Photos of the USS Gridley Open House taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.

One of the oddities about living a block away from a U.S. Navy base is that one never gets to go on base, there is a lot of open land, one is not allowed to take photos of anything behind the Navy chain link fence, and Naval ships come and go weekly from the dock in the Anaheim Bay.

Yesterday, Sat 06.19.10, I was driving home from taking Scruffy to Dog Beach, I saw a sign announcing "Open House" at the Seal Beach Blvd entrance to the Anaheim Bay dock area of the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. I quickly turned in and asked the nice young lady in camoflague if the open house was for anyone or just for folks who had tickets, she let me know that it as for anyone.

I drove the block home, parked, rounded up my Mom and Magnolia, left Scruffy in the apartment, and off we walked over the Navy Open House. It was fun. I really like touring factories, monuments, dams, and large equipment (like a Navy destroyer).

The best part was having Magnolia along for the tour of the USS Gridley (aka #101), as a 4 year old is really the best person to share one's own childlike joy of such things with. Thanks, to my Mom & Magnolia for being willing to go on the spur of the moment tour of the USS Gridley.

As a side note, I would like to say that all the Navy folk who take shore leave in Seal Beach should wear their uniforms, as all the personnel looked lovely/handsome.