The biggest little city in the world!!!

Jess and I traveled to Reno, NV from 13-17 August to attend the 2008 Association of Aviation Ordnanceman convention. As the 2007 Ordnanceman of the Year, Jess and I received free airline tickets and a free stay at the Silver Legacy Resort!!!! Sweet deal!!!
On our only free day we decided to rent a car and drive up to Lake Tahoe. It is amazing up there. Mountain vistas, alpine lake…. simply amazing. And this time we did not lose our memory stick!!!!! So we actually have pictures to share!!! We ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, and shopped around the local stores including Jess’s favorite, DOG DOG CAT. We had a great time being tourists, and just relaxing.

Downtown Reno. (Honestly--- NOT impressive)

Lake Tahoe lies half in California, and half in Nevada.

On the beach at 6,000 feet. Did you know that it is 1,645 feet deep which makes it the 2nd deepest lake in the US (#1 is Crater Lake)? And it is approx 39 trillion gallons!!!!!!!!!! WOW!

I caught some wildlife in a couple of these pictures :)

Part of the privilege of being the Ordnanceman of the Year, is being a part of the selection board for this year’s recipient. So picture this: There are about 8,000 Ordnanceman in the Navy and Marine Corps. Out of those 8,000 only 50 packages were submitted to the board as nominations. For about 6 hours we carefully reviewed all 50 packages, eliminated, then eventually chose the 2008 Ordnanceman of the Year. The announcement was made at the convention banquet on Sat. Aug 26th. The whole process was truly humbling. I am very proud to have been named the best of 8,000 in 2007. Although as I tell everyone; I am not the best, I just had the best team. When you are fortunate to work with a group of Marines like I did in VMFA(AW)-121, it makes life easier. So my award was only a direct reflection of all of their hard work. Some of their names are: Maldonado, Armstrong, Caseldine, Burton, Pedigo, Craddock, Schwartz, Sanders, Garcia, Wallace, Aguilar, Mullin, Wilson, and Ruse. Those guys are the only reason I received those awards, and more credit belongs to them than I. Granted there were times when I provided them with direction, motivation (in many forms), and leadership… They were the driving force behind me. So my hat is off to them, and I thank them for all their hard work. And a special thanks goes out to Top Knueppel, and Top Brown; thank you for teaching me all that I know.

Rear Admiral Dunaway and I after the banquet.

Jess and I in front of a John Finn plaque, to be given to his care-taker. Did you know that John Finn is 99 years old!!! He was the 1st Medal of Honor recipient of WWII and the oldest living recipient alive to date.

Capt Lepard and I. He is the President of the Association of Aviation Ordnanecman.

Jess and I had a great time. I hope that you enjoy the pics! Love you guys, and see you all soon….

Until next time
-----> Josh and Jess