Friday – Woke up to some nasty fog in the
marina. Mark and Ryan tinkered around
on the boat, Ryan went for a run and I walked downtown – this historic area of Pensacola is really nice with
shops, eateries and neat architecture.
Although we’ve never been to New Orleans, from pictures we’ve seen,
downtown Pensacola resembles NO to some extent with all the wrought iron
balconies, neat flickering street lamps, etc.
Then it was
off to the air show. Mark and I
stopped for a few things for the boat along the way and happy to see the
sunshine. So fun to be with our Blue
Angel friends again and meet new ones.
In 2010 when
Ryan was deployed on the USS Nimitz, I met Kristen the wife of another officer
in Ryan’s squadron thru e-mail.
She took Ryan “under her wings” since
he had no spouse and worked with me on getting calendar squares made for
the guys to enjoy while they were gone those 7 months. Kristen and I have been e-mailing thru the
years and I’ve so enjoyed all her pics on FB, the birth of her tiny twin sons 4
years ago and now her sweet little McKenzie, 18 months. Kristen and family recently moved to
Navarre, FL from Lemoore, CA and we finally met today at the NAS Pensacola air show. What a very special family!
McKenzie, Joel, Kristen, Gabe and Ty
It's official!
Really
enjoyed the air show today – flawless performance by the Blues and huge crowd
as Pensacola “loves” their Blues and pulls out all the stops for this homecoming weekend!
Back to the
boat for showers and clean up but first, stopped at “Island Office” (boat that came in
while we were at the show) to say “Hello”.
We met Mark and Denise in
Annapolis in May shortly after we gave some of the Blues a ride on
Catrina. They are doing the Loop and
we were neighbors in the marina and now here again at Palafox. They
got to meet Ryan and some of the others.
We’ve kept in touch with their blog throughout this entire adventure –
what a trip and so many wonderful memories.
Denise and I have kept in touch and we knew they would be here for this
weekend. Really good to see them for a
brief visit and then we were off to Leigh and Tom’s home (commanding officer and #1) for a big, big party……fun with the team members, their
families and lots of friends of the Blues.
Food, oh-so-much-food and enjoyed a really fun, casual evening.
Saturday – Happy Birthday, Mark!!!
68 years young
The Birthday Boy started the day off by scrubbing the swim
platform on Terraphobic and amazing how that tannic acid can be removed with
two $1 bottles of toilet bowl cleaner from Dollar General!!! Foggy again this morning….ugh…..last hurrah
for the Blues to fly today and big concern “if” the show will go on! At 7:30 AM, they made the announcement that
the show has been moved up from 2:00 to 11:30.
What a wonderful last show –
just so awesome watching this team perform for the very last time together (3
of the team - #1, 4 and 5 are leaving).
So, it was a bittersweet time with lots of emotion. So thankful the weather held off and they
actually did a high show! We came
back to the boat visited with Mark and Denise and also had a few family members
of #1 (Boss Tom Frosch) come aboard Terraphobic as they had late lunch at
Jaco’s.
Tonight we
got all gussied up for big party with the Blue Angel Alumni at Seville
Quarters, about ½ mile from the boat.
Weather was very threatening, but just a light rain when we arrived. What a party with so many people, so much
food and drink and then a short program saying good-bye to the 2015 team and
introducing the 2016 team. More
emotion as these guys and gals came on stage with lots of hugs to thunderous
applause! They had 3 large screens to
watch memories from this past season. It
wasn’t raining when we left around 10:30, but during the night, the heavens
opened up and it has been raining cats and dogs since and to continue into
tomorrow!
Sunday – The rain let up for a bit and so we
took the boat a short distance for a pump out, fuel and then a short ride.
Enjoying our 1st ride on Terraphobic
We were back in our slip and off to 11:00
Mass (Mark and Denise, too) at St. Joseph’s and this was quite an experience
with much singing, clapping and just general overall joyous celebration that
lasted 1 hour, 20 minutes.
Back to
Terraphobic to change and then off to Change of Command. This ceremony was held at the Naval Air Museum
with all the pomp and circumstance of a military event.
Change of Command with our new #5 pilot
We said our good byes to the Blues family
friends we’ve sooo enjoyed so much this past year at a reception afterwards at
the Hangar! Back to Terraphobic, changed clothes
(something warm and dry) as the rain started up again and wind picked up. Ryan was off to last farewell with his
teammates and Mark and Denise came aboard Terraphobic for drinks. It rained hard and the winds blew all
evening. Around 7:15, we 4 walked up
to Jaco’s for dinner – what a night as the rain just kept on and on but so fun visiting with Mark and Denise.
Mark and Denise
Monday – Misty rain in the morning. Mark and I went to The Bodacious Brew for
yummy breakfasts-to-go. We all did odd
jobs on the boat and tidied up before Ryan’s friends came aboard around noon. Great boat ride with wine, beer, snacks and lots of chatter!
Jill and Rob
Regina and #2 pilot son, Matt
Michael, stunt pilot
Cheers!
Jill, Regina, Pat
#1 and #5 pilots for 2016
Ryan and Ryan
We had a
wonderful dinner with Boss Ryan and our Ryan at Dharma Blue - charming old
house with all different kinds of chandeliers, brick fireplace in middle of
dining room and so neat to get acquainted with the new Skipper of the Blues.
So that
wraps up the past 4 days here in Pensacola!
Great fun and last hurrah with the Blue Angels till we meet again on March
12, 2016 in El Centro, CA.
Tomorrow, we start for home (800+
miles)…hope we have a good travel day and some sunshine!
Good night from Pensacola....
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