We SP at 1100 this morning as there is no hurry, we are almost to the end of Passagshak Road, which is one of only four roads here on the Emerald Island. We plan to visit the Pacific Spaceport Complex, or what we can see of it through their fences and then proceed to Fossil Beach.
Within a few minutes we can see a rocket on display in front of the Spaceport sign. The Spaceport was built in the 1900’s (that’s an inside joke) somewhere around 1998. They have had about 30 rockets launches, with 19 of those being successful. It is a dual-use commercial and military spaceport for sub-orbital and orbital launch rockets.
We stop for a photo op and some up close rocket inspections. Remember, Virgil was a BB loader on aircraft carriers, the Navy term was Aviation Ordinance. He armed and prepared bombs for loading on the belly of fighter jets during Vietnam. So some of the “rocket lingo” that was stenciled on the side of this rocket he could relate to, such as “handle with care”, no just kidding my Navy buddy, sorry Virgil.
Full disclosure, I’m a NASA/SpaceX wannabe geek. I try to follow everything SpaceX and the NASA Artemins program. I believe that
the technology those smart people develop to help men (and women) get to space can lead to major cool things that we can all enjoy
on earth. Plus, if you don’t know by now, I love exploration, and would gladly volunteer for a moon or Mars mission, if I wasn’t
soo old, overweight, not a pilot, no engineering degree, or any other qualification I don’t have…I do have a white beard and a big belly, certainly they need Santa’s helper out in the stars…
While we were inspecting this rocket I was pointing out to my people, where the satellite would be positioned under the “fairings” (nose cone)
at the top of the rocket. The gimbals on the rocket engines that help steer the rocket to its LEO (Low Earth Orbit). LEO is one reason
why this rocket is “smallish”, as it is deploying small satellites not very high in space, so it doesn’t need massive rocket engines
or large amounts of fuel. The rockets do not have to orbit around the earth. Okay, sorry, I sense a yawn, back to the tourist stuff.
After our mandatory selfies we drive off towards Fossil Beach. We were told two things about this beach, the dirt, rocky, pothole road, is
very extreme, and once there, to look for perfectly round rocks on the beach. Then split them in half, and we would be rewarded with a small fossil of something …old.
Well, the road was all exactly what we heard about and a bag of popcorn. There were some craters that made Bigfoot and Elkhorn tip from side to side like the Titanic swerving to avoid an iceberg (yeah I know). Slow but sure was the name of the game as we drove down a 20 degree incline towards the end of the road which ended at a cliff. Before us, there were huge rock outcroppings on either side of the beach, in a sense, “framing” the beach in the center with large boulders strewn around from the surf.
It was a real cool view, but ya know what though? Sometimes our camera’s, as good as they are, just don’t capture what one sees with our own eyes. Whether it is the depth, distance, color, the smell, or the emotion one gets when seeing something for the first time, a picture just doesn’t do what you are seeing justice. So we took alot of pictures because that’s what we do…they will jog our memories when we get old.
We all walked the beach in search of the elusive round fossil rocks and found none. Where could they have all gone? One explanation given to me by a local women I met at the beach. She said I can take you to my neighbors house and you will see plenty of them. I asked if they were on display? She said NO, they are lining his driveway! Well okay then. She wasn’t very happy with her neighbor.
This beach was cool and full on hope, (much like our fishing experience) but we really loved Surfers Beach. So we returned and watched whales for the rest of the day and called it night. Life is good.
