Two weeks ago was the week the rest of MSRON 1 completed mobilization at NMPS. That Friday I went over to address the two hundred or so people who would be reporting to us on Sunday. I had organized a 'mass check-in' along the lines of what we did the first day at NMPS. I wanted to make sure everyone knew what to bring and had an idea of what to expect. I personally handed each and every one of them the Plan of the Day, which included the list of items and information to bring on Sunday.
Friday night the officers had our usual dinner in Coronado. We went to some restaurant on the east end of the Island, with a pretty specatular view of the San Diego waterfront and skyline. We were extremely fortunate to get seated right away, but it still turned into a very long affair. It was a nice Italian restaurant. Expensive enough that I didn't even ask if they had beer, I ordered a couple glasses of wine. I wasn't driving so I wasn't afraid to have a couple drinks. Of course we followed dinner with a rendezvous at Moo Time.
Saturday morning I finally found time to make a stop at the post office to mail some paperwork, and Padres memorabilia, back to Katie. I used this excuse to have breakfast at the diner next to Moo Time. It had been a while since I'd had something other than cereal for breakfast.
Next I went sailing in San Diego Bay with one of the other guys. He had got his sailing license from the Navy marina down the Strand from NAB. We took a small sail boat our for about an hour and a half. Not too much wind, but it definitely brought back some memories.
We rolled right into the Navy - Air Force game at an alumni's house in Coronado. Great game, and another win for the Midshipmen. Katie was covering the WNBA playoffs, otherwise I'm sure she would have working on some 'full screen graphics' of Navy's latest victory.
For my final trick, I drove myself up to Miramar Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) for the San Diego Air Show. I probably spent more time in line than at the air show, but it was the first time I'd ever been. It's a very popular event. I heard something like 300,000 people attended over the weekend. While waiting to park, I got to watch a couple of WWII era planes were doing some pretty crazy acrobatics. While waiting for the bus to take me across base to the show, some jets were doing formation flying. I arriced at the show just as the Blue Angels' C-130, the 'Fat Albert', did a jet assisted take-off. Pretty cool how that big plane can literally rocket up into the air. I say some jet-powered truck do a demo.
The clouds were coming in the ceiling got too low for the parachute team that was supposed to perform. And then it started to rain. Realizing I had nothing to cover my camera, I ran back to the buses. But it actually stopped raining, and then they did the fireworks. Trying to take photos of fireworks, and then trying to pick a good shot out of the hundreds of photos, isn't easy. But here's a few.
Sunday was the big day. After a Welcome Aboard by the Commodore, we let the units proceed to the classrooms to meet their immediate chain of command. Then everyone proceeded through the eight station of the mass check-in.
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