SITES of NORFOLK and SURROUNDING AREA

Some people have said I'm not enjoying my Loop enough because I haven't been stopping to "smell the roses"! Everyone enjoys "things" at their own pace and my pace has been just perfect for me. Leaving Florida was leaving something without exploring because I have seen most things there many times over since l've lived there since returning from Germany and even before that our father used to subject me to the annual "Christmas Trip" there during the holiday break. The only thing I remember about those trips were the speeding ticket he'd always get in Georgia, the bad motels we'd stop in for the nights ( yes, that's plural too because normally it took a couple of those torture nights to get there). Add in the bad roads and equally bad food and you had a lot of..... "are we there yet?" questions!

There were good things about going too..... riding my tricycle around some kind of park, the fruit trees (oranges & tangerines, but not the kumquats) to eat from at Ike's house when we visited; however, the afternoon naps were more torture. Lying there sweating because there was no A/C in Florida then. I guess all in all it was enjoyable if riding in a car for 5/6 days (again no a/c) during a 10 day vacation can be considered FUN! I digress.... Enough about my childhood and more about Norfolk.

Today I went to the Nauticus exhibit. They have a number of attractions there and I chose the USS Wisconsin, the last battleship made. Launched in 1944, she saw limited action in WWII but was used in Korea and Iraq/Kuwaiti. Quite impressive to see the 16" guns which launched a shell weighing 2,600 lbs and took 6 power bags weighing 110 lbs each. Toured throughout and saw home to a crew of 3,000. We saw a daily menu of food consumed and as an example, they ate 540 dozen eggs each day! The rest of what was eaten daily was just as staggering. One thing that impressed was the top of the ship was made of TEAK and most of the fixtures below were made of Stainless steel. As soon as I figure out how, I'll post the pics I took. Very big boat!

Also there was a small maritime museum I visited. Lots of artifacts from the civil war. I'll see more tomorrow when I visit the Maritime Museum in Hampton Roads. Included in their items is the original Union ship, the "Monitor", which fought a historic battle with the CSS Merrimack