Welcome Aboard the USS Blue Ridge

So several weeks ago, Tim's ship had a family day cruise. (YAY for not having to wait two years to finally have one like the Princeton did! haha). The cruise took friends and family up to Tokyo where the ship had some business for the weekend. Lucky for us (for once), Tim didn't have duty, and Yokosuka wasn't off limits to them. So instead of taking the bus home with the FRG families, Tim and I asked a good friend if she could pick our girls up from the CDC so I didn't have to be back by 5PM. Instead, we got a "date" night.

The cruise wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Being Tim and I (and not all that enthusiastic of anything ship related), we walked around the main deck for a while, and headed back to his space where we talked and/or read the entire time. We were also lucky that one of the people in his shop took his sea and anchor detail while I was on board. (Nice since they were at sea and
anchor the entire time we were on the cruise).

I just have one thing to say about Tokyo bay.. EW on the water - it's ALL brown.. In San Diego, once you get away from the bay and the immediate coast, the water turns this gorgeous aqua color.. In Japan, it was still BROWN.. eeewww... Remind me never to swim in that bay - the water in Sagami Bay (where we are) is the gorgeous aqua color most of the time. If it's not, it's a steel blue. Anyhoot, I was a little bummed we didn't get to go on deck and see as the ship went under the rainbow bridge (apparently, the ship BARELY makes it under the bridge), as Tim was relieving people to go eat lunch during that part, and I don't think I would have ever found my way back to his shop without his help. By time we got to go back out on deck, the ship was mooring to the pier in Tokyo. Funny thing, I have NO idea what these things are called (I have an idea of what they do though), but they needed to be moved, and in a hurry. At first they tried to move it by hand (guy with suit and tie on included), but it didn't go so well. Next thing I know, they've got the rope anchored to an SUV that's backing up very slowly. :) A few minutes later, they were suddenly trying to move the ones on the other side.. By hand. So apparently, they can move one by hand, but the other must be soo much heavier because it needs a car.. haha :P













If you don't know, the BR isn't just one command, it also has the 7th Fleet attached to it. (Ship's crew - they basically belong to the admiral on board. Tim says his next sea tour he wants ship's crew.. lol). They were the ones with things going on in Tokyo, they had a big top while they were in port there. I believe it was to celebrate something like 50 years of friendship between the Japanese and American Navies. Anyhoot, because of that, we weren't the only ship in port, nor did we have the only band. The Japanese Royal Navy and the 7th Fleet Band played back and forth. It reminded me of the Pixar short "one man band" (I think that's the name) where the two men play bigger and louder than the other for the little girl's money. :) It was cute and nice.

So that's where I'm ending for now. We got off the ship around 1:30 (about an hour after we were scheduled to moor), and went off in search of food and Tokyo Tower. (TT is the red/white Eiffel looking tower in the 4th picture). I'll post some more pics of that later, but right now, it's 11:15AM, and I really need to go do the dishes this morning!