The U.S.S. Hornet Museum

Now that I've completed my cross country road trip, there is no need to name the blog posts as such. I was done yesterday and there really are no more General Mosby posts to be made, so now I'm going to switch gears to sightseeing in the San Francisco Bay area (I'm still doing the tribute, damn you!). Today, being a first full day of not having to get into the General at all, was different.

Uncle Dennis and I had a leisurely breakfast of coffee and oatmeal before embarking on a trip to Alameda Point, where the U.S.S. Hornet Museum was located. The U.S.S. Hornet is a decommissioned aircraft carrier from WWII and beyond. Here is a picture:

Once we stepped aboard to the hangar deck, we were greeted with an exhaustive orientation that consisted of a docent pointing out everything that we could have read in the pamphlet as well as every possible bathroom location on deck. It was informative, though, and probably better information to have than not. We immediately went to the flight deck, where we were greeted with a lovely view of the San Francisco skyline as well as several airplanes from the U.S.S. Hornet's heyday, one being extremely Top Gun-esque in nature. I bet you can guess which one. Uh huh. Tom Cruise and/or Val Kilmer were as good as right next to us.

Anyway, the U.S.S. Hornet was commissioned during WW2, but was still in service for several years after, even picking up Apollo 11 from the vast ocean expanses after they landed back on Earth. There are painted footprints of Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's and whoever the third guy was's first footsteps on Earth from landing on the moon in the hangar deck.

Now, when I say that the first docent was exhausting, I mean that in the zeitgeist, before we met our subsequent tour guide for the engine room tour. It began at 1:15, when I was already beginning to pine for lunch. What took place was the most in depth tour of an engine room you could ever imagine being led by a Chris Farley stunt double. He took an hour and a half to explain every minute detail of how the engine worked on this particular aircraft carrier. Then he explained in minute detail how the engine worked on every other aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy, all while we were standing in a cramped engine room for a long period of time wondering when we would get the chance to have lunch. Needless to say, when we got done with the tour, we were famished and I had no desire to ever see Tommy Boy ever again.

Eventually, we hit up Pier 29 Restaurant on the "Whale's Tail" of Alameda Island, where we enjoyed a shrimp/crab sandwich. Going back to Moraga, we took a scenic route, which began with a really spectacular view of the Bay:
The pictures never capture the majesty. Oh well.

We spent the early part of the evening defining the highlights of my stay here and how we would spend our time. We got only so far, and at this point it is still up to the weather. This is not any one's fault, mind you, but just how the night progressed. Dinner was late, to reflect our late lunch, and we spent quite a good amount of time talking over wine and music as the night drew on. I think my Uncle and I got to know a little bit about each other that we had not encountered before. It's always a good thing to talk over alcohol to get a different side of a person, a more comfortable side, if you will. I know I enjoyed it.