bling". Here are a few feet shots, just for you Laura, proving that my glittery toes out-sparkled the white beaches of Pensacola.

I had a workshop Sunday evening, so lunch time on Sunday was my only chance to visit the beautiful white beaches of Pensacola. Pensacola proper is on the mainland. To get to the beaches you need to drive across a 3 mile bridge and then out another bridge to get to Pensacola Beaches. This is a strip of land 1 mile wide at it's widest and 28 miles long.

All we could think of while visiting the beach was "Why would anyone be stupid enough to build out here when it is in a hurricane zone?" And according to our hosts, sure enough, during hurricane Ivan or something, the ocean water completely submerged the area.

The day we were out it was super cold and windy. They were also getting ready for their own local Mardi Gras parade, which we couldn't attend since I needed to be teaching a class that afternoon. So we had to park as close to the bridge as possible as not to get stuck by the parade. There were thousands of people out to see the parade. Parking was nearly impossible, and cars were parked between palm trees on the meridian of the road.

We really wanted more time to look around, but since it was so cold we ate our lunch and headed home. Brian went down to the water front the next day when I was teaching and he said it was warm, with no breeze, and no one was around. Go figure. As it was we wandered around the first main shopping area on the beaches, got some touristy photos and tried to stay out of the wind.

Did I mention it was cold? It was cold. I was in capris, a sweater, a scarf, and a jacket. Brian was without jacket or anything since he thought Florida was supposed to be warm. It's February for crying out loud! It's gonna be cold! I get cold just thinking about how cold it was, OK, maybe it was only in the 50's. But with the wind it was cold.

My class on Monday went very well, with about 30 - 35 people attending. I somehow picked up a cold on Sunday, so I had a sore throat sunday afternoon for my evening class, then was fighting a stuffed nose during my Monday class.

Monday during my class Brian headed down to the Navy Base to visit the air museum. They had over a hundred different restored planes. The best part is that it's free to visit.

Brian didn't have the camera with him, so no photos. If you ever get the chance to go he says it's great. Perfect for little boys wanting to climb in and out of airplanes, ride the flight simulator, and listen to war stories. If anyone needs a place to stay while in Pensacola, they can go look up the family we were with, since they have 2 guest rooms and a pool (too cold to go swimming though). Their house is a fabulous collection of antiques and trinkets from around the world.

Tuesday we flew home, and let me tell you- having your sinuses stuffed with 4 flights on one day was not a pretty event. Pensacola airport is about the size of Eugene, so we had to fly Pensacola to Dallas, Dallas to Denver, Denver to Portland, Portland to Eugene. In Portland we met up with Peter Raven who was on his way home from Arizona. Since it was fat Tuesday we left him with a few Mardi Gras beads to take to the family (out of our 80+ lbs that we shipped home). We got in around 9:30 to Eugene and got home around 10:15 pm.

Wed. I stayed home since I was sick and still recovering. The kids were thrilled to see us, and we promptly made a mess of the nice clean house we left last week. AnnaMae loved all teh beads we brought home. I think she would have played with them for hours if we let her.

Thursday I felt a little better, so I was hoping to only do a half- day of work. Hah! A week being gone and I had over 200 work e-mails waiting since Friday plus 70 some personal e-mails (most of which are work related). I am really behind on my artwork. So I had to work all day on Thursday.

Today is my 29th birthday. I don't feel 29. I don't know how old I feel, but it's not 29. Either older or younger. Younger when the kids aren't around, older when they are around. I guess it's the same with most people.

I gotta get going back to bed, but I had to update my blog, since it's my family journal. Have a great weekend!