Saturday Night Dancing on a Floating Museum

On Saturday evening, my husband and I went to The Harry James Orchestra Dance on World War II aircraft carrier The Hornet! The crowd felt festive and a few people were even decked out in 1940's attire and WWII uniforms. The Harry James Orchestra rocked the ship (aircraft carrier) with their big band sound!  I wore very comfortable shoes and my feet still hurt by the end of the evening. That means that I had a great time and did a lot of dancing. Here are a couple of photos that I took:

The USS Hornet 

I had to take a picture of the ship as we approached. "She" is larger than life and, to me, there's something exciting about that! Once aboard we walked around and looked at everything, and I snapped a few more photos. The space is enormous. There were TWO dance floors and many tables both around and away from the bandstand, plus, there were two bars and a food booth. The sound carried well, so no matter where you sat it sounded as if you were near the stage. They even had dance lessons available during some of the band's breaks!

Here's a photo of The Harry James Orchestra.

Here's a photo that a kind gentleman took of us.

It had been 14 years since I'd been on The Hornet, and one thing that I had forgotten is how being in that moist air can cause my hair to melt. The right side curls pretty much fell out!  Oh well. Both my  husband and I had a great time and have agreed to do this more often than once every 14 years! 

I highly recommend attending things like this! To learn more about events and the history of the U.S.S. Hornet click here. Also, you don't have to have the perfect, authentic 1940's attire to fit in. You don't even have to dress in period attire! I always have more fun when my husband and I both dress up though, but everybody's different. There was an amazing range in what people wore, from authentic WWII uniforms and 1940's suits and dresses to clothing that was modern, but looked like it was from that era to completely modern attire.  The important thing is to go out and experience something fun like this and support an awesome piece of history.