weinraub’s words

On my birthday, we all headed out to the reservoir to go fishing (translation: two people wading into the water with a net spread out between them). As it turns out, shortly after arriving, the sky opened into a ripping thunderstorm. No video of the fishing, nor of the storm. Just a short clip of us all in the truck on the way there.

Got a chance to board/tour another US Navy ship visiting Phuket, this time the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6).

The approach. Awesome.

Our tour was given by the Executive Officer (X.O.) Capt. Jonathan L. Harnden himself. A very warm and approachable guy with a serious job. He couldn’t have been more tolerant of my ridiculous questions, most of which where along the lines of “What does acronym XXX stand for?”

This ship is an amphibious assault ship, so it contains heavy equipment like humvees and tanks, helicopters, Harrier jumpjets, as well as a bunch of sub-boats used to move equipment and personnel. In particular, they spoke about LCAC’s (“Landing Craft Air Cushion”, pronounced EL-kaks) which hover on an air-cushion they create and are apparently loud as hell.

X.O. Harnden showed us the flood bay, the lower storage bays (with all the heavy equipment), the hangar bays, the flight deck with all the aircraft, the bridge (!), the officer’s ward room, the common mess, and the medical areas.

Just awesome.

One of Denny’s ex-employees Phat runs her family’s Phuket elephant trekking business up in the hills above Kalim beach. So, last Sunday, we bundled up the kids and took them out for a quick ride.

In the pictures, it appears that Benjamin was none too pleased with the whole thing. In fact, as he was riding, he was guarded and quiet, pulling in tight with Mommy. But once we finished and got all dismounted, he made a big deal about wanting to get back on. Guess he did have a good time.

We got to hand-feed them afterward – chunks of bananas – just like we usually do at the zoo. Becca was comfortable enough doing it, though she complained a bit about sliminess of the elephants’ runny noses. Benjamin was a little spooked at the sheer size of the beasts, so he largely hung back.

Thais believe that riding an elephant brings good luck. I’ll let you know.

Before the mayo, before the fresh-water packing, and before the can, there is tuna.

A day of fishing in the Andaman Sea waters around Phuket.

Had a chance to tour the nuclear powered, Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan during its recent visit to Phuket.

Awesome.