Travels

My parents and I went to Oceanside Ca a couple of weeks ago.  We saw all sorts of amazing things!...

...and didn't take any real pictures of any of them...

...but back to the point- it was cool.  The first day down there we went out to an old Catholic mission- San Luis Rey.  On the 21 mission chain between San Diego and San Fransisco it was the largest and is still in use by Franciscan Friars so some of it was off limits.  It was fascinating to see some a little bit of  how they lived and imagine what it would have been like to settle the area.

The next day we took a trolley ride around the city that hits all the historic parts of town.  We got off and went to the USS Midway- a decommissioned aircraft carrier- and wandered around.  We spent the bulk of the day on the ship.  You could probably spend the whole day.  Though I (naturally) dislike the Navy, I was captivated by the mess facilities, the brig, the infirmary, etc.  The most telling area though, in my opinion, was the bunks.  It would be miserable to have to live in that tiny space.  I tip my hat to the men and women who do it.  After the ship we got back on the trolley and finished the tour.  By the end of the tour it was time for dinner and back to the condo.

As cool as those were, the next day was just as fun.  We started the day off at a maritime museum.  There was a 45 minute cruise of the harbor to show us the ships and share a little bit of the history of the area.  We got to see the Carnival Splendor- the ship that burned up a while back.  Then we hit the museum exhibits.  There were two submarines, one Russian and one American.  The Russian sub was easily 4x the size of the American one, but comparatively the American sub had tons of room to move around in.  That's American ingenuity- building something much smaller but getting much more space out of it.

We got to see the HMS Surprise which should be a familiar ship to those of you who love the movie Master and Commander.  Yes, it was the original HMS Surprise, and yes it is also the one they filmed the movie on.  The last ship was the Star of India.  It is the oldest still sailing boat on earth.  They take it out for a spin every year on its birthday.

Speaking of birthdays, there was a birthday party going on down on the bottom deck.  How cool would that be to have a pirate themed birthday party on an old, old sailboat like the ones pirates used!!  Complete with old pirate, treasure chest, and all the other things that go along with it.

Because it is an active (though not very) sailing ship everything has to be maintained in good working order; therefore, the work areas were all still active work spaces.  Nobody happened to be there at the time, but it would be cool to watch them work and just see how things were done.  There were also models of old war ships.  The biggest and coolest one was Lord Nielson's last ship (also should be a familiar name if you like Master and Commander).  It had 4 or 5 gun decks and in the neighborhood of 100 cannons. 

After the maritime museum we went to the Mormon Battalion visitor's center.  It was newly remodeled and was fully interactive.  The story was told by some of the men, women, and the one child who made the trek by way of talking portraits.  It sounds kind of cheesy- like something from Disneyland- and it was, but it was really cool.  They even reacted to your responses (or lack thereof).  Everyone knows the story of the Mormon Battalion, but I learned much more about it than I ever did before.  It was shocking to learn some of the details that were shared.  After the story, there was a room with some of the artifacts from the march and computers that you could use to search the rosters of the Mormon Battalion.  Since my family has two ancestors that were a part of it-both on my mom's side- we looked them up!

That night when we got back to the condo, we went to the hot tub and sauna for a little while.  We returned to the room to find that our keys no longer worked.  The security guard passing by tried his master key, and still couldn't get it.  After getting our keys re-magnetized without success we were sent to the top floor lounge to relax while they tried to get the door fixed.  They were able to get it open, but it was going to take quite a while to fix it.  This meant that one of us had to be in the room at all times to let the others back in.  It also means that the next morning- Sunday- we couldn't go to church.  We were moved into a new room and headed for home on Monday morning.  Quite the adventure.

The next adventure came last night.  My mother, neighbor and I went over to Richfield where we met up with my brother and we all went to the Forgotten Carols.  I had never heard the story or really known that much about it but it blew me away.  If anyone has the chance to go see it, do.  If you don't have the chance to, get the DVD.  It has a very powerful spiritual lesson and teaches about the true meaning of Christmas in a way I never could have imagined.  Amazing!