Near Charleston, SC

 

 

 

 

The people I'm visiting, Sam and Jackie, live near Charleston, SC. This morning, we took a walk along the beach and along a salt marsh. Here are some photos.

Party

Well, I started my trip west today. My first stop was at a party in Virginia. The young lady was one of my daughter, Kathy's, roommates in college. Kathy's friends all call me "Pop." So when a young lady who's been calling me Pop for the past twenty years invites me to her party, I go. The old white haired guy in the background is her actual father. She calls him Dad. The young, good looking guy is her husband.

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

This past Monday, my brother and I went to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. The top picture is a tsunami simulator. Next, there's me sitting in a model of a San Francisco cable car. The actual cable cars in San Francisco, still carrying commuters and tourists, are the only movable national monument in the US. Next, there's a just hatched chicken. Finally, there's a full size model of the Wright flyer. The Wright brothers were not merely the first human beings to actually perform a heavier than air powered level flight with a human on board (model planes, birds and pterodactyls were earlier). They were the first people to describe how airplanes needed to have control of their pitch, roll, and yaw. They also were the first to build a gas engine that was both light enough and powerful enough to fly itself, a pilot, and the plane.

With all that, the plane they designed must have been very difficult to fly. People keep trying to build a model flyer that actually flies, but they find the design extremely difficult to control. The Wrights were lucky they didn't get killed while trying to fly.

At the museum, we saw a sign that the museum is having a contest. The winner gets to literally live in the museum for a month, play with the exhibits after closing time, and become a representative of the museum to the public. When I read about that contest, I realized that the person they're looking for is me. I'm working on my contest entry materials. All I need to do is to convince them that I'm the best person for the job. I already know it. I'm working on getting some stuff together so I can demonstrate to them that I'm their guy.

The EAA Air Show at Oshkosh

Last week, I went to the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It's an amazing air show that happens every year. Three of these pictures are self explanatory. The one of the sailplane on the ground with a retractable pusher prop mounted behind the cockpit is powered by a battery driven electric motor. The battery power gets it up in the air. Then the prop retracts into the fuselage and the plane becomes a soaring sailplane.

This is a better picture of the bride at this week long wedding celebration I'm attending. She's been a friend of my daughter, Kathy, since college, and She's been addressing me as Pop all that time. Kathy says she never told her friends to call me Pop. They just started doing it spontaneously. I guess I'm just a fatherly kind of guy.

When they call you "Pop," you need to take some responsibility

This week, I'm at a week long wedding celebration. The young lady above is the bride. She's been a friend of my daughter, Kathy, ever since college, and she's been calling me "Pop" for the past twenty years. When you've been calling someone "Pop" for twenty years, you pretty much have to invite him to your wedding, which is how come I get to be here.

She's smart and nice. When a young lady has been calling you "Pop" for twenty years, you have to look after her, and satisfy yourself that her intended groom is worthy of her. I've met the groom. He's also smart and nice, and I'm happy about the match.

Naomi at The Grove eating shaved ice and watching a Hawaiian show