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The USS Midway is an awesome ship
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This plexiglass model of the original design was recently discovered
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The signal flags read "Over the river and thru the woods". Really
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The 4-acre flight deck is filled with the types of planes that flew from the Midway
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Clever use of space - the aft port flight elevator serves as a dining area for the on-board snack bar
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Those folding wings are fascinating
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This airborne radar plane is one of the largest flown from the Midway
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Like every such museum, lots of volunteer veterans to explain things
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They didn't usually cram this many people into the flight operations tower
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The tower commands a view of the flight deck
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A few well-posed mannequins add to the displays
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Lots of information is imparted
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Across the bay, the carrier USS Carl Vinson was docked. It's the one that buried Osama bin Laden at sea . .
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Lots of sightseeing boats in San Diego harbor
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Even some classic sailing boats
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There were even a few racing boats - USA76 was the US 2003 America's Cup entry
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They had one of every type of helicopter that flew from the ship
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We think these were sea scouts or something similar . . .
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The Midway is as much air museum as ship museum
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The ship's chapel was surprisingly small
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As were the ward rooms and other dining facilities. But then, they didn't feed everybody at once
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The galley, however, was huge
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We alway wondered what was inside those pods marked "life raft"
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The superstructure is enormous . . .
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Next door to the ship, a delightful little park. These bronzes recreate a Bob Hope USO show
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And, of course, anyone of a certain age remembers this pose from that Time Square photo
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The little guy behind the leg had been looking up the skirt . . .
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The outdoor organ pavilion at Balboa Park featured a handbell choir in a Christmas concert
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And, of course, some rousing organ music
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The San Diego Harmony Ringers were exceptional
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And during the concert, a couple was doing wedding photos in the collonade
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And this gal had a very well-behaved pooch
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There are always flowers in Southern California - this camellia was just outside the organ pavilion
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The Chula Vista Tree of Giving was in a shopping center courtyard. Still lots of tags on the last day
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Back at the Pio Pico RV Resort, decorations happened
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Some folks go a bit overboard
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Where do they keep all this stuff the rest of the year?
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We enjoyed the decorations, and didn't try to compete . . .
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Sometimes the wait to enter the US from Mexico is daunting - this one was almost two hours
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Now we're in Menifee CA, where many mornings there are balloons overhead
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For some reason, our front yard was where a lot of geese hung out.
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Geese, ducks, coots, egrets and herons were regulars
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A day trip to someplace we'd never been
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There were trees decorated in many Nixonian themes
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The Elvis tree got a lot of attention
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The museum is on the site of the Nixon family farm, and that's the house in which he was born
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Judy likes this picture for some reason
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The museum has many bronze statues, including this commemorating Nixon's famed China trip in 1972
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Nixon was an advisor to many presidents after he left office and joined this very exclusive club
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Among the holiday displays were several vintage electric train layouts
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Lots of world leaders immortalized in bronze . . .
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Every presidential museum displays gifts received by the President
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That's one of Neil Armstrong's space suits, probably not the one he wore on the moon
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The Nixons were the same age when they died, though born in different years
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The Nixon birthplace was a Sears Roebuck kit house built by Nixon's father
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Back then, this was all an orange grove. Today it's a very nice park
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There's even one of the "Marine One" helicopters . . .
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Back at Wilderness Lakes, the weekend train rides were very popular with kids, and apparently dogs as well
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About as soon as we had our motorhome washed, this Night Heron perched menacingly in a nearby tree. We'll end on that thought . .