Exploring the USS Yorktown and USS Laffey–Patriots Point

When Nicolas graduates from Prototype, the ceremony will be held on board the USS Yorktown.  We thought that Grandpa would really enjoy seeing that ceremony, but unfortunately, Nicolas’ class has had some setbacks with the reactor, so his graduation has been delayed, probably until December.

 

Not a problem for Tom and I, since we’ll be here through the end of December, but Grandpa wasn’t planning to stay that long.

 

I saw on facebook that they had a special on Sundays – 4 tickets for $40, which works out to be about half price for 4 adults.  Nicolas could have gotten in free, if he wore his uniform, but he didn’t really feel like going in uniform.

 

 

Nicolas was working the midnight shift last week, so we took our time getting to his apartment . . . but still managed to wake him up when we arrived at noon!  He had to be back home by 6pm to get ready for work, so as soon as he had eaten some breakfast and I took Casey for a walk, we headed down to Mt. Pleasant.

The parking lot at Patriots Point was really full when we arrived, but most people were going to Ft. Sumter.  The Yorktown wasn’t crowded at all, and we had a nice visit.

The ship is divided into 5 self-guided tours, and Nicolas prioritized the ones that he wanted to do, since we didn’t know how much of it Grandpa was going to be able to handle.

We started by looking at a few planes in the hanger bay,

and then made our way up to the flight deck to see some more planes.

We stopped in the Pilots’ Ready Room for some instruction first.

Grandpa liked looking at all the old airplanes and fighter jets!

We had a great view of the Ravenal Bridge, too!

 

From the flight deck, we continued up, up, up to the Bridge . . . Dad was handling the stairs pretty well so far!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicolas looks good up there!

Grandpa checking out the view,

the flight deck and Charleston Harbor.

We returned to the Hangar Bay,

and then followed Tour 1 to the lower deck areas – where the sailors lived and worked.

The Berthing Room,

the Chapel,

 

and the Torpedo Room.

 

From the lower deck, we took a detour to the Engine Room – where Nicolas will be working – and the Brig.

We made our way back up, and as we walked past the galley, the kitchen, and the bakery, Nicolas had me take a picture of the chocolate chip cookie recipe – for the next time we need 10,000 cookies!

 

Grandpa was running out of steam, so we wrapped up our tour of the Yorktown,

 

but Nicolas still wanted to tour the Laffey.

There are some new interactive exhibits in the Engine Room and the Command Center.  They are really well done, and Nicolas thought they were pretty cool.

 

We walked past the sub, too, but didn’t go on it this time . . . Nicolas says he spends enough time on a sub!

 

So, that was our day of touring at Patriots Point.  I think Grandpa had a good time – he certainly saw a lot of things that he’d never seen before!

Getting into the swing of things

After getting all settled into our site, and checking out some of the public areas of the refuge, we were ready to start lending a hand.  Tom is going to be doing the majority of the volunteering, but we’ll also be opening the Visitor Center on some Saturdays and I’ll tag along occasionally when there’s something interesting going on.

Tom and his Dad have been hanging out with the Biologist most days, exploring some of the non-public areas of the park, checking on the hunts that they have going on, and finding wildlife.

 

The refuge needs to keep the deer population under control, so in October each year, they hold several hunts including a youth hunt, a primitive weapons hunt, and a couple weeks of normal hunting.

They got to see several of the deer that the hunters had gotten last week.

 

 

 

They also saw some turkeys,

 

a bald eagle that they didn’t get a picture of, and today they spotted a 12-ft. alligator in one of the ponds.  Tom got a couple of decent pictures with his phone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Friday, the Refuge Manager took Tom and I on a tour of the Bluff area that becomes a habitat for waterfowl beginning November 1st.  One of the projects that Tom will be working on is to make sure that all of the wood duck boxes in this area are in good shape for the nesting season this winter. 

After November 1st, we won’t be able to enter this area without a staff member (can’t stir up the ducks, making them vulnerable to the hunters that wait just outside the refuge boundary), so we took the opportunity later that evening to ride our bikes around the bluff.

It was a little windy, but a nice cool evening for a bike ride.  Our first stop was at the duck pond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next month, they’ll be doing a duck count out here, and we’ll be able to participate – we’re looking forward to that!

We watched for birds for a few minutes,

 

but only saw a few egrets that were too far out for my camera.

As the sun continued to dip behind the trees,

we continued on our bike ride.

We were doing pretty well, but suddenly the wind died and the mosquitos came out in full force!  We were being attacked from all sides – next time we won’t come out here without first coating ourselves with bug spray!

On our way out to the bluff, the sun was still pretty high in the sky,

but by the time we returned, the  sunset was pretty much complete.

Although much of the hurricane damage at the refuge has been cleaned up, there are still trees down in many places and there are branches EVERYWHERE!  Tom and his Dad spent one whole day cleaning up around the Visitor Center – picking up branches, mowing, and blowing leaves out of the parking lot.

It looked pretty good when they were done!

 

There’s a beautiful view of the lake from the back porch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since we’re going to be responsible for opening the Visitor Center on the weekends by ourselves, I stopped in to familiarize myself with it.  It’s actually a really nice Visitor Center!

They have several displays of the animals found at the refuge,

 

including the non-native invasive species that they are trying to eliminate.

They have several areas for kids – a touch table of things found on the refuge,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and an “arts & crafts” corner where they have coloring pages, puzzles, and other projects for kids to work on.

 

Overall, it’s a really nice educational and informative Visitor Center, and should be pretty easy to manage on the weekends . . . there’s no admission fees or gift shop, so we don’t have to worry about handling money at all.  I think we’ll do fine!