Wednesday, September 3, 2008

CVN 69 USS Eisenhower

Upon arrival here's how I was greeted at the airport:

Well I'm back from Norfolk, Virginia. Was so nice to see my boy and spend a few days with him.

We spent a day on the USS Eisenhower out to sea, watched an airshow, ate some meals aboard ship. Then we spent some time at Virginia Beach, flew kites, drank a few cold beers, shot some pool, did some body surfing. Not a bad weekend at all.

Here's some shots:

There she is looming over the sky in the early morning hours. And when I say early morning, I came from the West Coast so it's 2:00 am my time. (yawn) Only 16 hours to go.


Geez, it doesn't look like he TRULY likes Ike.


Gives you and idea of the size of the flight deck..... 4 1/2 acres!



The 'Island'.......My son climbed the radar tower one night....apparently radar cooks you....

Airshow 22 miles out to sea, landings, retrievals, bombs, 30 Cal machine guns, two fly by sonic-booms, in addition to dogfighting and other maneuvers....


Kinda looks like we like one another huh?


Abandon Ship!!!!


Virginia Beach Boardwalk:


He thinks he's cool..... (well, he's not too bad actually, but don't tell him I said so)



I'll miss the old boat, but after SIXTEEN freaking hours on it, I'd had enough! I have no idea
how these kids spend months on this thing. I have new found respect for every Navy man.

2 comments:

AJ said...

This was kinda cool. My dad was a Navy man and spent some time down ni Norfolk as did two of his brothers. Thank you for sharing. And thank your son for serving.

Ron Merlin said...

Thanks for the kind words.