Special Saturday at the Fort

Today's schedule was a bit different and included several cannon firings, the musket firings and of course, the regular Fort tours. We had a special flag flying today but I didn't get a picture on my way in, and they lowered it earlier than they would normally because it is so large the wind was apt to wrap it around the flagpole and would be really difficult to get it untangled. Today's flag was a Union flag that is equivalent to the Stars and Bars. I'm told that in the 1860's the Union flags could be just about anything the flag makers wanted, so long as it had the proper number of stars. This one had the stars arranged in a large star pattern against the blue background. I'll have another chance to get a photo one of these days. Tomorrow they will be flying the Stars and Bars, but it's a day off for me.

I was back and forth today between working at the Sutler Store and the Visitors Center. I did get to hear the cannons, which always scare me out of my wits even when I know they are going to fire.

Just as I was nearing the campsite I saw that two big ships were passing each other, and I tried to take pictures of it. Unfortunately, I wasn't close enough so that you could distinguish between the ships - one was a huge Hanjin container ship, and the other wasn't quite as large and I'm not sure what it was for. It was quite a site though, seeing them pass. Actually the smaller of the two stopped while the Hanjin did the actual pass.

I feel so lucky to be able to observe sights that I wouldn't normally ever get to see - the ships, a Confederate fort, re-enactors, a Coast Guard station, and the like. Now if I could just spot Albert (I think that is his name), the big daddy alligator.