Seen aircraft carriers on the big screen and TV screen many times. This was a chance to see one live. Got the tour ticket to walk all through the ship.

It would have been incredible if it were The Enterprise. But I can settle for The Midway,

This tour was REALLY cool. From having watched the television show JAG plus seeing naval ships on other shows/movies, it was fantastic to see and feel a ship "live". Because the Midway was built in the 1940's, it is a much smaller carrier than the ones of today. So this is probably a good one to film shows on. When I first got to the place, nearly an hour before the tours began at 10:00 am, I got to walk around the ship and take photos along with some of downtown San Diego. The smallish Union Station was just a few blocks from the ship.

Since I had purchased my ticket online before going to California, I was fortunate to get to be the first person in line to go aboard the ship (rather than first standing in a separate line to get tickets). The volunteer person there told us that because it was a holiday (Presidents Day) that there would be a large crowd (and he was right) that those of us near the front of the line should go immediately up to the guided tour of The Island (the watch tower, so to speak). Reason is that only groups up to 20 can go with the guide and climb through the vario\us compartments including the captain's chair. And once a group has gone, the subsequent groups must wait. So I did, along with six others. The tour guide was obviously a naval officer and told us much about what we saw and how the crew (usually officers of some level) worked there. Fascinating. The division of labor is well thought out (and would we expect anything less!).

For the rest of the tour, they hand you a little device to hang around your neck and it has earphones. When you get to something on the ship that has a number, you punch in the number and then listen to the explanation of what you are seeing. We get to roam around almost everywhere in the ship seeing such things as mess hall, barbershop, tailor, recreation, crew quarters, etc. One thing I quickly learned is that ships were made for men under six foot tall, which I am not. Duck!

Just south of the ship is an intersection leading to a fish restaurant. Sitting at one of the concrete tables is a fantastic place to people watch. Bikers, joggers and walkers keep crossing the street and traffic comes to a grinding halt every few seconds to allow people to cross the street. I heard a number of languages being spoken by the pedestrians. Fun.