30 miles, 10.5 hours.

Today we headed across town to the USS North Carolina battleship. We spent 3.5 hours there- Dad and I were both very interested in every part of the ship, especially the first-hand accounts from sailors. The girls were mildly interested.. for the first few hours. It was incredibly warm inside the ship- Mom even had sweat dripping down her face.

Dad said his favorite part of the ship was the powder magazines; I think my favorite part was the large section of the ship occupied with (analog) fire-control computers, as well as radio/radar equipment. It seemed like the rooms went on forever.

It is pretty amazing to see a shop that is so well-preserved. The preservation society has a large portion of the ship open for the tour- so much that it is important to follow the "tour arrows" so you don't get lost or miss seeing parts of it. We were amazed by the number of large guns onboard- it had nine 16" guns, twenty 5" guns, as well as a ton of machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. We got to tour the 16" and 5" guns, which were pretty cool. It would be so weird to be "locked" inside one of those guns while at war, knowing everyone would be aiming for you and such.

They also had a Kingfisher (float plane) aboard. Apparently there are only seven left in existence. The battleships would have had two aboard, launched via catapult, landing on the ocean, then stored using a crane.

One of the things that struck us through the ship is the difference between official policy and actual life. For instance, the four-seat barbershop couldn't take tips. However, they would take a tip of 25 cents to a dollar to give you the haircut you wanted, and many of the haircutters would work in secret locations during their off-hours to give haircuts. The same was true for food service, laundry, the print shop, and so on. It's how the sailors made things more comfortable for themselves.

We then came back to the hotel to cool off (and nap!), then went out to the Bellamy Mansion. It is an urban antebellum (pre-Civil War) mansion, showing off what life was like for a wealthy urban Southerner, as well as the architecture and design of the place. The work put into the plaster ceilings was incredible- it took quite a few artisans to do it.