The GPS took me directly south to I-285, and from there it was a straight shot to I-85 towards Montgomery, AL, where I peeled off on I-65 towards Pensacola. There wasn't much traffic to speak of anywhere. Stopped at the first rest stop in Alabama at 8 am to eat my snack breakfast, and didn't get gas until after Montgomery. I listened to 50's music from Mike the whole time, besides the one disc of the Bible I put it... with Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians & 1 Thess. on it. I'll have to go back and read them in the book again though, because the last few words of each chapter were cut off. That's the first disc that's happened to.
Drove straight to the Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola and ate my tuna salad snack lunch in the parking lot at 11:40. Spent just over three hours there . Since I had just seen the Moon series with Linda and James, I thought it proper to take in IMAX: HUBBLE at the museum. This focuses on the last Hubble shuttle mission to repair and update the telescope for a very long time. It was almost like another Moon episode, but the astronauts played themselves. It was real footage from the 2009 flight. I was expecting a lot of hypothetical talk about origins of the universe (from an opposite point of view than my own), and while there was a tiny bit in there, it wasn't the focus. This was all about the science and what the lens could do. In one scene they simulated a flight through space at trillions of miles per second, zooming in on the Orion nebula with unbelievable detail. It was so neat to watch the three stars in Orion's belt come at you one by one and it suddenly made me notice how far they were apart. Don't ever think of that when I look at the night sky. Looks like a solid sphere of dots surrounding our planet. What made me shed tears at the end was the way they looked back at earth after surveying the farthest reaches of space the telescope could see... and the narration mentioned how perfect the earth was for us and how unlikely it is for us to find another like it. And although the universe's vastness (mentioned just before) made me ponder God's infinity, this final point struck me over the head with how much he loves and provides for us. I wiped my eyes as I went out to go on a free trolley ride out to the open-air hanger out back.
They had dozens of planes of all types parked out there. Helicopters, patrol planes, bombers (including my favorite B-25), sea planes (naval aviation, you know), jets, fighters, transports, trainers... lots of them. Not only that, but sometimes the sarcastic tour director was drowned out by trainer planes streaking overhead. Had a great time, even though it was kinda hot (open-air windows for AC). Under the display F-14 in front there are a couple statues... I took a self-portrait with the "American Bluejacket":
So all that was left now was the gigantic museum itself. So big I barely knew where to start! I loved how they had the front ends of jets sitting around so a person could climb in and see what it feels like... I tried out the F-4 Phantom cockpit (Blue Angel markings) and I was very impressed.
They had a neat exhibit on planes that had crashed and sank into Lake Michigan during WWII training flights off of small carriers that were converted from river boats. A couple of the planes they restored and had on display in the gallery, but a couple they had displayed in a dark room with low lights twinkling on them to make them look underwater. In that room they played a film from the History channel about those training missions.
On the original deck of a WWII carrier (they had the original wood as the floor of the one part of the museum!) there was a re-enlistment ceremony for a lady Navy Ensign. On the other side of the museum, under the Blue Angel display, there was a retirement ceremony going on for a Master Chief Petty Officer. Lots of folks in uniform... it almost felt as long as I was there that I was already in the Navy myself. When I left the museum about 3pm (central time), I suddenly remembered that I wasn't in yet. For the last two-plus hours I had had nothing going through my head but Navy-this and Navy-that. It's a little hard to explain, but I felt relief when suddenly remembering the rest of my life. I got rather immersed in there. :)
They had a wonderful gift store... I found the "Heritage" poster that I really love. I restrained myself from buying a t-shirt or two (plenty of time for that later) and I piled in my car and drove off to check in to the Campus House hotel at Pensacola Christian College. Got there an hour before I was to meet Julie, so I had time to relax for a second, settle in and get the free Wi-Fi set up. And that last one took a half-hour with two visits to the front desk. The system here doesn't support Firefox... eeeek... and I had some problems because the filtering system wasn't letting me on any website... it got fixed though.
I picked up Julie about 5:15 and we headed out to the Olive Garden for dinner together. Had a lovely, long talk about all sorts of things, including her plans after this year (it's her last semester). She took me up to her dorm room so I could see it, then we drove back to the hotel where we looked at a bunch of my trip pictures for a while. Because there are curfews here (yikes!) she had to be back by ten and our visit came to an end. Although she gets up early for breakfast, I promised to try my hardest to make it on time (speaking of sleeping through my alarm...).
It was marvelous to see her again, and to finally see what this crazy college looks like :)
Jp
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