Wilmington/Carolina Beach

This picture isn't anything special, I just wanted to publish Dr Pless's smile at her marshmallow.

Odometer: 16540

Gas: 2.47



Zoe enjoying the marshmallows before bed.

Yes, it was in the high 90s and the humidity was in the high 90s too - but with our own eagle scout at our disposal, we had to have a campfire. After burning all of the dirty paper plates and countless hand fulls of pine needles, the fire was smoldering still. . . so then I got out the fan and extension cord and made sure the sucker could breath!!

We had a great time with Sarah and Nate(y) hanging out at both their house and ours. Zoe enjoyed the full size couch and spongebob on demand at theirs the most though.

Nate and Kes bonding on a deeper level. Or
maybe Kes had gas?? What does Dr Pless think?

We visited the battleship North Carolina while in Wilmington - very cool and well done. Amazing ship - it fought in every major battle of the pacific in WWII and only had 10 deaths. Just incredible. Over 2000 sailors on board at any one time.

This plane could be launched from the ship and was used to rescue downed pilots from the aircraft carriers. It was a float plane to pick them up and to land by the battleship, then a crane would pick it up and bring it back onto the deck. In one battle, the plane rescued 10 pilots at once. So many men were sitting on the plane that it couldn't take off so it drove through the water to a nearby submarine and unloaded the rescued men.

The barrels of these guns are 16 inches in diameter. The shells are just massive. During the invasion of Okinawa, this ship fired its guns 806 times in one day at the shore to give the marines cover.

The ships washing machines - for some reason I thought these were cool - probably from all of my laundry mishaps at the campground laundries over the last few months. I feel like I'm in college again fighting with the old ladies for a machine at the KOA. I actually have been setting my alarm to get there when the doors open to beat them - so far so good.

The on board OR and scrub room - actually about the same as the Jesse Brown VA - maybe a little more lighting in this one though. I bet the scrubs worked a little more in this one too, but I digress . . .

On board dental office - it had 3 chairs and an xray room. If you look closely you can see the extraction elevators and forceps - not a thing different from today, just less padding on the chairs.

Missy and Kes making their way through.

This is the captions room while at port - huge and plush area with room for entertaining and holding meetings.



While at sea though, the captain had a small room right off of the bridge - looked like an on-call room. Small bed and desk, a couple of phones and gauges and that was it.
The ship also had rooms for a visiting admiral - when the ship was designed pre-WWII, it was still common for admirals to command the fleet from the battleship. The admirals room was even larger and nicer than the captains but rarely if ever used. In fact during the war, the admirals quarters were used by many of the officers who worked in the bridge and navigation areas due to its close proximity.


We had a great time hanging out in Wilmington - it really is a very pretty southern city, just a little humid for our tastes. Thanks to Sarah and Nate for putting up with us and we can't wait to go back for the wedding!!!