1.

If I were really clever, I’d call this post something like “Sailing into the New Year” or something, I dunno, adventury. But I don’t feel up to building that sort of extended metaphor right now. Feel free to imagine it for yourself.

So, I got the Lego Pirates of the Caribbean game for Wii* this Christmas, which inspired me to force my children** to watch the original movie with me in the break between Christmas and New Years. The next day, I kid you not, I saw on the news that one of the ships used in the movie was going to be tied up in Newport Beach for a few weeks, and open for tours. My mom inherited a love for tall ships from my dad, so it was no great effort to convince her to come along. So Saturday, we all piled into the car and headed for Newport.

The Lady Washington, which played the Intrepid in the movie (the ship that Jack and Will stole), was tied up alongside the Hawaiian Chieftain at the Newport Sea Base—literally side-by-side, so that you had to walk across the one to get on the other.

It surprised me how crowded the ships were, though I’m sure the effect was intensified by how small the ships actually are. It’s kind of amazing to think about people actually crossing oceans on these tiny matchboxes. The original Lady Washington (of which this is a modern replica) was the first American ship to round the Horn, and it would take me all of thirty steps to walk from end to end.***

But even though the visitors were packed in elbow-to-elbow on deck, it was in a way reassuring to see so many people with an interest in history. Maybe it was the appeal of the “movie star” ship that brought them to the dock, but they must of have nevertheless been inspired by the adventuring spirit of long ago.

2.

The top photo is mostly the Hawaiian Chieftain, though you can see masts and spars and rigging from the Lady Washington behind her.

These pictures kind of suck, because it was so crowded it was hard to position myself for good shots, let alone people-free shots. Plus, since I haven’t been using my camera a lot lately, I totally forgot to check the ISO and ended up shooting them at 800, which is way to sensitive for noon-time photography. Even the good shots are full of noise that I don’t have the post-processing mojo to get rid of. I filtered and actioned the heck out of them in order to disguise the imperfections.

Still, it feels good to start the new year off with some new photos. Next ones will be better.

* The Lego games for Wii are my favorites, as they don’t require an excessive amount of manual dexterity, it doesn’t really matter if you die a lot, and bashing up the scenery is an excellent stress reliever. The complete Star Wars remains my favorite, though POTC was fun until it developed a glitch. I am keeping my fingers desperately crossed that the recent deal to produce Lord of the Rings Lego means there will be a video game down the line, too.
** I only force my kids to do things I know they’ll enjoy, and of course they did.
*** Of course who would walk? They all swung on the rigging naturally! Swash and buckle!