USS Midway, San Diego, CA

Molly and Marina's 4th grade class went on a field trip to the USS Midway in San Diego and I was a chaperone.  It is a large naval ship with an air craft carrier on the top.  It was built in 1945 and commissioned as the largest ship in the world for a decade.  It cost $90 million dollars to build.  It was decommissioned in San Diego in 1992.  In 2004, it opened as a museum. There are a lot of old planes and helicopters on the top of the ship. Just below the runway at the top is the hangar that housed the planes.  There were aircraft elevators on the hangar level that lifted the planes to the top of the ship.  The elevator is now a cafe, but you can see the cables of the elevator lift.  When we were standing on the elevator lift, our guide pointed to another ship out in the bay.  It was being pulled out by two barges as it was getting ready to be deployed. I took a picture of this ship and the elevator from the aircraft lift.  It was also a naval air craft carrier and the planes were sitting on top of it. The guide said that it would probably be gone for 9 months.

Right next to the USS Midway is the famous kissing statue which is a statue of a famous picture took after World War II ended.  Here are some interesting facts about the USS Midway:

Crew: 4.500
Compartments:  2,000
Telephones: 1,500
Cooks:  225
Pilots: 200
Physians: 5
10 tons of food daily
13,500 meals served daily
longest deployment: 327 days.

Lunch with Clay and Denise at Oceanside Pier

Our friends, Clay and Denise from Chicago came to visit San Diego.   We had lunch with them at the Oceanside Pier.  Our kids were able to come because they were off school for spring break.  It was good to see them.

Valley Center, CA

We visited Valley Center which is right next to Escondido.  We stopped at Bates Nut Farm which is a 100 acre farm that sells nuts and candy.  They also have a lot of different animals on the grounds that you can feed.  After, Bates Nut Farm we drove past Lake Wohlford and the Valley View Casino, which is run by a local Indian tribe.

Lake Hodges and Queen Califa's Park, Escondido, CA

We did a little exploring in Escondido, which is about 20 minutes from us.  We went to Lake Hodges which is a large fishing lake with bike trails.  The kids rode their bikes. Chano even rode the bikes with the girls. 

 Then we went to Queen Califa's Park which is part of a big park called Kit Carson Park.  I had seen it in a magazine and it looked pretty neat.  The park was designed by international artist Niki de Saint Phalle and it depicts the myths and history of California.  A mosaic wall encircles nine enormous, sparkling sculptures, including Califa, a mythical Amazonian queen sitting on a majestic eagle throne.  Around Califa stand totems representing the region's Meso-Amerian and Native American traditions.