SHIP SHAPE: Saturday, we tried to visit the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault vehicle temporarily docked at the foot of our hill for Seafair. We drove down the vicinity of the ship and found out that parking was going to cost us $10. Cheapskates that we are we said, "Forget that!" and headed home, formulating a Plan B for a Sunday visit.
Sunday morning, about 11:20, we drove our car to the top of our hill and parked at Ursula Judkins park, at the south end of the bluff. From there, we walked down, down, down the Galer Street Bridge to Terminal 90, a bit of a hike, but one with a gorgeous view. We arrived at the terminal at about 11:40, and then the wait was on. Standing on hot asphalt in unseasonably hot weather.
To pass the time, we watched a pair of osprey who seem to call the terminal their home. They had 'satellite' perches atop light posts ...
Speaking of flying things, we also got to see some Blue Angels while waiting on line for an hour. One of my favorite moments was having the Angels and an osprey in the same frame.
On August 2, 2015, I went to terminal 90 on a tour of the USS Boxer, an amphibious US Navy assault ship. The USS Boxer is very big, and I got a chance to tour almost the entire thing. The first thing I noticed about the Boxer is that they had a lot of vehicles on display. They also had a lot of rifles that you could pick up and examine. One of the things I saw was some fire equipment, in case of emergency. They even let you try it on to see how heavy it was. After looking around the main deck, we briefly headed down to a lower deck, where they stored more vehicles. After that, we went up to the flight deck, which was in my opinion, the best part. I thought it was the best part because we got to sit in an Osprey, which is a hybrid of a helicopter and a plane. Our tour ended after taking a look around the flight deck. The tour was fun but I wouldn’t go again.
For instance, while CJ and Annabelle were up top a Humvee, some other young tour taker STARTED the damn vehicle. For real. I don't pretend to know if military Humvees have keys or what kind of ignition system, but I'm thinking ones in the belly of the ship, open to tour should not be 'live.' And speaking of live, there were many, many weapons for tour takers to take a look at ... and handle. I really wasn't keen on kids/adults/anyone hoisting enormous arms (we're talking bazookas/grenade launcher size and more) and pointing them at my head and my kids' heads or anyone's heads and taking selfies and/or pretending to shoot them. That is SO contrary to safe arms handling. Ugh.Horrible.
But other that that, it was swell ... :/
We certainly did appreciate the chance to check out an Osprey up close!
On August 2nd, 2015, we went on a tour of the USS Boxer, which, according to Wikipedia, is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship of the Navy. When we visited, the Boxer was docked at Terminal 90. Inside the main room, there were several different, mostly triangular flags hanging from the ceiling. When I asked one of the servicemen who worked aboard the ship if he knew what they represented, he said he honestly didn't know.
During our visit, we where shown multiple vehicles used by the Navy, including different tanks and planes. In one of the tanks, we were allowed to climb in, and we were able to hold an (obviously turned off) gatling gun mounted on top. I asked one of the servicemen if it would be possible to take it off the tank and hold it. He proceeded to tell me that although it couldn't function on its own, it could be taken off and mounted on anything that had the appropriate mount. Afterwards, we were brought to the top of the boat, where we got to sit in some helicopters, including the Osprey.
One detail I noticed about the Boxer was there were multiple different colored "E" symbols on the ship. The different colors on the Es represent different categories, and the stars above them apparently represent how good it is in that category.
Overall, I think it was very interesting visiting the USS Boxer.
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