Bumped into an airshow the other day
Tuesday, May 22nd,
9:30am. Cresting a rise on southbound I-25 past Castle Rock, the still snowy
north face of Pikes Peak filled the windshield majestically. Taking in
the scene, I berated myself for not bringing my camera. Meh, just a quick trip to Colorado Springs. Fast forward to the afternoon. I smiled when I
saw a quaint mom and pop and thought about taking a picture with my phone,
but, it wasn't that quaint. Little did I know I would be
sharing a few more pictures from the day. Luckily we can relive the experience through the magic of Google Street View. To those who ignore Street View's attributes
and focus on its Orwellian aspects, I give you: the Ambassador.
A bit later I’m hauling north outside the Springs at 75mph with wind and Jason Aldean howling through my trusty Subaru. I noticed smoke trails over the Academy - neat, oh yeah, graduation’s tomorrow. Wait – the Thunderbirds are practicing – how could I have forgotten?
No sooner than the Vipers themselves did I see a large crowd of buzz-cut Alabamians*, beach umbrellas and all, happily camped on the west side of the Ronald Reagan Highway. They packed themselves so densely (and fearlessly) on a wide shoulder that lawn chairs abutted the solid white line. Being one of those unapologetic "*country-fried rubes," not knowing where the Thunderbirds were in their routine, I took the next exit, drove out to Salina to make a U-turn around the ridiculously long InterQuest Parkway median, and made a beeline to join the crowd. Thankfully I found a much better spot only about a mile from the stadium, grabbed my phone and snapped pictures during the awesome extended 45 minute practice show. A few times they came really close. Though some of the grainy phone pics look kinda neat, please learn from my grave mistake and remember the first rule of Gannonicity: If your journey is more than ten miles, bring a camera. A few of my old actual photos of the T-birds follow, and professional photos from Tuesday are here.
Click to embiggen, enjoy, and keep watching the skis**!
**be sure to catch a slightly more useful blog, mcgarnagle.com
