{"id":24436,"date":"2019-06-24T12:13:52","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T16:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=24436"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:24:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:24:22","slug":"i-love-the-smell-of-jet-fuel-in-the-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/events\/2019\/06\/i-love-the-smell-of-jet-fuel-in-the-morning.html","title":{"rendered":"I Love the Smell of Jet Fuel in the Morning!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ChargerOn Friday morning, Darla and I figured we\u2019d try to scout a few locations that might work for photo-ops. The garage attendants dug out the Stars and Stripes Dodge Charger from their underground lair and we headed out.\"\"<\/p>\n

The city is hectic. Not only were we facing all of the Fleet Week activities that shut down the streets, but also various parades and Memorial Weekend festivities. It was a whole new level of bonkers. Asking car-photo advice from friends who live there, they said, \u201cYou can\u2019t be afraid to get honked at, or to tell someone to f@#$ off!\u201d So stuck in traffic, heading toward the Freedom Tower, Darla actually jumped out to grab a couple of shots while I kept driving.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A visit to the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid was next on our NYC Fleet Week agenda, so we hopped on the West Side Hwy to pick our way north from the Financial District of Manhattan up to Pier 86 in Hell\u2019s Kitchen. Ironically, the last time I was in this area was in 2017 on Pier 94 for the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Demon unveil party! I was happy to find a self-park garage right on the Hudson River for the ship and museum.<\/p>\n

Construction on the Intrepid began a week before the Pearl Harbor Attack, and after it\u2019s completion in 1943, it spent time serving in World War II\u2019s Pacific War. It also saw action in the Vietnam War and acted as a recovery ship for splash downs from both the Gemini and Mercury Space Missions. 37 years ago, it docked in NYC and became the Intrepid Museum. We were able to experience just a taste of what it had to offer, but it was awesome!<\/p>\n

\"\"Being a Lego geek, I was fascinated by the ginormous Lego sculpture of the ship that sits on the main floor. Turns out it was the largest ship ever built with the blocks when artist Ed Diment created it in 2010! It was designed to be a 1:40 scale model, or to the proportions of a minifig (the little LEGO people). The replica of the USS Intrepid took a year to complete, is almost 23\u2019 long and weighs 600 lbs! It actually has motorized turrets, radar and an aircraft elevator that goes up and down. The planes on the deck include Corsairs and Wildcats built by LEGO aircraft specialist Ralph Savelsberg to represent what it would have looked like in service.<\/p>\n

The actual top deck of the USS Intrepid is a virtual who\u2019s who of fighter jet and aircraft history, spanning from a 1942 Grumman TBM Avenger with its folding wings to the space shuttle Enterprise! In between, there\u2019s a Grumman F-14 Tomcat looking like it\u2019s straight out of Top Gun<\/i>, a General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon, the nearly mythical Lockheed A-12 Blackbird, a Grumman F-11A Tiger (better known as a Blue Angel stunt team jet), McDonnell\u2019s F-4N Phantom II, and even Bell\u2019s Huey helicopter, the same kind Darla\u2019s dad Bob flew on in Vietnam. There were also MIGs, a Harrier, a Concorde and more.\"\"<\/p>\n

On our exit through the gift shop, I tried on some Top Gun<\/i> Tom Cruise-ish sunglasses, but settled on an \u201cI Love the Smell of Jet Fuel in the Morning\u201d T-shirt, which I considered appropriate given my day job. Darla went big with her NASA zip-up fleece that reads “ROCKET SCIENTIST” on the back. It is not appropriate given her day job.<\/p>\n

Parking and traffic being what it is, we hoofed it towards Time Square to people-watch and eat Belgium waffles. Being the giant kid that I am, we hit up the FAO Schwartz toy store in Rockefeller Center, and they have an entire \u201cBuild Your Own Race Car\u201d workshop! I fit right in with the elementary school-aged gearheads as I designed, wrenched together and test drove my very own Challenger-esque RC muscle car. And, of course, my car is styled with some nice skull-and-crossbones graphics. What a fun thing to have in a toy store!<\/p>\n