Veterans Day is the day we should be remembering all the service men and women that are the very reason you are able to be reading this blog in English and as a free American. Check out the link for a brief history of Veterans Day.
Everyone should be required to serve two years in the military; that would solve a lot of problems. At the very least, we wouldn’t have political hacks making decisions about our military and ultimately the safety of our country when the closest they’ve ever been is eating a TV dinner and watching an episode of McHale’s Navy.
King’s Hawaiian bread has a bakery & cafe just off the 405 in Gardena – YUM YUM!!
In honor of Veteran’s Day, we thought we would take a little ride down to San Diego and tour the Aircraft Carrier Midway. I did some research and noticed that the Battleship USS Iowa is on display at the LA Harbor, right next to the Cruise Ship dock. That’s kinda on the way to San Diego so we decide to stop there as well.
First things first – Gotta put some fuel in the furnace. I was going to stop at the Gaffey Street Diner (a Diners Drive-Ins and Dives location) down in San Pedro, but I had me a hankerin for some Hawaiian. We used to make chow runs to this place when I worked at LAX. The parking lot always has cop cars in it, so you know the food has to be good and reasonably priced – Perfect!!
Spam & Egg Musubi – now THAT’s Good Eats.
If I’m stopping at The Local Place I’ll be having at least one of these culinary delicacies. It’s a simple thing, just some fried spam and a sliver of egg, surrounded by steamed rice wrapped up in a sheet of Nori (edible seaweed). Now, I know that many of you would rather eat a green bug, but they are very good. Hawaiians love their Spam. When they are stocking up for hurricanes in Hawaii one of the first things the stores sell out of is Spam. They have other VERY good food at the Local Place so you don’t have to eat spam if you don’t want to. Also, if it comes with bread, that bread is of course King’s Hawaiian sweet bread, everything is most excellent I assure you. Okay, back on the bike…
Designed in 1938 and built in 1940 when the closest thing they had to a computer was a slide rule, the Iowa-class Battleships (six were made) are quite a feat of engineering. These battleships were fitted with an amazing amount of firepower. Nine 16 inch guns capable of firing at targets up to 23 miles away and other guns of every shape and size all over the place. It has to be seen to be appreciated. The Iowa-class remain the most heavily armed gun ships the United States ever put to sea. The USS Iowa is a very interesting museum with an equally interesting history. I could go on and on but if you’re interested, go ahead and click on the links and you can read much more about it. The walk through of the USS Iowa only takes about an hour (you can stay longer) and is worth every minute.
Robin had planned to ride with me but ended up driving down a day early for more grand baby time. She did hop on the bike for the short ride over to the Midway museum. We planned to go alone but Stephanie thought it would be a good outing for everyone so we got on the bike and Stephanie and the granddaughters followed close behind.
On the deck of CV-41 the Aircraft Carrier USS Midway.
The Aircraft Carrier Midway is huge, you could easily spend the whole day there. The flight and hanger decks are filled with military aircraft over the years including helicopters. Many of the aircraft have dedicated docents and really, there are docents all over the place (same thing on the USS Iowa) that are more than happy to share information and/or stories for as long as you want to listen. I was amazed at the vastness of the maze of hallways and compartments inside the ship. I guess you’d figure it out since you wouldn’t be going anywhere else for a while, but I’d imagine it’s gonna involve some getting lost.
The little girls were absolute angels but we didn’t want to press our luck and were on and off the Midway in just over an hour. It was a very good introduction and we’re all looking forward to a future visit and a more in depth experience.
Unconditional Surrender Statue in Tuna Harbor Park, just south of the USS Midway
San Diego is definitely a Navy town and we couldn’t resist stopping here before we left. I’m glad Stephanie was there so I didn’t have to find someone to take the picture. The Unconditional Surrender statue has an interesting history. It is “The Kiss” from Times Square but the artist said he based it on a photo taken by a Navy photographer Victor Jorgensen rather than the more famous shot (same people & time just a better angle) taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, The Navy guy’s image is public domain while Alfred’s is registered & copyrighted, etc.
Across the harbor, the Ronald Regan Nuclear Air Carrier getting some fresh paint.
Moving and inspirational thoughts on Veterans Day have been voiced by people much more eloquent than I. So, instead of trying to come up with something new, or quoting someone else, I would just like to thank all the veterans out there and their families that support their servicemen and women. Without our strong and dedicated United States military, this would be a much different country – and world…..