A good time was had by all

I mentioned that we were going away for a few days. Our trip was to Pensacola, Florida, to see my niece graduate from flight school. She is in the Coast Guard and plans to fly helicopters on rescue missions. We had four generations of Ward's family there which was part of the fun. We rented a house and when we weren't out and about there was time for sharing stories, both present and past. The fourth generation was a four month old baby with a very calm, adaptable disposition that did not hamper any activities. Very different than the babies I had and a welcome addition.

I was not exactly in my element during this trip. For example, I didn't understand the different military branches and their different rank designations. I was among service people from the Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Air Force, Italian Navy, and the Saudi Arabia Military. My knowledge went as far as recognizing the flags from different countries. I didn't know any of the aircraft kinds beyond plane and helicopter.  All of the number and letter designations meant nothing to me.

I did not have a hankering for freshly caught sea food like Ward and the others did, but I had some good salads while they enjoyed the catch of the day. I didn't want to go to the beach like the rest of the crowd, but I slathered up with sunscreen and went with them to see the baby experience her first time in sand and the first time in the ocean. She didn't like it much, but her parents were fun to watch as they hung on every expression the baby made.

But despite my hesitation, I enjoyed all of the above activities. And I also liked the things we did that were more my style. We took a walk every morning in the pleasant neighborhood where we were staying. We visited houses and museums in historic Pensacola and worked a jig saw puzzle. We talked. We talked about the baby and how remarkable she was. (The only thing better than watching first time parents is watching first time grandparents.) We heard stories from the Ward's father about being stuck in jungles of Peru and his travel around the world in different military aircraft. He was a civilian for the Army and he (his lab) developed night vision goggles. Some of his travel was to help implement the use of them.

It was a great trip and a good time was had by all. Below are a few picture from it. 

I'm not sure what kind of helicopter this is but my niece will be flying
a Dolphin helicopter in her next assignment.

After a day of festivities with the graduation, we headed to downtown, historic Pensacola. Our first stop was this church which has had some kind of religious activity here since 1763. That's our tour guide telling about the history of Pensacola (five flags have flown over it) and the history of the church.

Next stop was the Victorian Dorr House. A fairly typical Victorian house including art made from dead relatives hair.

From the Dorr house, we visited the Museum of Industry that showcased early industry including brick making, fishing, and logging. This is one of the machines used on the logs but I can't remember exactly what it does.

Then onto the museum that everyone was really waiting for, The Naval Air Aviation Museum. Ward and our nephew spent a while with this jet discussing its various specs as well as every other flying vehicle they saw. I learned that this is called a fixed-wing aircraft.

And this is called a rotor-wing aircraft. See, I'm learning.

The next day we went to one of the beautiful, white sand beaches of the Florida Gulf Coast. The water was a little cold, so no one was too excited about jumping right in. Extra points if you can identify the baby, the mother, and the grandmother.