Well, we got up a bit late on this Saturday, 7/7/2012... didn't realize that the hotel's alarm clock was 20min slow!
Before we left the hotel to start our day, called down to concierge services to let them know that we wouldn't be needing maid service - our stuff is all over the place. :-)
Out the hotel by 0730 and stopped at a 'Mickey Ds' en route for a guilty breakfast. Called Conor to give him a heads up and see if he wanted anything - he did not... had already eaten. Picked him up at 0800 and continued on to the I405 south to I-110 which would take us to the San Pedro port area. The overall trip was about 15miles and we arrived at the U.S.S. Iowa's parking area around 0830. There was already a pretty long queue of folks, all pre-purchased ticket holders, waiting to get on the battleship. TV coverage was also on site and upfront. Not sure what other dignitaries would be participating in the opening day event.
Things certainly were not going very smoothly on this first day of the battleship's final role as museum piece. By 0930, a 1/2 hr after opening, very few of the pre-paids had gotten on to the ship. Many, if not all, of the general admission by the ticket today tourists had already gotten on to the ship and there was some serious grumblings going on with the long line of pre-paids! They certainly have some 'process' issues to sort out.
While we were patiently standing in line, we started up a conversation with a very nice couple behind us: Marvin & Phyllis Mackie. Turns out they were retired and lived here in San Pedro. They had strolled down to see what all the fuss was about and to tour the Iowa. They were very happy to have met us and stayed with us through out most of the directed tour of the ship. I was apparently a bevy of nautical information which was acknowledged by some of the volunteers working on the venerable battleship. :-)
We finally boarded Iowa at ~0945. From a distance the ship looks great but, as you board and get a closer look, the entire wooden deck needs serious work and there's a ton of other repairs and paint to be done over the next few years in order to truly make the experience one to remember. Until all of that work gets done, the ship will not be open to just wandering around anywhere you'd like to - like you can on the U.S.S. New Jersey, BB-62, in Camden - obviously, only those areas deemed safe enough to tour by the stewards of the ship.
Everyone boarding the ship had to follow a specified route. We obviously took a ton of photos all through the tour. There were areas such as the forward gun mounts where one could linger about for photos but, when you continued the tour you had to follow a prescribed path around the ship which was:
- Boarded amidships, starboard side,
- head aft until you reach the opening into the officer's wardroom,
- enter the wardroom and cross over to the port side of the ship,
- continue forward, port side up past and around the 2 forward gun mounts back to the starboard side. We paused to take photos by the 16" guns of turret #1. The volunteer Docent let us know that it took about 75 men/turret to operate it.
- continue back aft, starboard side, until you start being directed up several levels including through the closed navigation bridge and the armored 'panic' room, past a 5" gun turret, over past one of the port side Close In Weapon Systems (CIWS), continuing back aft to the levels holding the Tomahawk and Harpoon missile containers and then,
- finally back down a port side, aft ladder onto the main deck by the after section of gun turret #3.
- At this point you descend down to the 2nd deck where the beginnings of a museum about the ship is located. The ship's store is also here where one can buy snacks and beverages and all types of souvenirs. We made some purchases and it was in this part of the tour that we bid the Mackie's goodbye. When you have your fill of this part of the ship,
- exit back up a ladder that puts up out on the port side aft of the ship, forward of the gun turret.
- one can wander most of the aft deck of the ship, onto the helicopter pad and, get pretty cools views looking forward.
- from there as you head forward on the starboard side, you can take photos by a 16" round laying on the ground with 6 powder bags behind it. Pretty cool but, I believe it's much more impactful to visitors to stand next to an erect 16" round. Anyway, continued to head forward until we reached the gangplank to disembark the ship. Left the ship at ~1130.
We could have spent more time on the U.S.S. Iowa but, we wanted to do lunch with Conor before having to part ways. Enjoyed the opportunity to tour the battleship and I'm sure it's only going to get better!
For lunch we decided on going to an Island's restaurant off of Hawthorne Blvd near Conor's apartment. We need to get him home by 1400 so that he can prep for a wedding in the Valley he needs to attend for a buddy of his. Lunch was excellent! Rosie had chicken tacos. Conor and I had their classic hamburger with endless fries. Conor also had me try a 'Longboard' beer. Was pretty good.
Left Island's at 1245 and got Conor back to his place by 1300.
Was a sad but proud moment for Rosie and I as we exchanged hugs with Conor. We had such a blast with him over the past 8 days and really did not want to leave to go back to reality. As we left him in our rear view mirror, we're definitely buoyed by the fact that we arrived at Conor's bleak apartment 2 days ago and leave it more of a welcoming home for him as he continues to build his life here in SoCal. :-)
Was still quite early on this day so, decided to head back down to Manhattan Beach, park and just take a walk around - the day was just drop dead gorgeous! We found some public, underground parking a couple of blocks up from main street for just a couple of bucks. We headed downhill towards the city's pier. I continue to be surprised at how 'hilly' most of these beach communities are that we've visited. Very easy going down but, takes a bit of effort climbing back up from the beach areas. In all the photos Conor's shared with us prior to our visit, you really don't get a good sense of just how sloped the land is down to the water.
Manhattan Beach is a beach community. Our assessment was that it wasn't as crowded as it could have been on a Saturday but, there was still plenty of visitors and beach goers. Walked onto the pier and strolled all the way out to the end enjoying the sights, sounds and, smells of the ocean. There's a small pagoda like building at the end of the pier that houses a tiny aquarium open to anyone for a donation of your choosing. Dropped a fiver and spent 10mins inside before heading back out and walking back off the pier.
Climbed back up to the main drag and found Conor's former favorite ice cream parlor, Manhattan Beach Creamery, purchased a couple of yogurts and sat down inside to enjoy them and people watch outside the large panes of glass fronting the store. From there we headed back to parking, jumped in the SUV to drive over to the Enterprise dealer just off the airport to return our SUV. According to the garmin, the rental agency was between 1 - 1 1/2 miles from the Sheraton. I was going to drop off Rosie first but, she wanted to come along for the walk back.
The Enterprise return folks were great! They were fine with our awesome negotiated rate and gave us a ride back to the Sheraton! Got back to the hotel by 1500. I'm quite pleased to have down time with Rosie with nothing to go do/see here at the hotel. Spent the afternoon relaxing, enjoying a bit o'scotch and watching a good pay per view movie: the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It wasn't what we were expecting but, very good nonetheless. Wireless Internet was free for us because of my frequent guest status... not really that frequent but, have stayed with the Four Points in Sydney and up by Boston. Enabled us to catch up on our social networks and for me to take a bit of the edge off the hundreds of e-mails in by inbox!
After the movie and with time right at the start of 'blue-haired' dinner hour, ~1715, we headed down to the lobby to go have dinner in the 1 restaurant in the hotel called: Comfort. The food was fine, Rosie had a turkey burger with wine and I enjoyed the meatloaf with a beer. There was only 5 or 6 other guests enjoying dinner at this time of day in the restaurant. At 1800 headed back up to our room to begin the process of staging all of our luggage and repacking our bags for the flight out tomorrow. I also made some time to download photos from the day's activities. Put in a wake up call for 0500 just in case we slept in and wiled away some time before we turned in for the evening.
A little anti-climactic day overall but, still very good. We really hate leaving but, must go back to reality tomorrow.
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