Warm thoughts

As we face yet another ice and/or snow storm, let's go back, back, back to Puerto Rico and revisit a fun little nugget from our trip...

...a visit to the Bacardi factory!

We visited the "Cathedral of Rum" and learned about the history of the Bacardi family. Cuba, and Puerto Rico...

  

The Bacardi bat symbol - Sean thought this was super-cool:

The factory was all dressed up for Christmas, too: 

 

The tour, which included a visit to the distillery, a little museum dedicated to the history of the Bacardi family, and a gift store, concluded at an outdoor bar area.  At the bar, we were enjoyed our free Bacardi drink - Thom John chose a Cuba Libre and I chose a Mojito.

The kids enjoyed unlimited fruit punch - yum!

Ships and subs and aircraft carriers oh my!

We spent a whole day in San Diego at the Maritime Museum and the USS Midway museum.  We started out on the Steam Ferry Berkeley - 

This boat was built in 1898 and houses the museum's main operations, as well as a neat exhibit on all sorts of different boats.  There was even a little office in which two older gents were building model ships - not a bad way to pass the time as a retiree in San Diego, I bet!

Then we toured the USS Dolphin Submarine - it's the deepest-diving submarine EVER!

We played around some cannons...

...before touring a B-39 submarine, a diesel-electric Soviet submarine which was in service from 1970-1990.

Then we boarded the Star of India, the world's oldest active sailing ship!

Inside the Star of India, there was a mini-ship in which the kids took turns being captain and swabbing the decks.

We pretended we were pirates and tried to climb some rigging:

Then we took a lunch break for some excellent fish n' chips, fish tacos, and black bean soup - all while sitting in the bright, warm sunshine!

Next up was a tour of the USS Midway:

First we explored some of the planes that are housed inside the aircraft carriers:

Then Daddy and Sean took a ride in a flight simulator!

And Clare napped...

Clare continued to nap while Sean and Mommy took a tour inside the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th decks of the ship:

Sitting in the Boss' chair:

Keeping a vigilant watch:

Steering the ship:

We also got to go inside planes and helicopters that are on display on the Flight Deck:

While Daddy and Sean listened to a neat talk given by a retired sailor who used to work on an aircraft carrier, Clare and Mommy explored some of the planes:

After we'd had our fill of the Midway, we strolled over to the park next to it to check out "The Kiss" statue:

"Cheese!"