Sundays in My City: Yep, it's a Blimp

My husband works on a Naval Base. He doesn't land fighter jets on aircraft carriers or decipher code in a submarine off the coast of North Korea.

(Thank God.)

Rather, my man negotiates contracts for goods and services.

It's very dangerous work.

Well. Paul needed to go on base to pick up his computer yesterday morning. Following that little errand, we turned a corner and saw this:

 

What's this? A flying machine? A dirigible? A zeppelin? A blimp?  An airship? Yes. OH THE HUMANITY, Yes!

We stood a respectable distance to check it out. "It's like the Spirit of Adventure in that Up movie," Owen announced. "Can we go see it?" 

Paul said, "No, Buddy. We're not allowed on the runway." 

Owen looked at his feet, disappointed, considering if he should muster the energy to whine or flail a bit. As he stood there, weighing his options, a man wearing a flight jacket told us to hop in his truck, and he would let us get a closer look. 

He didn't have to ask us twice. 

These things are huge. Silent and ponderous, like whales. 

This particular airship is used for surveillance. It can stay in the air for over thirty hours. Our guide told us it's as quiet and comfortable as sitting in a living room. (I guess he hasn't been to our living room recently.)

I don't know much about aircraft, and I know even less about the military. I do know that a routine errand to pick up a laptop turned into one of those incredibly cool moments of serendipity. 

You can find wonders everywhere. 

Thanks to Unknown Mami for hosting Sundays in My City.