Navy ships open for tours - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe

This morning we had a hard time getting going. We spent a good hour or 90 minutes trying to come up with a good plan for what to do with today.

Finally, I told Liz that if she would come with me to see the USS Wasp (LHD1) then I would take her to an excellent cemetery in Harvard Square.

We went to see exactly the same ship several years ago. When we went before we had to park practically a mile away! And when we got there we walked around and that was kind of fun but I got the feeling there was a lot more to it.

THIS time the ship was at the same location, but we were able to park about 100 yards away! The kids kept commenting on how “cool” everything was! It was a pretty cool ship. We went on Sunday morning and there was almost nobody there. THat meant that we got a personalized tour! A woman gave just my family a tour of the ship. We talked to a bunch of the sailors and firefighters. There was one sailor who gave us a tour of the arms they have on-board and that was kind of cool. The guy who was talking said that whenever there are marines on board they tear the place up. He was pretty funny.

me: So that missile there, its an anti-aircraft missile?

him: Sir, that’s anti-whatever-you’re-aiming at!!

Our tour guide showed us the deck and when the boys looked up at the tower that rose several stories they said “Oh! Can we go up there?!”

“Sure” said the guide.

AWESOME, I thought to myself! We climbed up three ladders/stairs to get up there but we made it! The tour guide was normally a navigator so she was able to show us all the tools they use up there. I’ll post some photos I got too.

The kids LOVED it. Ok, I loved it and they liked it quite a bit.

Then we went over to Harvard in Cambridge, MA and had a nice lunch at Bertuccis on Havard Square. It was bustling with lots of people - some normal and some less so. There were some street buskers and musicians that were kind of cool. The cemetery turned out to be even better than we thought. There were a lot of good examples of particular kinds of decorations on the headstones (cherubs, willows, skulls with wings, etc) and they were almost all in good condition.

So even that was a pretty good trip. We came home and the kids played in the backyard for a couple of hours and then we watched Eragon - a movie about a boy and his dragon. It was a fine movie.

I think that’s it. Sunday was quite good.

Oh, and I am planning on only going in to work this week on Monday and Tuesday so I can get an extra long weekend - 5 days. I am looking forward to it.

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