For a limited time, you can reserve a night on the Goodyear blimp, Wingfoot One through Airbnb.
Accommodations include a comfy living room and sleeping space. The listing notes that it also includes hangers, wifi and free parking.
What the reservation does not include, however is a ride on blimp . . . or a bathroom, apparently.
But, if you act fast, it does include a ticket to the Michigan State – Notre Dame football game.
I am celebrating the launching of the USS Constitution on October 21, 1979. (So yesterday was the launch 222 years ago, but I am posting it today.)
The ship was built in Edmund Hartt’s shipyard in Boston for a cost of $302,718.
On October 17, the ship was underway for her last trip around Boston Harbor until 2108. U.S.S. Constitution will be open for limited viewing until entering dry dock in March, 2015 for a three-year long restoration project that is estimated to cost between $12 and $15 million.
During the restoration, workers are expected to re-copper the ship’s hull, replace worn riggings, change out old planks on the gun and berth decks and make general repairs to the stern, bow and captain’s cabin. The ship is expected to be back in the water by 2017. By spring or summer 2018 it should return to its familiar spot on Pier 1 at the Navy Yard. Ref. Fox News.
U.S.S. Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned naval ship afloat.
Constitution ’s stated mission today is to promote understanding of the Navy’s role in war and peace through educational outreach, historic demonstration, and active participation in public events. As a fully commissioned US Navy ship, her crew of 60 officers and sailors participate in ceremonies, educational programs, and special events while keeping the ship open to visitors year round and providing free tours. The officers and crew are all active-duty US Navy personnel and the assignment is considered special duty in the Navy. Traditionally, command of the vessel is assigned to a Navy Commander. Constitution is berthed at Pier 1 of the former Charlestown Navy Yard, at one end of Boston’s Freedom Trail. Ref. Wikipedia
And some tattoos:
Kudos for the full Boston –
Today, in 1977, the Gossamer Condor won the Kremer Prize for controlled, sustained, human-powered flight. The prize was established in 1959, but proved difficult to win . . .
“In order to win the prize, a person had to pilot a human-powered aircraft around a figure-eight course where the turning points are a half-mile apart. The aircraft had to clear a 10-foot hurdle at the beginning of the course and again at the end.”
The craft, with its 96-foot wing span, is now at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
London to New York City by car?
It could happen if the head of Russian Railways has his way.
According to a March 23 report in The Siberian Times, Russian Railways president Vladimir Yakunin has proposed a plan for a massive trans-Siberian highway that would link his country’s eastern border with the U.S. state of Alaska, crossing a narrow stretch of the Bering Sea that separates Asia and North America.
The scheme was unveiled at a meeting of the Moscow-based Russian Academy of Science.
Dubbed the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TEPR), the project calls for a major roadway to be constructed alongside the existing Trans-Siberian Railway, along with a new train network and oil and gas pipelines.
“This is an inter-state, inter-civilization, project,” the Siberian Times quoted Yakunin. “The project should be turned into a world ‘future zone,’ and it must be based on leading, not catching, technologies.”
The road would run across the entirety of Russia, linking with existing road systems in Western Europe and Asia.
The distance between Russia’s western and eastern borders is roughly 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles).
Yakunin said the road would connect Russia with North America via Russia’s far eastern Chukotka region, across the Bering Strait and into Alaska’s Seward Peninsula.
The road would likely enter Alaska some distance north of the town of Nome, where the famed Iditarod sled dog race ends.
How would drivers span the ocean gap between Siberia and Alaska? Ferry? Tunnel? Bridges?
The report didn’t offer specifics on the route across the sea.
The shortest distance between mainland Russia and mainland Alaska is approximately 88 kilometers (55 miles), according to the Alaska Public Lands Information Centers.
A theoretical drive (as fancifully calculated by CNN) from London to Alaska via Moscow might cover about 12,978 kilometers (8,064 miles).
Relatively isolated even by Alaska standards, no road connects Nome with the rest of the state’s road system.
About 836 road-less kilometers (520 miles) across desolate terrain separates Nome from the closest major city and road network in Fairbanks, the unofficial northern terminus of the Alaska Highway.
From Fairbanks, Canada and the 48 contiguous U.S. states can be reached by road.
Assuming a road to Nome were ever built (the idea has been studied by the state of Alaska), a fantasy road trip from London to New York might cover a grueling but presumably photo-op-laden 20,777 kilometers (12,910 miles).
Facebook posts from forlorn Siberian rest stops might alone make the trip worthwhile, though the journey would also easily establish irritating new records for “Are we there yet?” gripes from the kids.
