Full Steam Ahead: Fun Family Time at USS Midway Museum
Visiting the USS Midway Museum with the family probably wouldn’t make it into most people’s Top 5 Holiday activities. But it’s what we ended up doing anyway, and it worked out great for our eclectic group of 10, on the morning of New Year’s Eve 2017.
NOTE: This is a post inspired by #FlashbackFriday, where I reminisce about my past experiences for nostalgia, and also to practice my (rusty) writing skills. The events, prices, and other details mentioned are not necessarily accurate when reading. It’s best to assume the events, prices, and other details are from my previous personal experience unless I state otherwise that it is accurate at the time of writing.
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A slightly different way to spend a Christmas vacation
It wasn’t the first time my then-boyfriend and I spent the holiday season in San Diego. But it was the first time we spent it with extended family from out of the country!
Since I was firmly in the “kids table” group (despite being way past the drinking age), I wasn’t part of the planning process and had no say in the decision-making. Horrible as that may sound to some, it was a treat for me! Planning and hosting was someone else’s problem that time around.
Having someone else (whom I trusted to make plans) be in charge allowed me to just enjoy the ride. I got to look forward to a mini-escapade, minus the stress of planning activities & coordinating with everyone’s schedule (an activity I call “herding cats”).
Ultimately, my aunt decided to take our extended family to the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. She invited my then-boyfriend and me if we were interested in joining, and clearly, we said yes.
Aboard the USS Midway Museum
Visiting the USS Midway with the family probably isn’t the most Christmas-y (or even New Year) activity out there. But since my then-boyfriend and I prioritized spending quality time, we didn’t particularly care about the location or activity.
Bonus points: it wasn’t too crowded! Since it wasn’t on most people’s top picks for a holiday activity, it wasn’t as crowded as I imagined. Granted, we went the morning of New Year’s Eve, so most people were probably getting ready to get drunk that same night. But still.
Regardless, we ended up having a lot of fun. My then-boyfriend (now husband!) enjoyed the historical & technical aspects of the self-guided tour of the USS Midway. I mainly enjoyed that I was able to be indoors (below deck) for the most part.
It was objectively a very informative and educational outing, but simply not suited for my tastes (as opposed to say, maybe a castle). But my taste aside, I was happy to just spend time with my extended family in general.
Not to mention the sheer novelty of being able to go somewhere new in San Diego! Despite my living there on and off during Summer and Winter breaks, then later visiting regularly for Holidays and special occasions. Clearly, I didn’t get out much back then.
Honestly, I would go so far as to recommend the USS Midway Museum as a fun family activity to consider when in San Diego!
I know it sounds a little crazy, given the fact that I admit that it did not suit my tastes at all. But growing up with a large extended family, I already knew that pleasing every single member was practically impossible. You can’t even do that with food, given the spectrum of dietary and religious restrictions found in large Filipino families like mine. So if the majority of the group has fun, that’s good enough in our book.
My reaction of “mildly curious at best, bored at worst” counts as a win! At least as extended family outings go.
Sure, the 2 youngest of our party were a little bored by some of the attractions, but objectively that wasn’t bad! Keep in mind that there were 10 different personalities, interests, and attention spans to account for. No one threw a tantrum, got kicked out, or accidentally broke anything at the gift shop!
The best part was that since it was a self-guided tour, our group split up below deck and explored at our individual (or couple) pace. We all checked out whatever caught our eye, while occasionally criss-crossing each other from one room or object to the next.
My then-boyfriend, being the history nerd buff that he is, was of course over the moon the whole time. Meanwhile, I was more interested in the ship’s layout and intensely curious about what was behind each door (especially the closed-off ones!)
The USS Midway Museum has a lot of nooks and crannies for guests to explore, so I had fun with that. If nothing else, the anticipation of what would be around the corner counted as a good time for me.
My cousins seemed to have, well, vastly different levels of interest. I’m pretty sure one of them thought it was pretty cool. I think…
At least both sets of aunts and uncles seemed to be having more fun. The uncle who was visiting did have previous experience on ships (non-military) so this was both old and new for him, and my aunt was just curious and fascinated in general.
Overall, I’d say the USS Midway Museum was a great success in terms of entertaining most if not all, members of our large party. While that might sound boring, how many other family gatherings can say that their worst problem was boredom? I’m willing to bet not many.
But eventually, we all slowly found each other again as each member of our party was done walking around. The first couple of our group to finish (or get bored, who knows) going around found a spot to settle in and wait for others.
The cousins (my fellow “kid’s table” group) and I were able to just chill and fumble our way through learning how to talk to each other again. Which is not an easy feat, since the last time I saw most of my cousins they haven’t even begun puberty. To be perfectly honest, they’re all still 12 and under, in my mind.
At some point, people ran out of either things to see or interest. Either those, or they just got hungry. But finally, once our entire party of 10 made their way towards the exit, we bid goodbye to the USS Midway to say hello to lunch. A Filipino outing isn’t complete until food is involved!
If nothing else, at least it was a unique New Year’s Eve for pretty much all of us!
Full steam ahead! (for groups)
While it wasn’t what I would’ve thought of in the first place, the USS Midway Museum worked out extremely well for our large group.
Whether it was the historical or technical aspects of the ship, or simply the layout and surprises waiting around every corner. Plus the planes above deck were also pretty cool, so there’s that!
Everyone was able to find something to enjoy or at least appreciate through the course of our self-guided tour. It may not be most people’s first thought or top choice for the holiday season – but our family had a good time exploring the USS Midway Museum.
