Lyon Air Museum (Santa Ana, CA) -- September 2015

DAY EIGHT (26 September 2015):

When travelling, you always need to keep in mind when you have to secure your boarding positions for your flight the following day.  I’m able to do everything electronically, and have the stuff sent to my phone.  My parents preferred the paper method, so we needed to make sure those were secured before we headed out for the day.  Being able to have your position secured, and simply print out the boarding pass at the airline kiosk is useful.  But once that was done, then we could head out for the day’s events.

I’d been trying to meet some of my other contacts today too, but were having some difficulty in making connections.  Sure the plan in the later part of the day would be to enjoy the beach again, and soak up some rays before heading back, but we’d do something intellectual today also.  And that required a quick trip over to Santa Ana.

Located next to the John Wayne Airport was Lyon Air Museum.  This was founded by Major General William Lyon to have a collection of functional aircraft, rare vehicles, and World War II era memorabilia.  I enjoy going to air museums like this, because there’s always something of interest.

It’s always fun to look at the old cars, especially because you can see manufacturer’s which aren’t in business any more.  Plus it’s interesting to compare the amenities of these older vehicles (like this 1935 Packard) to what can be found in modern cars.

Of course, I like checking out the vehicles which were made during the war era to see what interesting designs were created then.  This 1943 German Kettenkrad tracked motorcycle is a good example, as in the post-war period I’ve never seen anything like this in civilian use.

And it’s nice to see the history of some manufacturers which have survived to the modern day, when you look at what was made as part of the war production.  Companies like BMW and Mercedes-Benz are still in existence today making vehicles, but they created things to drive during the war.  This 1939 Mercedes-Benz touring wagon is a good example.  Note how the front doors opened backwards to what we’re used to in modern cars.

The main reason to go to an air museum is to see the planes, like this Douglas C-47 “Skytrain.”  A fleet of over 800 of these planes dropped 13,000 paratroopers into Normandy during the D-Day Invasion.  Note the pans next to the wheels.  Those are there to catch oil dripping from the engines.  That’s one way to know these planes, for as old as they are, are still flyable.

One of the great things when visiting an air museum is to see the types of planes which took part in critical missions.  This B-25 Mitchell is a good example of that.  While this specific plane wasn’t involved, it was this type of aircraft which took place in the Doolittle Raid against Japan in 1942.

Not every piece in the museum saw action during the war.  This B-17 Flying Fortress was one of the last to be delivered to the Army Air Forces, and used mostly as a VIP transport in the Pacific.  This specific plane was used in the classic film Tora! Tora! Tora!, and later re-named “Fuddy Duddy” to honor a plane which flew 93 missions before being lost over Germany in December 1944.

While the planes are always the most impressive items in an air museum, the smaller historical pieces can be just as interesting for what they represent.  Occasionally there’s items from World War I (notice how it says “The Great War” on the sign), because it can really show you how different aviation was then.

And then there’s the aspects which give that local angle.  Due to the paper shortages and war rationing, much of the daily newspapers which chronicled the history were recycled, but it was nice to see these copies of the Santa Ana Register which showed the conclusion of the war.

It only took a hour or two to go through this completely, and that was including the short film on site, but it was worth it.  This makes a nice afternoon destination location when you’re in the area to see something perhaps you haven’t seen.

One little bit of amusement I had was where the Indian motorcycle was placed next to.  Perhaps your humor isn’t goofy the way mine is, but it should still appreciate the world play.

More Information on Places Visited or Mentioned:

Santa Ana (CA):  http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/

John Wayne Airport:  http://www.ocair.com/

Lyon Air Museum:  http://lyonairmuseum.org/

Doolittle Raid:  http://www.uss-hornet.org/history/wwii/doolittle.shtml

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Fun Zone Boat Company Harbor Cruise (Newport Beach, CA) -- September 2015

DAY SEVEN, PART TWO (25 September 2015):

Watching the sunset over the ocean was important to me, so that’s why on all my visits (including this one), I’d try to view that spectacle from whatever location I was at (usually being the Seal Beach Pier).  But on this trip, Mum wanted to be able to see if from the ocean, so she recommended we do a harbor tour.  While there’s many places along the coast which offer this, we’d made the arrangements to have one done out of Newport Beach.

