News from the Jacobs family in Saudi Arabia
I recently spent a week in San Diego for a conference and was able to have an excellent meal with Jim and Monica. Later Jim took me on a tour of his ship, the USS Thatch. What a treat–Jim is an excellent tour guide. I also learned that aluminum can achieve a self-sustaining burn and the tradition of the chiefs’ coin.
The last day we spent in San Diego we visited the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla which the GPS Navigator pronounced phonetically as La Joe-la. Kidding aside, driving in new territory with a GPS Navigator is such a marvel of the modern age. No more fiddling with maps ahead of time, just jump in the car and go! I remember our very first GPS was in a car we rented in Germany several years ago. I swear when we missed a turn the German woman’s voice would get a disappointed edge to it as it recalculated our route. Not so with our current model. Crystal programmed in an Australian accent for our current unit and it never runs out of patience.
After the aquarium we let the GPS direct us down the coast for a visit to a beach – we figured it would be a shame to have visited Southern California without at least being on a beach for a few minutes. The beach was nice but the water was pretty rough with signs posted warning of dangerous rip currents so we kept Kai and Nora back as well as we could. The water was freezing so I’m surprised that they wanted to go near the water at all but they were keen to get their feet wet. One bonus was the seal we saw sunning itself on a rock a little ways from shore.
Our last major stop of the day was the USS Midway – a carrier put into service shortly after WWII which saw its last action during Desert Storm. Now a museum it was amazingly well done. If you are ever in San Diego I highly recommend this attraction. They had actual aircraft up on the deck spanning the years the carrier was in service and the self-directed audio tour was top notch. I’ve never been on a carrier before and I was blown away. Kai too. He was most taken with the missles and bombs; Nora’s big question was “where do they brush their teeth?” We thought it would be a quick walk through and we’d be on our way before the kids got bored but we ended up staying a long time – especially on the flight deck with the planes.
Enjoy the pictures!
On our vacation within a vacation we took a trip to San Diego for a few days. One the main attractions was Legoland which we figured would be right up Kai’s alley (which was correct, of course). We also visited the amazing San Diego Zoo and had dinner with Monica. Enjoy the pictures!
