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Praetorium Honoris

Friday, November 26, 2021

A Colorful End to the Day (aka Jets and Sunsets)

If you've followed my posts over the years, you've probably seen a few of my Jets and Sunsets posts.  I really enjoy a good sunset, or sun - rise.  Hey, I don't discriminate!  The red, orange, and yellow hues just grab my attention and have a calming effect on me. Sunsets signify the end of the day, and if God took out his paintbrushes and got creative, they can somewhat make up for what might not have been such a great day.  As for the pictures, being 11+ years retired, I'm not exposed to as many military jet sunset shots as I once was, but the internet is as good, if not a better source, than Navy MCs and PHs* (and the occasional NFO).  




The San Diego Embarcadero with the ships of the Maritime Museum

San Diego is a pretty good place to see some amazing sunsets, and to find pictures of them that others have taken.  A few of the ones here are shots I took, but they usually pale in comparison to how they really look.  The human eye is far more advanced than the camera in my Android phone so I'm usually disappointed in how they turn out.  Sometimes I use the phone's setting to enhance the photo though to get it closer to what I saw.  My wife's Samsung does a far better job.  I hear that iPhones are the ones to beat though.  




I'm not sure where I found that picture, maybe on the Navy's Farcebook page.  It looks cold and unforgiving on that flight deck, not really matching the idea I have that sunsets are warm and inviting.  Although the shot does remind me of one particular post from 2015 which has several great sunset pics in it, and some good memories.  You can review it here.

San Diego's Mission Bay



Shot from my street one evening this fall.




Sister-in-law's photo of the Caveman Bridge over the Rogue River in Grants Pass Oregon.  Why Caveman you might ask?  About 30 minutes south is the town of Cave Junction where one can head up into the mountains to find the Oregon Caves National Monument.  



I'd like to take credit, but I only took this one off the interwebs.  This photo is from the San Diego Zoo, looking west towards Balboa Park with a Jet Blue aircraft on final, and one of the zoo's gondolas.
 

This has gotta be a really old photo, since we haven't flown Phantoms off carriers since March of 1986 when VF-151 (one of the squadrons my dad was an Ordie in) launched off the USS Midway and landed at NAF Atsugi.  That bird and 8 others then transpac'd to North Island as the squadron transitioned to Hornets at NAS Lemoore.  However, this could have been taken from a Brit carrier, but I can't find out when they last flew them off their CVs.  


I don't remember why I was down on Breakers Beach as NAS North Island, but it was an opportune time.  This shows Point Loma and a cruise ship framed by a fiery sun.


There's a huge album of "Airplane Window" on Pinterest with shots like these.  Pinterest is an easy source for my pics on these posts.  


I liked how the sunset looked through the rigging onboard the Maritime Museum's San Salvador replica, the ship Juan Cabrillo sailed on when he "discovered" the region.




The two above were taken from "Mr. A's" restaurant where we spent our 28th Anniversary dinner a couple months ago.  The Sunset wasn't so good that day though.  Mr. A's has an outstanding view of the bay, NASNI, and the airport.  The airplanes come even with the restaurant on their approach.  Up until the pandemic, you could catch a British Air 747 flying by a couple times a week.  Mr. A's is the kind of place people go to get engaged or celebrate big events.  We saw one couple get engaged, and another reveal to her parents that they were pregnant.  Great restaurant, but you definitely pay extra for the ambience. 
  


Random sunset as I rode down the 15 freeway.  For those overly concerned that I might have been using my cellphone while driving, don't worry Karen, I was a passenger.


My cousin, an aspiring military or commercial pilot, took this one from Palomar Airport in Carlsbad CA earlier this week.  No jets, but cool nevertheless.


As far as I know, this is the lone sunrise shot in the group.  This was from just a few days ago looking east out my sunroom.  



Well, I've exhausted my more recent collection of photos, so, like a sunset signifies the end of the day, this photo of my little neighborhood village will signify the end of this post.   I'm clearly just vamping** to help out Sarge over the holiday weekend, but I don't think you'll mind all that much.  I hope you're enjoying leftovers.


