Field trip!

I spent most of the day today up at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, with a couple coworkers.

I received a special invitation from the U.S. Naval Institute to watch the Blue Angels air show from their balcony. It's graduation week at the Academy, and apparently the air show is always the highlight of the week.

It was my first time visiting Annapolis, so I was very excited about it. I felt like I was ditching work or something. The weather couldn't have been more perfect; it was a great day for strolling the grounds of the Academy.

They have Admiral Holloway's plane!!!

[He's the Chairman of the Foundation. We have a little Holloway Fan Club at the office. That's my favorite picture of him on the right.]

We walked over to the chapel, and John Paul Jones ("Father of the Navy") is actually buried underneath it. It was rather dark in the crypt, so it was hard to get a good picture.

Then we went into the chapel. Oh. My. Goodness. It was GORGEOUS. As the lady next to me said, a camera is inadequate to capture its magnificence.

There's a ship hanging from the ceiling. How cool is that?

All of the stained glass windows had naval themes (the story of Jonah, Jesus calling the fishermen, etc.). It was pretty neat.

We also breezed through the museum real quick. I love the old-school etching of the word "museum" on the facade.

It was getting close to showtime, so we went back to the Naval Institute. They had tons of free food AND free alcohol! Their specialty drink was called the Blue Angel. It was yummy.
I tell ya, this is how I like to spend a Wednesday afternoon. Sitting on a balcony overlooking the water, enjoying a tropical drink. I think we should do this every week.

The show started out with the "Fat Albert," a C-130 that carries the maintenance equipment and personnel. And here's a few pictures I took of the squadron before my batteries crapped out.

All in all I had a great time. And it was nice to get away from the office for a day. :)

GO NAVY!