While we were still dealing with the power being out from Hurricane Michael, I took the boys on a field trip with the Trail Life Troop down to Charleston, SC to stay for a couple of nights on the aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown.
The Yorktown is a decommissioned aircraft carrier that was built during WWII and saw a lot of action in the Pacific. She was decommissioned after the war, but put back into action right after the Korean conflict and remained active in the Pacific all the way thorough the Vietnam War. She was even used to retrieve the astronauts and capsule from the Apollo 8 space flight! Afterwards, she was decommissioned a second time and donated as a memorial to the city of Charleston and later became a National Historic Monument. She serves now as a museum along with the USS Laffey, a WWII-era destroyer, and the USS Clagamore, a Cold War-era submarine.
One of my favorite things was that, because we were sleeping on the ship, the adults had free use of the ship after lights-out, so I took a couple of hours after midnight and walked through all the exhibits. No crowds, no kids. It was really cool!
Because we were there as a group, we gathered each morning for a devotional.
And then it was off to see the planes and helicopters! The boys couldn't get enough of them.
There were aircraft from every era that the Yorktown was active, from WWII
to the 1970s.
There were a couple of planes inside that they let the boys climb into and play around.
Touring the rest of the ship was fascinating as well. The history of the ship, the other in its class and the US Navy as a whole were really interesting to hear about.
The boys also got to participate in an environment class where the learned about the ecology of the estuary where the Yorktown is parked. Of course, Ezra loved the turtles.
They both loved the puffer fish, too.
It was great when we got done and went outside and spotted a puffer nibbling at the growth on a rope
and dolphins swimming around the ships!
Then we visited the Clagamore.
Talk about tight quarters! Walking down a hallway, my shoulders were rubbing both walls! I have no idea how the submariners didn't go crazy with claustrophobia! There was a story about how one guy was so tall, he didn't fit on any bunk, so he spread two mattresses on a torpedo and slept there!
This was one of the best experiences the boys and I have had together. I'm really hoping we get to do it again next year and get to bring the AHG Troop as well!