 *MCs-  Mass Communications Specialists, formerly known as Journalists.  PH's are Navy Photographers.

**An entire post and I didn't whinge about politics?!  

20 comments:

  1. Outstanding choices Tuna, that first F4 shot really opened the eyes this AM. Thumbs up!

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    1. I try to avoid the photo composites- more cartoons than photos. I'm pretty sure that one is real, although maybe enhanced a bit.

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  2. Thanks for sharing Tuna. There is something magical about sunrises and sunsets although you are correct - the phone camera almost never does it justice.

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    1. The sunrise has been corresponding to my wake up time recently and they've been quite vibrant. I may start using my wife's phone to get a better shot of them.

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  3. That's, ah, ohh, and neat. Personally, sunrise, with the dew, I was a third shifter.

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  4. Agree that dawn and dusk have a lot of potential for beautiful scenes no matter the locale. I was just in Arizona, and there is something about the desert air (low humidity thus clarity in the atmosphere?) that seems to sharpen the colors in a sunrise or sunset.
    Congrats on your anniversary!

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    1. Smog and wildfire smoke also help bring out the colors, unfortunately.

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  5. Thanks for the photos. I lived in Tampa bay area a long time and got to see a lot of F-4's flying out of Mac Dill. I would always run outside to see the howling,dirty exhaust jets go over. In later years, 1990's a private operator had a couple of f-104's that would fly by the house. Now they were noisy. I remember when we lost our F-16's to Luke and ironically got to see them again when I moved to Phoenix. Good memories. Allan

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    1. I was at CENTCOM for 3 years and I think it was just some cargo aircraft then (mid-2000s).

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  6. The mechanics at work used to use a camera that held a 3.5" floppy. It could handle the red hues almost as good as film. I borrowed it once or twice to document radio sites.

    I grew up on the south plains in the Texas panhandle. Those earth turns were beautiful. Much like a sunset over the ocean, a sunset over winter wheat or even bare dirt is beautiful.

    Thanks for spurring some good memories.

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    1. I think our phones are the best computers out there, but the lens technology varies greatly.

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  7. Oh, that sunset photo from Mr. A's was going to be washed out by your wife's lovely smile no matter how spectacular it could have been. Y'all make a cute couple.

    Living in Satellite Beach (south of the Cape) from 73 to 85, we got treated to some spectacular sunrises off the Atlantic. And beautiful winter beaches, where the ocean is all rough and grey and the wind is blowing hard. On the other hand, saw some spectacular nights at Kwaj, but was too young and stupid to take the opportunity to enjoy a mostly unblemished sky. Could smack myself on the head for missed opportunities.

    Back growing up, Dad would take us offshore early in the morning, before the Sun would rise, so sunrises (and a few sunsets) on the water, nothing like it, you feel like you're the only ones out there. Awe inspiring and sometimes very humbling.

    Thanks for the photos!

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  8. Thanks Beans. I'll pass on the compliment. I love the Gulf Coast, but those beach sunsets mess me up- to my right vice over the ocean? No green flashes that way! At-sea sunsets are the best.

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  9. Nice pictures!
    For me, sunsets are a lot easier to find than sunrises... :-)

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    1. Haha- so true. Only the early bird or third shifter gets the sunrise.

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  10. The last Phantom landing on HMS Ark Royal would have been 1978

    Bloke in California

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  11. Served as a Nuke on CVN-70 87-94. I'd go weeks at a time without seeing the sky. But every once in a while I'd have to pop up to the hanger deck to get a view of the horizon.Thank you for the memories.

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  12. I rememeber Ark Royal paying a visit to NOB NORVA. That was its last excursion as it was headed for decom and the breaker's yard soon thereafter. I think the Brits had one carrier after that, and it left rolls for the breaker's yard not long after Ark Royal. As I reacal, the Royal Navy had no carriers by the 80s and they created a couple carriers from merchant vessels for their south atlantic vacation around the Falkland Islands. At the time they only had Harriers.

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