Pure Madness

Air Shows are always a two-day event of craziness. This one was NOT an exception. Out of the 150,000 people expected to attend the Air Show last weekend, ALL of them decided to bring a friend...their rudest most obnoxious friend, mind you.

Many air show audience veterans do the smart thing and simply watch the practice run the day before or simply opt the high road and not attend. But my children, all true patriots and aviation fans, insisted/demanded to go. It was just my luck I had drill that weekend, so after I was allowed to leave an hour early, we headed straight over to the flight line.

The static displays of various aircraft got the kids all riled up and excited to take pictures next to their guns. Unfortunately, this also applied to all of the kids in the complex. The first display we came to was an Apache helicopter and also the first incident in which I had an overwhelming urge to punch a guy in the mouth. --There is a line--Place your kid at the end of the line--Wait until he gets his turn to stand behind the gun--Take your damn picture--Leave-- It's pretty simple. But then there's always the overeager, pushing his uninterested spawn in front of the other protesting children, and yelling, "Come on, m'iho! Grab the gun! YEAH! Now SMILE! SMILE! SMILE! SMILE!" And he's snapping his little camera away, all the while shuffling around, oblivious to the feet he's stomping on whilst trying to catch a better angle at his stoic son.

It wasn't a completely miserable experience. We didn't have to park at the outskirts of the base and walk the two miles to the show since L's shop was two hundred feet away from the entrance. Talk about VIP parking! It was also a cool 72 degrees with just a hint of a breeze. And, of course, the Air Force Thunderbirds never fail to inspire. The kids absolutely loved their manuevers.

It ended shortly after the Thunderbirds took to the sky. And then the REAL madness began. Imagine 300,000 people getting in their car, and trying to drive out of four exits all at one time! And those who had to walk to their parking lots felt that since they had this day pass to enter the government facility, they had limitless run over the entire base. These people were walking in the middle of the road. You would honk, they'd turn, give you a "what do YOU want?" look, and proceed to offer themselves as roadkill to our SUV. We were VERY tempted.

Needless to say, it was worth a trip just to see the children's faces light up. Here are some pics: