Through The Periscope

We woke up today to a weather report that said 80's and 100% humidity. How is that possible without rain? Now, it is 69 and 89% humidity and we are sitting with the air conditioning on just to relieve the humidity. I have a jacket and shorts on-my body is so confused.

The cool photo above actually was taken through a periscope in the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, CT and the photo is of the 1st nuclear submarine, the Nautilus, commissioned in 1954. In 1958, the Nautilus traveled to and under the North Pole. The story of this adventure was written in a book, "Nautilus 90 North"-one of my childhood favorites. At the time, I felt that Admiral Rickover was one of the smartest men in the world.

We started out our morning at a little diner, named "Somewhere in Time," furnished with 1950's dinette sets, cute and a great breakfast. Then, we drove to Groton, CT to the submarine base that includes the Submarine Force Museum. Wisely, they have the museum just outside of the base, so idiots cannot see any of the truly important fleets housed there. The photo shows the entry to the museum. The two circles represent the sizes of the Holland class subs to the Ohio class subs as they have grown over the years.

This photo is a replica of a Polaris missle silo that are carried on our subs, except that the subs carry more than one of these missles. Makes you wonder what is the North Korean's Kim Jong is thinking, when you see these lined up on a sub. Maybe he should have seen the video that was shown in the museum on strategic defense.

The best part of the museum was to actually board the Nautilus for a tour. Usually, I don't like climbing around in submarines, but they did a nice job on this one. Don't laugh, I actually have been on several submarines and they can be hot and uncomfortable as you climb through those hatches. Oh yes, I must add that the Museum of Science and Industry has done a beautiful job on the U-Boat 505 exhibit.

Okay, now I am officially concerned, I just saw on the web and now on CNN that seven suspects have been arrested in Miami for planning an attack on the Sears tower. Glad the FBI were on there toes, today. Stay safe everyone.

After we finished the museum, we drove through Groton that has many beautiful Victorian homes along the Thames River. Then, we drove back to Mystic and toured the Olde Mystic Towne, (similar to Long Grove) with lots of unique shops. As a treat, Mel bought me gold sea turtle earrings to go with my Valentine's Day sea turtle bracelet. I had given up on my search after we left Florida. Who knew that we'd find them in Connecticut.

By 4:00 p.m., we were hot and tired, and with a theater right there, we decided to see the movie, Cars, for a second time. If you haven't treated yourself to a movie lately, we highly recommend this. When it comes out in DVD, we will add it to our collection.

At 6:30 p.m., we came out of the theater feeling good and finally cool. I thought we would head home to the RV, but Mel had other ideas.

This morning, he saw a flyer for a car show in a small coastal town in Rhode Island. "Let's try to find the car show." So, armed with only a map and the name of the town off we went to Rhode Island, in search of the car show. After a few missed turns, we stumbled across the road that was mentioned in the flyer and in a matter of minutes, we were at the car show. Mel was happy to find it but was disappointed at the quality of the show. According to Mel, the car shows are so much better in Chicago--and we all know Mel knows what he is talking about.