SUMMER ADVENTURES 2013

               BATTLESHIP USS IOWA, LONG BEACH 
                               MEMORIAL DAY, 2013

Jim and I enjoyed the USS Iowa's "Grand Opening" this special day.  Has only been in port for 7 months so limited access to areas during the first tour but we'll go back in a couple of years and see more, especially the turrets.  There were hundreds of people lined up to get aboard but overall the experience was worthwhile.  Enjoy the tour!

Overall photo from aft.

The two 16" guns bow guns, turret #1 is the lower one

Conning Tower

                                                        

Greg in front of turret #1

History Info

Armament Info  (Prior to modernization)

This was fascinating to learn each turret is a "system" that occupies 5 decks of the ship! (Zoom in on diagram.)  This tour will be open in the future.

This is how they load the shell and powder kegs for each barrel.

For those who remember, in April of 1989 turret #2 had a explosion while the crew was packing powder, killing 43 crew members.  Out of respect, this turret will remain closed to the public.

President Roosevelt had his own special quarters when he was on board and the USS Iowa was the only ship in the US fleet that had a bathtub (to accommodate him, remember he was crippled from polio.)  When not on board, the sailors would hold a monthly raffle and whoever won got to use the tub for a day. 

President Roosevelt's quarters and tub.

Many battles were planned in this room (adjacent to Roosevelt's room) including the Omaha Beach Landing.  On a historical note, had Roosevelt lived to see Japan surrender, that ceremony would have taken place on this ship and in this room because he was from Iowa.  As it turned out, Truman was President thus the ceremony took place on the USS Missouri (his home state.)

The original battle plan (so they told us.)

The 16" guns of this battleship had enormous firepower!  Later they were redesigned to shoot nuke-filled warheads.  Note shock waves!!!!  For fascinating videos on 16" guns going off, Google "16" guns USS Iowa" and You Tube has a number of them, although they are of the USS Missouri's guns.

Never knew, but this ship had a steel fortified conning tower, like a "tube" that went for a couple of decks.  Interesting info and you'll have to zoom in on to read.

                                                                  What a massive steel door!!!!

                      Looking inside, note periscope upper left in image.

 In 1984, many battleships were upgraded in weaponry to meet the times.

These are a few of the new systems.

In particular were the Tomahawk Missiles which are capable of sending nuke warheads hundreds of miles (i.e. Long Beach to St. Louis,) and are on many of our ships today.

Since it was Memorial Day, the LAFD did a flotilla by the ship, this one bringing up the rear and was the biggest.

The last stop of the day was to view the Queen Mary which is now a hotel ship.  She blew her horns as we stood here, shocked the heck out of me, ha!  Hope you enjoyed the postings!

Jeni's Phone

Hey family,  just wanted to let you know that I have changed my business name and home phone message, since it is also my business phone.  So if you call me and get Hood Canal Services - don't freak out!  It's still me!
I also changed the domain name for my website:  www.hoodcanalservices.com .
I got tired of all the calls from people who want their little cabins cleaned.  Figured it was my own fault for calling my business Hood Canal Cabin Care!  Ha!  Most folks call their vacation homes cabins out here, so my mistake I guess.
Otherwise it is work as usual.
Love you all!!
Jeni 

Special jewelry by Jeni - for SuzyQ.

Amazing Super Cell Over Montana!

Jeni's Jewelry Show

OK, my turn.  Thought I'd share a couple of fun moments in the shop from yesterdays show.
Captions under photos.

 This is me and Janene, the shop owner at Pier 101 Gift Shop and Women's Boutique in Hoodsport (Susan, you shopped here, remember?) where I sell my jewelry.  We are standing / sitting in front of my display.

This is Marjorie, who is a new friend.  She and Janene were friends and she introduced us as Marjorie is also a photographer (her show is next week, btw!)

 

This is me and Tracy - a gal I have known a long time mostly through work places.  She loves my jewelry and has bought several pieces.

OK, this is me and part of my display, but you get the jist of it.  Only shot we got that wasn't as goofy looking as the others.....

Nice one of me but dark.  Flash seemed to hit the picture behind me - which sold at the end of the day btw!

I was there from 11am till after 5, so I was pretty bushed as you can imagine.  But the sales were good and it was good to see a few friends.

Gray Family Blog Updating

HI Ya'll

Greg started updating the blog this week and I am following his lead!  I have added all of your current email addresses in our blog settings so that all will receive notifications when any of us post to the blog or comment on a post.  Please log onto the blog and post a comment to this post or others when you get a moment and then I can know that it is all working.  Happy Sunday :)

Brett

Thanksgiving 2012

OK Ya'll, I'm following Greg's lead and adding our most recent fam-trip to Jim and Kelly's for Thanksgiving last year. Hopefully we can do a trip this year and get the whole gang together :) These are pictures of our hike on the Constellation Trail just up the road from Jim and Kelly's house in Chino.

