I previously posted that I will be attending the Romance Writers' America (RWA) Annual Conference in 2016 (link). I was invited by two friends to participate in a special driving tour of Navy Base Coronado on Wednesday, July 13, from 10 am - 2 pm:
Join Navy veteran Cathy Maxwell, Navy spouse Anne Elizabeth, and Air Force veteran Kim Lowe for a driving tour of Navy Base Coronado. We’ll drive by historic sights such as “Camp Trouble,” where Naval aviation was born. We’ll walk in the footsteps of the first commander’s wife, Wallis Warfield, who later became the Duchess of Windsor. Today, Navy Base Coronado is a consortium of eight installations providing support for 16 helicopter squadrons, two fixed wing squadrons, two aircraft carriers, four SEAL Teams, and Navy Expeditionary Combat Command squadrons. Our tour will give you a glimpse of military life with a retired Navy SEAL as our narrator. We will make several stops, including Breakers Beach for a group photograph and the Navy Exchange for lunch.
RWA posted the link on Thursday afternoon ... and the tour sold out within an hour. Who knew romance writers wanted to see steel gray buildings? Actually, I think it is the retired Navy SEAL narrator who inspired the sellout.
I would like to thank those who made this possible - my cohosts Anne Elizabeth and Cathy Maxwell. I also appreciate the writers connected to the military who are sponsoring the tour - including Heather Ashby and AJ Brower.
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For those who are not able to participate in the driving tour ... how about a virtual tour? Navy Base Coronado occupies the north side of Coronado Island, Spanish for "Crowned One". Indeed, Coronado is the king of aviation history. From the National Park Service (link),
The Naval Air Station, San Diego, Historic District, located on North Island in California, is associated with broad national and regional themes in the history of military aviation, representing the principle administrative and residential core of one of the earliest naval air stations in the United States, and the first on the West Coast. Climatic conditions, and the characteristics of flat terrain, good beaches and protected stretches of water, attracted the aviation pioneer and Wright Brothers' competitor, Glenn H. Curtiss, to North Island in 1910. Through the intervention of a local flying club, the landowner, the Coronado Beach Company, was persuaded to permit Curtiss to use North Island for his Aviation School.
In December 1910, the Navy assigned its first pilot, Lt. T.G. Ellyson, to be trained by Curtiss at his school on North Island. The Navy established its first naval aviation unit at Annapolis, Maryland, in September 1911. However, because winters in the Northeast precluded flight operations, North Island was chosen for the aviation unit's winter quarters. In 1912 "Camp Trouble," as it was called, was established on the northeast corner of North Island, a site now encompassed by the Naval Air Station, San Diego, Historic District. Consisting of three airplanes, three pilots, three tents and some mechanics, this group stayed until April, then returned east. The Navy would not return to North Island until 1917.
Next week: The Army Signal Corps comes rolling along to North Island.
I am giving away a book choice from my convention stash to one randomly selected commenter. To enter the giveaway,
1. Leave a comment about "Camp Trouble" - do you have a funny story about camping? I haven't camped since I was a Girl Scout. When I accompanied my youngest son on a Webelos campout with the Boy Scouts, I stayed in a cabin (link).
2. Comments are open through Saturday, April 9, 10 pm in Baltimore.
3. I'll post the winner on Sunday, April 10.
Mahalo,
3. I'll post the winner on Sunday, April 10.
Mahalo,
Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City
Camping on the beach in Hawaii
I have never been camping, hated all the bugs and dirt so I left being a girlscout to my sister.
ReplyDeleteNever been camping
ReplyDeleteI used to go to all of my high school camps. It rained every time.
ReplyDeleteAs a family we camped a lot - when I was a child.
I'm done with camping.
