I found this post that I had partially written right after leaving Norfolk/Virginia Beach, not sure why I never finished it. If I recall I was having internet access troubles and I got tired. So let's pretend it's still November .................
As my time in Norfolk was nearing an end, it occurred to me that I hadn't done anything sea or naval related which honestly, is the biggest thing about Norfolk. One sunny day, another travel nurse friend and I decided to go to the waterfront and visit Nauticus the National Maritime Center which is basically an ocean related science museum which also contains the Hampton Roads Naval Museum and the Battleship Wisconsin.
The first thing we did was go to a film, the Living Sea. Sadly it was
only a big screen and not IMAX because this film would have been very cool in IMAX. It had music by Sting and lots of pretty ocean and fish shots. It really made me want to learn to surf and scuba.
After the film we wandered through the exhibits, some were interesting and some were lame. This was a giant 8 foot suspended globe that had real time cloud patterns represented on it.
Also in this same location they had a green screen and television camera where you could practice being a weather forcaster which was a lot of fun!!
They also had nurse sharks on display which you could "pet" - this is my friend Christina petting the shark. The volunteer in the left was a complete freak and seemed worried that we were going to be careless and get our hands bit off or something.
Speaking of sharks, here's me in a cage doing my best Steve Irwin impression "WHOA look at that one! She's a beauty!"
The best part of the museum is the Battleship Wisconsin which hint hint - is free. So if you're not interested in the rest of Nauticus, just go to the Wisconsin, and skip the rest. The Wisconsin was "one of the largest and last battleships ever built by the US Navy" ... which basically means that nowadays we contract out these things to folks who can build them better :) The Wisconsin was launched in 1943 and saw action in WWII, the Korean War and even Desert Storm after which is was decommissioned and eventually placed in this location in the Elizabeth Harbor in Norfolk. Visitors can walk around the deck but the inside compartments are sealed because it remains a part of the inactive fleet. They are trying to maintain specific humidity levels to reduce rust in the event it is needed again. Of course peeking through the windows, there's NO WAY I'd want to have to serve on that old thing. The volunteer guides along the decks are mainly men who served in the Navy and have lots of great information and stories about the Wisconsin's days in battle. This picture is of me below the 16 inch guns which have a range of 26 miles!! The shell is barely visible to the right of the third gun, it weighs the same as a Volkswagon bug.
Here are various pics:
This seemed like an appropriate deck for me to hang out on:
When you're on Granby Street which is where the bars and restaurants are, you can see the Wisconsin through the alley which is cool.
After touring Nauticus, we headed to the MacArthur Center which is the premiere shopping in the area and only a few blocks away. They have an awesome H&M store that I dropped FAR too much money in :) Honestly this was about all the downtown Norfolk had to offer, except of course the prospect of floods when any drop of rain fell!!
So after seeing the old ship, my good friend Tim who is an ensign in the Navy took me to the Naval Station to see the "real" ships!! He toured me through his ship the U.S.S. Ponce which is an LPD, an amphibious transport dock. I was a bit shocked to see the spartan living quarters. His "stateroom" consisted of two sets of bunks each with barely enough room to turn around let alone stretch out. I said, "but you're an officer, I thought you get nice accommodations?" to which he answered, "these are nice." Bascially I realized that there's no way I could spend six months at sea, at least without a private bedroom, a large closet and of course my Tivo.
While we were on the pier, the U.S.S. Wasp which is an LHD, an amphibious assault ship, was coming into port. It was so cool seeing the large gathering of families holding signs and waiting for their sailors to come home! All of the crew were in their dress uniforms "manning the rails" as the ship came in and probably so excited to be coming home! In some of the pictures you can see a Harrier jet which was on the back of the ship (is that the stern? I don't know) on the landing platform. Also as the ship was turning into it's dock, the tugboats took over the steering. Amazing seeing this huge ship being "parked." I also got to see an aircraft carrier (so huge I really couldn't even get a picture for perspective) and a few other ships. The Naval Station Norfolk is the largest naval installation in the world so it was cool to get the chance to drive around it. I was also intrigued by my friend being saluted, even though he was in plain clothes! It's definitely a rough kindof life being in the Navy, especially for the families left behind when the ships are at sea. It's not a kindof career that I think I could handle, especially with my authority issues :)
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