Our Lovely Host :)

Just a shot along the way.

Amazing rock formations!

HMMM?

Agh :)

Another HMM :)

Very STEEP Climb!!!

Almost to the top!

A little Pano of the view.

This is a plaque memorializing a plane crash that took place at the base of the trail!

San Diego and the Border

Sat 4-27-13

I rented a car today to enjoy a road trip to the San Diego area.  I'm usually stuck as a passenger thus everything I would like to stop and see goes flying by.  I decided to be in "destination control" this time in order to see "New Frontiers" I've always wanted to.  It was also a trip to tour the USS Midway museum (Bruce's 61st birthday gift from me) and Jim & mines 2nd time around, finishing up what we missed the first time.  To do the whole tour in one day takes no less than 6 hours to see everything!!  And I finally got to see the US-Mexican border after being in CA for 35 years!!  Kick back and enjoy the photos.

I rented a new Ford Focus (like I drove to AZ) that fit the 4 of us just fine (Bruce, Jim, David and me.)  Got 30 mpg!!  Photo taken while atop the bridge shown below.

Stop #1: This is the "Old Hwy 395" bridge that spans I-5 heading towards SD.  I've always wanted to drive atop it to see what the view is since it's such a high bridge.

The views:  Left looking back East and right looking West towards SD.  Pretty high up!

(The format here seems to have changed, can't put two or more images side by side so combined these in Picasa to make just one.)

Huh, never knew I had a canyon!    But yes, please help save it, ha!

My Friends and I.  Left photo (L to R)
Bruce, David and Jim.  I'm not going to bore you with an abundance of photos at this point but there a few select ones I think you'd find interesting, K?

Engine Room Controls: What a maze of gauges, levers, gizmoes and wheels!!  Had to chuckle when I pictured a crazed Sailor flinging about here like "I-gor" (Marty Feldman) did in the la-boratory in Mel Brooks's "Young Frankenstein" movie, ha!

Jesse, this one is for you since you're taking a culinary class.  Many Chefs were created from their experience.  There's one main "galley" (kitchen) and 4 other galleys throughout the ship feeding 4,000+ personnel!

Jeni, Sus and Kelly:  Imagine the breads +++ I could whip up using this baby!  Oh sure!!  

Jeni, this one is for you since you're now getting involved in a machine shop.  Look what these Sailors used but I bet under far more duress!

This is the "Ready Room" (albeit a replica) for what the movie "Top Gun" was based on

Last of the ship photos - the entry hatch to the nuke area of the ship.  Never knew the Midway carried nukes but considering it saw action during Viet Nam it's understandable (yet scary!)  Marines stood guard with orders "shoot to kill" anyone who tried to breach this area. 

A history lesson, Marines have always provided the "armed onboard security" for US Navy ships - sailors were never allowed to carry sidearms, this dating back to the wooden ship era.

We're at the US / Mexico border now and I couldn't resist taking this photo of a bus ready to drop off passengers.

(You sillies, I Photo-Shopped that bus title in but bet you fell for it, eh?)  

Pretty uncomfortable images eh? I felt the same way!  Felt like I was in a war zone or a prison environment .... are we keeping "them" out or are they keeping "us" in???"

Somehow I screwed up the text layout but since we're at the end of this, no biggie.  This is inspection area for traffic coming into the US.

Tijuana, Mexico.  The arch says "Welcome to Tijuana" I'm told.

This is the "real" Mexican border.  Note US security fence in the foreground.  To me seems all foreboding!

Me at a section of the Border Wall, probably will never cross over.  Hope everyone has enjoyed these pics of my recent trek and encourage all to post a note (hopefully with some images!) here.

  Greg

Hello??

I fear the Gray family has left the building!  We didn't even post here for xmas..... so sad!!
Let's start using this blog again folks!!  No gory photos of your surgery though Greg!
Hopefully this finds everyone well and off to a great start this year!!!
Love and Hugs!!!  Jeni

Snow in September!

Saw this on my way up to Port Townsend today, thought you would all get a kick out of it.  For you non-farm folk, these are wrapped hay bales.

Surprise!!

Well this was the week I finally found a car!  Here I am at the Suzuki dealer today (Thursday September 1st) picking up my new 2011 SX4 Crossover Hatchback!

This is a terrific car!  AWD, 4 door, hatchback wagon.  Roomy and super fun to drive!  This was rated high by Consumer Reports magazine and is very competitive with Subaru - but costs less. 
It's basically two wheel drive till you flip a switch to either "auto" AWD which gives it the power to decide, in questionable driving conditions, or "lock" AWD which is like four wheel drive up to 36 mph.
This baby has a brain!
Anyway, I got a terrific deal and am extremely pleased with my purchase!