Yakunin has been described as a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Some sources have speculated that he could be Putin’s likely successor as president.
TEPR would reportedly cost “trillions of dollars.”
According to Yakunin, however, massive economic returns would more than make up for the massive cash outlay — about which the report also included no details.
The Eiffel Tower opened 126 years ago today.
Have I mentioned that the Tower is one of my Favorite buildings?
This photo is from my recent trip to Las Vegas. We stayed at Paris Las Vegas. The tower in this photo is half the size of the original.
Here is a nice story about Eiffel Tower history in the Christian Science Monitor.
It was also featured today on the Google search banner.
It is not a surprise that this beautiful, iconic image is also popular as a tattoo design:
Paris is always a good idea.
Hornets – it’s time for the Air Show.
Last year the show was canceled because of government sequestration. This clip is from 2012.
This event began in Cleveland in 1929 as the National Air Races. Holding the races in Cleveland gave a big push to industry in this city.
The event circulated to different cities for nine years and was finally brought to Cleveland in 1929 by a group of local businessmen headed by Louis W. Greve and Frederick C. Crawford. Greve was president of the Cleveland Pneumatic Tool Company, which made the hydraulic undercarriages that held the wheels on airplanes. Crawford was general manager and later president of Thompson Products Inc., now a part of TRW Inc. Thompson Products developed the experimental sodium-cooled cylinders, which enabled Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis to reach France.
The inaugural event in 1929 attracted an estimated 300,000 spectators, and took place over 20 days.
Here for a meeting and for some vacation . . .
The Gvggenheim Hall of Hovsehold Arts
on the campus of Colorado State University in Fort Collins
Also in Fort Collins we toured the New Belgium Brewery and saw the production facilities, a bacon statement tee shirt on one of our tour group and a marvelous chandelier of hand blown glass bottle shapes.
On to Breckenridge and Keystone
This is the chair lift at Breckenridge – I was white knuckled. Said my companion, “when the last time you were on a ski lift?” My response, “NEVER!” Needless to say, I did not take this picture.
Some wild flowers at 11,000 feet.
Bison burger at The Buffalo in Idaho Springs
Idaho Springs
The Brown Palace Hotel in Denver. I love this place.
Scenes at the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs.
It was a good trip!
Four hundred-eighty years ago, on June 9, 1534, Jacques Cartier’s party sailed into the St. Lawrence River. This excursion began in France in April of 1534. Cartier’s mission was to find gold and spices, and passage by water from Europe to Asia. While he failed in his mission to find a water route to China, Cartier had discovered an important water route into what would become Canada and the United States. In fact Canada was named by Cartier. He met with Iroquois people who gave him directions upriver to a town or settlement. “Kanata” signifies a village in the Huron-Iroquois tongue. The word has come to be the name for an entire nation.
Cartier’s ship Grand Hermine
While Cartier recognized the North American continent for what it was – a separate land mass from Europe and Asia, he hoped that the St. Lawrence would furnish passage to China. That is why the rapids near Montreal are named the Lachine Rapids.
The Lachine Rapids are a series of rapids on the Saint Lawrence River, between the Island of Montreal and the south shore. They are located near the former city of Lachine. The Lachine Rapids contain large standing waves because the water volume and current do not change with respect to the permanent features in the riverbed, namely its shelf-like drops. Seasonal variation in the water flow does not change the position of the waves, although it does change their size and shape. The rapids are about 3 miles (4.8 km) in length. In the past these represented a considerable barrier to maritime traffic. Until the construction of the Lachine Canal through Montreal, the rapids had to be portaged.
Refs. America’s Library, Wikipedia.
We celebrate those who go down to the sea in ships on National Maritime Day.
National Maritime Day is a United States holiday created to recognize the maritime industry. It is observed on May 22, the date that the American steamship Savannah set sail from Savannah, Georgia on the first ever transoceanic voyage under steam power. The holiday was created by the United States Congress on May 20, 1933. – Wikipedia
It is a time to observe its maritime heritage, to honor those who served as merchant mariners, and to recognize the benefits of the maritime industry.
The contributions made by the US merchant marine ships and men are important throughout our history, but became particularly crucial during World War II, bringing supplies to our allies and playing an important role in bringing troops home. Here is a short history of this day of observance.
Merchant Marine Liberty Ship
Firearms, fibers, any news or behaviors that make me say, "hmm, let me take another look at this."
I still miss my man, but my aim is getting better.
Gunsmoke and Knitting 