Dad was a Boy Scout and after he & Mom married, they both got active in Girl Scouts[3 daughters no sons]. This lead into family camping vacations. USN vet Dad was organized and we ended up with 2 tents, 2 cooking boxes [he built], bottled beer boxes painted and coded by color, station wagon with car top carrier. We were the bees knees! If we were going to be more than an overnight campground, the tents were facing each other with a tarp connecting the tents on one side as a wind/rain barrier and a cooking tarp overhead on the other side. It was quite the operation! We would get the tents up, then Mom would start cooking dinner and Dad would supervise us getting the rest of the stuff into the appropriate tents. One overnight stop; another man stopped by our campsite and asked Dad if he could borrow us girls as he couldn't get his family on the road before 10am in their popup trailer camper. Tickled Dad to death!
ReplyDeleteI never went away to camp.....:(
ReplyDeleteI took Girl Scouts camping when I was pregnant with my youngest. The weather was terrible and everyone wanted to leave but I did not want to go home with all that dough. I made everyone cook the fried dough. Funny but no one argued with the pregnant lady.
ReplyDeleteI've never been camping it was not allowed in my home whilst growing up
ReplyDeleteI've never camped. I enjoy my home comforts way too much.
ReplyDeleteAs a child my family went camping, with friends, every weekend. I hate going camping but hubby loves it. I'm just so thankful we have 3 boys that he can go with or else I'd have to go :)
ReplyDeleteI have never been camping. I like ALL my conveniences. LOL.
ReplyDeleteladbookfan
I'll only camp where there is access to toilets and showers - modern plumbing is a wonderful thing! My hubby and kids on the other hand don't mind the primitive camping as much.
ReplyDeleteI have never been camping.
ReplyDeleteKaren T.
I never camped as a child but went with my two girls as either a Leader or a mom - loads of fun. One trip we somehow forgot one of my daughter's bags but luckily she was able to borrow some things from her sister.
ReplyDeleteI did several years of Girl Scout day camp, then one summer went to "away" camp for two weeks. We stayed in large tents on platforms with 6 cots in them. My Mom sent a "care package" which included some snacks. The snacks were all wrapped, in a cardboard box, in a plastic bag, down in a crate we used for storage, with clothes folded on top. One night I woke up to hear this loud snuffling - it was a skunk in the tent. The other girls woke up too. We were all shushing each other, but still giggling - we did not want that skunk to spray!! Fortunately, it gave up & went away. We ate up the snacks that day and didn't bring more into the tent.
ReplyDeleteno
ReplyDeleteI have never been camping and would never survive without my modern conveniences.
ReplyDeleteNever been camping, but would hope to do it one day.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool tour!
ReplyDeleteWe went camping a lot when I was a kid, first in a tent, then later we had travel trailers--nothing compared to today's RVs.
denise
Every since I was a kid, I was not a fan of camping so no stories good or bad. I just can't deal with bugs and the outdoors. We don't get along.
ReplyDeleteLoved the post. Very interesting. I never camped as a young girl. But I did do day camps with my girls when they were in brownies,girl scouts etc.
ReplyDeleteCarol L
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com
What a nice virtual tour! Enjoy RWA when you get there!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up my family did ATV trips, no camping. Though I don't feel as if I missed out on anything. I have great family memories :)
Shortly after we got married, my husband's uncle gave us a pup tent they had. We drove into the Allagash woods in northern Maine and set up camp. The next morning when we got up, we looked at each other and started laughing. We were both green. The tent had been stored in the hot, dry attic for years. The coating had dried out and flaked all over us. Needless to say, we never used the tent again. Instead, we built a platform for the top of our 1972 Land Rover. We rigged it so we could screw in a pole at each end and attach a crossbar. We'd throw a tarp over it and have a handy tent. I doubt either one of us could easily climb up there, nor would we likely fit comfortably. After almost 44 years, there is a bit more of us than there was back then.
ReplyDeleteWe went camping at Havasu Falls,,,in the Grand Canyon but not part of the national park. It is very remote and we got to see the porta potties being picked up by helicopter when they were exchanged for clean ones.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any funny stories about camping but I haven't done much of it since I was a kid. I enjoy the kind where you stay in a cabin though, tent living is not for me!
ReplyDelete