Independence Day

Aunt Linda's last day here happened to be the same day as the base wide Independence Day celebration. We spent the afternoon touring the base, getting her some much missed american food, and even tour the ships that were in. The Essex and the Juneau were in port and showing off their insides to the crowds of people both military and civilian. (They opened up the base to the citizens of Sasebo as well.) As the festival was coming to a end, Linda said her good-byes and headed for Nagasaki and unfortunately missed the fireworks. A friend of a friend invited us to watch them over the port on the Essex, the huge aircraft carrier. Even though I toured the ship earlier, I didn't really want to pass on this. Since I was with a smaller crowd we got an even more in depth tour of the ship's inards, and when the time came we headed up to the flight deck and watched a pretty good firework show. The picture here shows the tarmac from the deck and the fireworks at night. The other is the Essex as viewed from the Juneau.