Ahoy!

Yesterday we had the chance to do something that we've been wanting to do since we moved to the coast. . . visit the USS Alabama! Ben carried Maggie on his back while we explored all over the ship.

We got to see how the men lived on the ship - I was especially surprised to learn they had a Soda Fountain (called Gedunk Stand) on board. . . ice cream every day!!! I decided if I had to serve on a Battleship that would definately be the job for me! We also got to go inside the turret of one of the 16" guns (those really big ones). The turret extends all the way to the lowest deck of the ship and inside they house the projectiles and powder and and it was very neat to see how it worked, although i can tell you for sure I wouldn't want that duty while those guns were pounding away every 30 seconds. There are nine of those on the ship and they can shoot a 2700 pound shell 21 miles. Wow!

Here you see Ben (and Maggie) trying out a 40 mm gun. Ben also got to visit a WWII Submarine which he said "made the decks in the battleship seem spacious!" All in all, we had a very fun day in the cool spring weather!