What’s Going On?

Fleet Week 2009 started off Saturday morning with a Parade of Ships. The ships entered under the Golden Gate Bridge at about 11:30am. Leading off the fleet was the USS Green Bay, followed by USCGC Boutwell, then from Canada the HMCS 710 Brandon, HMCS 705 Whitehorse, HMCS 703 Edmonton, and finally followed by SS Jeremiah O’Brien.

This year I was able to board two ships. The two ships that I toured were the USS Green Bay and USCGC Boutwell. The USS Green Bay is a amphibious transport dock ship. The main purpose for this ship is to provide transport of troops and vehicles to sea or land. The ship is capable of landing helicopters and harrier jets. It also can deploy small boats, tanks, armored vehicles, construction vehicles, and even hovercrafts. The home port for the USS Green Bay is in San Diego, CA.

The other ship that I was able to tour was the USCGC Boutwell. The USCGC Boutwell is a Coast Guard Cutter ship that is used to patrol the shores of the United States. The main purpose of this ship is to protect and patrol our shores from enemies foreign and domestic. On board the deck of the ship are two 50 caliber machine guns one on each side of the ship, two 25 caliber machine guns on each side of the ship, one MK-75 76mm machine gun on the bow, and a Phalanx CIWS (Close-in weapon system) at the stern which is an anti-anti-ship missile machine gun that can shoot a wall of lead at possible incoming missiles. The home port for the USCGC Boutwell is Alameda, CA.

Touring both ships took almost three hours total and I did not get a chance to board the Canadian ships. I was a little bit disappointed in not seeing them because Monday was their last day docked here in SF and were headed back home to Canada. Tuesday turned out to be a rainy day and so I doubt if any ships allowed any civilians to board ship. Funny thing as I left the USCGC Boutwell two female shipmates wanted to take a picture of me and I humorously agreed to take it with them.

Pictures of the Fleet Week Naval Ship Tours can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Please feel free to leave me a comment below for the pictures and/or the posting.

The Italian Heritage Parade is the oldest Italian cultured parade in the United States and is a very entertaining parade at that. This is my first year in attendance and it was very enjoyable. There are lots of parades that go through the streets of San Francisco, but the Italian Heritage Parade has a warm sense of family and friendliness. The parade was held on Sunday during the Columbus Day Weekend and started at Fisherman’s Wharf and continued on Columbus Ave through North Beach ending at Washington Square.

The parade is held during San Francisco’s Fleet Week and the competition is fierce to get people in attendance. Most people I’ve seen at the wharf are tourists from out of town with a good chunk of locals as well. Since the air show is located on the northern end of San Francisco’s waterfront I decided to enjoy my first experience at the parade and attend the Blue Angels following the parade.

The parade was totally filled with lots of laughter and red, white, and green all over. In attendance were high school marching bands, drill teams from high school JROTC groups, festive floats, baton twirlers, politicians, Queen Isabella and her court, other pageant contestants, a few Shiners groups, Columbus Salami, Boudin Bakery, police and fire departments, the NorCal waste management garbage can drill team, horse associations, and many more.

I looked up the history of the Italian Heritage Parade and there are some pretty cool and interesting facts about the parade and their timeline. You can read more about some interesting facts and history of the parade located here.

The Italian Heritage Parade is one that I can’t believe I’ve never attended, but I will be sure to come back for more in the future. The colorful parade and people make this one parade to mark down on your calendars. I hope that next year the weather will cooperate and it will be sunny and warm.

Pictures of the 141st Italian Heritage Parade can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Please feel free to leave me a comment below for the pictures and/or the posting.