            For the amusement factor, we had a little adventure just getting there.  It didn’t make a lot of sense to go all the way back to Seal Beach and then come back down a few hours later, so once we departed Mission San Juan Capistrano, our goal was to find a place we could get an early dinner and loiter until it was time for the tour to start.

I knew the general area of where we wanted to be, so that’s why I started to question the route the GPS was giving us.  It sent us on to Balboa Island, which was a very quaint (but crowded) beach community with very narrow one-way streets.  (That would’ve been a nice place to park and explore the many little shops, given the time.)  The GPS was then trying to send us across the Balboa Island Ferry, which didn’t at all seem correct.

I wanted to stick to streets I knew during the daytime, as it would be after dark when we left.  Plus it wasn’t the route I had originally plotted.  Of course, I plotted that route originally with the idea we’d be heading south from Seal Beach, which meant a whole different way to get to our destination.  It made sense to me to U-turn out of Balboa Island, back to PCH, and then head a little bit north where we’d be able to turn down Balboa Blvd to bring us to where we needed to be.  Once there, we learned that’s where the ferry would’ve deposited us off any way, but it was nicer to get a feel for the area.  It was a bit more spacious to drive here.

This area had some pedestrian streets which served as a nice boardwalk, with some small touristy shops and restaurants.  We loitered at a place called Newport Landing where we could have some drinks, a light dinner, and people watch the area while we were waiting.  Our final destination was just a few doors down, the Fun Zone Boat Company.

At the appropriate time, we and the other passengers boarded, and the boat chugged out past all the slips in Newport Bay, and rounded the peninsula to bring us out towards the Pacific Ocean.

Along the way we passed Corona del Mar State Beach, where this nearby cove served as locations for filming of Gilligan’s Island and a few other shows.  Taking a close look at the contours, it really looked like a fun place to hang out.

To our west was a barrier known as “The Wedge,” which was built as a break-wall to make a more easily-navigable channel to the bay.  Soon we were beyond that, and out on the open ocean.

The skipper had already said we’d head out for a distance, and then turn around and come back in the way we came.  So if you didn’t have the seat facing the sunset on the way out, you would on the way back in.  We made sure to sit in the very front bow of the boat, but that didn’t stop other rude tourists from crowding our position or getting in the way of our shots.  They didn’t have very good sea legs, and one of the tourists nearly dropped his camera off the edge of the boat.  After that, he sat back down in his seat for most of the remainder of the trip.

Since I was on the edge of the boat facing the sunset on the way out, I snapped what shots I could initially, and then just enjoyed the rest of the trip.  Some clouds had rolled in, but not enough to obscure the view.  And it wasn’t like the “green flash” happens out of the Pacific anyway.

On the way back in, we passed a buoy with a bunch of sea lions piled on it.  The skipper explained because these are mammals, they do need to sleep, and they leave the water to do so.  They couldn’t float and nap at the same time (for very long), but in the evening as the water temperature dropped, so the already-cold ocean became even colder.

As we came back in the entrance channel, it afforded more opportunities for me to take some artsy shots of the sunset contrasted with dark objects in the foreground.  The lone person walking on the “Wedge” was a great subject matter for a beautiful picture.

Seeing the sunset was only half of the trip, because a tour of some of the more interesting homes on the harbor was included.  The tour was designed to do the “harbor home” portion of the tour before or after the sunset, depending on the time of year.

As it got dark, it was harder to see specific structures which were pointed out by the skipper.  Here’s a place where the first female Coast Guard captain lives, there’s the house that John Wayne lived in at one point, and over yonder is a philanthropist’s mansion.  We also got to wave at the passing party boats, and other harbor traffic.

One thing which I found as nice as the sunset was the way the full moon reflected on the water.  Little sights like that provide me a lot of visual pleasure.  At the conclusion of the tour, we disembarked where we began, and the restaurants and bars in the area were ready to receive patrons who wanted a late-evening snack.  The views of the sunsets over the ocean to me were worth the price of the tour, and that’s why I recommend this to be done.

More Information on Places Visited or Mentioned:

Newport Beach (CA):  http://www.newportbeachca.gov/

Balboa Island:  http://www.balboaisland.com/

Balboa Peninsula:  http://www.visitnewportbeach.com/vacations/balboa-peninsula/

Newport Landing:  http://www.newport-landing.com/

Fun Zone Boat Company:  http://funzoneboats.com/

Corona del Mar State Beach:  http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=652

“Green Flash”:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_flash

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