Pensacola - home of the National Museum of Naval Aviation

When I was born, my dad was in the Navy, stationed in Pensacola, Florida (well, technically, he was off on a 9 month Mediterranean cruise aboard an aircraft carrier).  I'm not quite sure how old I was when we moved from there to Oceana, VA, (maybe 3 or 4) but I hadn't been back to Pensacola until this year. 



Me and my mom, Pensacola

  During my work trip there last week, I took time to visit the military base - which, by the way, is the home of the Blue Angels.

It wasn't a problem getting onto the base, but the pass they gave me restricted my access to primarily just the air museum (National Museum of Naval Aviation).

Inside the museum, there was every kind of aircraft imaginable from the first ones flown by the Navy to ones flown today.  I walked around looking for  the ones filmed by my dad during his cruises on the aircraft carriers.  I'm not sure I found the exact ones but I found some from the right time period.  I remember watching his home movies with the planes getting catapulted off the carriers and then watching them land.  My dad was in involved with aircraft maintenance on the carriers.

While I enjoyed seeing all the aircraft (an amazing display), I also enjoyed seeing the replicas of some aircraft carriers.   I remember whenever my dad would come back from a crusie, the families got to board the carrier and the kids got orange juice and doughnuts.  I've been on the Forrestal (first carrier to support jet aircraft), the Intrepid (currently a museum in New York City) and the Saratoga (launched october 1955 - cost $207million).

USS Saratoga

On display in the museum was this propellar - 15 ft in diameter, weighing 27,000 lbs.  It was one of the four propellars on the USS Intrepid.

Disney World is the "hot spot" for family vacations in Florida, but I think more families should add this museum to their list of educational places to take their kids.  I think kids of all ages would find the aircraft interesting - especially since you can walk right up to them - no glass cases or barricades preventing you from touching them.  There are also interactive exhibits and if you want, you can climb into the cockpit of a fighter jet.  So much history on display - promoting education in a way you will never "get" from a history book. And if you time it right, you can watch the Blue Angels practice!

Pensacola is also a great beach destination, so you can throw in some "fun in the sun" along with the visit to the museum.