This Is Where We Live

WHEN: For the time being
WHERE: Virginia Beach, VA

Today marks the equivalent "halfway" point of our residence in Virginia Beach. Obviously we don't know what God has planned for us as the next chapter of our lives but on paper it's "over the hill" for us from here on out (for good or bad). Although I could go "deeper" with that fact alone, I don't have time to (vacation starts in 48 hours and I have 49 hours of tasks to accomplish beforehand). However, I feel I at least owe the anniversary the acknowledgment, plus I've learned/experienced some new things about our current home this past week for the first time. Nothing that will make you jump out of your chair screaming "Great Scott!!" yet interesting enough to me to be sidetracked from getting out our suitcases out and packed.

Not to beat the drum of my previous post in regards to Charleston but a couple notes on that. If you have ever spent any amount of time in Charleston you have probably seen at least one of these beasts flying overhead.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

This is a C-17 Globemaster, a flying military cargo fortress to say the least. Many of these jumbo jets are stationed at Charleston Air Force Base and the first one off the production line in 1993 was delivered to Charleston AFB. I'm not going to pretend to know anything about that base or these cargo jets other than that I have seen my fair share of them flying in low over downtown Charleston, both times I've visited. In fact, to my recollection, the only time I have ever seen a C-17 in person has been in Charleston. That is, until two days ago.

Stace and I have gone on numerous walks since Spring arrived. During our walk on Sunday, while I was forcing Stace to smell the blooming flowers (she's focused when she exercises), one of these fortresses went roaring over our heads, probably no more than 1,000ft overhead. That's not very high for a jet with a 170ft wingspan and weighing over half a million pounds. We both stopped in our tracks and stared silently as it flew right over us at what seemed like a snail's pace. With numerous Navy and Air Force bases within the metro area I'm not sure where it was headed. Most days we are accustomed to hearing dozens of F-18 Hornets training at the Oceana Naval Air Station that is about 5 miles east of us. But this was a new and exciting sight!

Continuing with the military theme I introduce my second story. As if Sunday's sky surprise was not enough, I was pleasantly surprised to see this floating by outside my office at lunch yesterday.

I know it may be hard to see but it is a Navy submarine (mostly submerged) being guided by a couple of tugs (and escorted by the Coast Guard and some small Navy boats). I jumped out of my chair, ran outside after it, and snapped this shot with my cell phone. Perhaps I should be thankful some sniper somewhere didn't blow my arm off when they saw some nobody running after a sub with some object in his hand pointed at it! I had heard that the occasional submarine will pass by the office but I had never seen one myself. It's the first time I've ever seen one in person. All I'm waiting for now is to see the even rarer aircraft carrier go by that I've heard does happen. Other than that, I think I have seen just about every other kind of vessel imaginable on the harbor in the past 6 months. Naval Station Norfolk is the largest U.S. naval station in the world (i.e. number of vessels) and all Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carriers and Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarines have been built in Norfolk (Newport News exactly) by Northrop Grumman (the company I currently work for). And given the clearance of my current job, I am able to tour any of the military bases and walk up next to these ships. Yet somehow I have foolishly not done so yet.

And to wrap up this random discourse of cotton-headed ninny muggins nonsense, I present a not-so-glamorous facet of life in Hampton Roads. This article caught my eye today which talks about storm surge risks for U.S. regions; a product of research conducted in response to Hurricane Katrina. The article lists the most at-risk zip codes for property damage as a result of a Category 5 hurricane. Although there are more variables than what appear on the surface, the main point is that the city of Virginia Beach may have won the award. Mt. Pleasant, S.C. (which I unrelatedly also mentioned in my previous post) received the top spot on the list - not something to assume bragging rights over. Out of the top 15 at-risk zip codes in the country, 4 zip codes were in Virginia Beach (and 2 more in neighboring Chesapeake, VA). Our zip code is surrounded by but not included in this list of zip codes. Comforting! I drew up a quick map today to illustrate our condition. We are the blue zip code and the red are the ones that made the Top 15.

So, if you want to see ships with really big guns or drown in a hurricane, please, plan a visit soon! We're only here 6 more months, Lord willing, so don't miss out!