Flyby

>Maverick: Tower, this is Ghost rider requesting a flyby.
Air Boss Johnson: That's a negative Ghost rider, the pattern is full.


The U.S. Navy Blue Angels were in town on Saturday, and I got to see them. As the daughter of an Air Force jet mechanic turned air traffic controller, I grew up travelling around California chasing the Air Shows, so when I heard the Blue Angels would be here, I HAD to go.

The day started off busy. B worked a little overtime, and I hit the gym for my favorite step class. After class, a few of us went over to Sonic for some liquid refreshment and girly conversation. From there, I ran home, showered and met B and my SIL and nieces at B's work. We left 2 cars there and ran to get some lunch before heading out to the Air Force Base.

By the time we got to the base, the traffic was HORRENDOUS!! After about 30 minutes of inching forward, we finally got smart and found a way around the traffic, and we were in the parking lot in about 10 minutes. A bus took us to the security check point -- which was no less than 5,000 people long! And most of the people waiting in it hadn't read the all the guidelines listed in the paper, so it took forever to get in.

We almost gave up and went home, but the line started moving more quickly as soon as we got in it. FINALLY, we walked onto the base -- let me not forget to mention that it was about 95 degrees and probably the first day in a month that there were no clouds in the sky. They were handing out free water (which was wonderful!), so we grabbed a couple bottles, hit the porta-potties and went in search of shade. We found it under the wing of a HUGE plane, so we plopped down and got comfortable as we waited for the Blue Angels to perform.

We had to wait about an hour and a half, but it was worth it! The show was awesome! It was loud and beautiful and exciting, and, well...just watch the video to get a better idea. The video isn't from Saturday, but a lot of the formations and stunts were the same.

We were drenched by the time we got back to the car, and all of us were exhausted, but I'm so glad we stuck it out. It made me want to go home and watch Top Gun...I'm going to have to dig it out and watch Mav and Goose and Iceman again!

I got home with just enough time to grab another shower, eat a burrito, and go pick up my MIL so we could go watch White Christmas at our local theater....it was a great show!

What a wonderful, and exhausting, day!