Blue Angels

I'm not sure how we didn't learn our lesson with the Edwards Air Force Base Air Show disaster of '09. Maybe because Isaac, since the time he knew he had to grow up and get a job, decided pilot was the way to go. Or maybe it was the scene that unfolded three days before the air show here:

Scene: Isaac and Evie are outside playing in our cul-de-sac
Door slams open and Isaac races in, I meet him in the hall. Isaac is panting and can't speak:

Me: Isaac! What's wrong? What happened?
Isaac: pant, pant, pant
Me: (thinking perhaps his sister has been run over or kidnapped) ISAAC, CALM DOWN. WHAT HAPPENED!?!
Isaac: pant...Outside...pant, pant
Me: (at this point I am half running to the door, knowing full well that something tragic has happened, only to find Evie, safe and happy) Isaac, what is going on?
Isaac: pant... Two...pant, pant... Blue Angels... pant, pant... flew over... pant...the house... pant... so close...

I think it was at that point we knew it was inevitable: we were going to another air show.

We left the house early Saturday morning and drove across town to the high school to meet the shuttle. We picked the shuttle stop furthest from the show figuring that it would be the least crowded and easiest to get back to at the end of the day. That decision bites us in the butt later on. Anyway, we meet my parents and my nephew there and board the school bus that takes us to the airport where the show was. At this point, things are good. It's a nice day, the crowds aren't bad and to be honest, the stuff they have at these shows is kind of cool. We toured a giant cargo plane and saw some vintage stuff as well as some new-ish planes and helicopters. These shows tend to be really hands on (I read in the paper that recruitment goes WAY up after this type of thing) and the kids were having a lot of fun. At about noon we decide to grab some lunch (the show forbids outside food and drink, INCLUDING water!) and that is when the trouble started. I guess they were expecting about 8,000 people at this show and about 38,000 showed up. This caused some problems. My mom and I waited in the burger/pizza line for the kids while my dad and Ben went in search of something more appetizing for the grown-ups, deciding on Hawaiian. On the positive side, there were TONS of choices, downside was every single line was at least an hour long. We get about 2/3 of the way up the line and it stops moving. Just stops. No explanation, we are just no longer moving. Finally, after about 10 min. the poor little 16 year old girl manning the booth yells out that the grill has run out of propane. At this point there is NO WAY we are getting in a new line (after 45 min in this one) and we announce to the kids they get pizza or nothing, and they all agree pizza is a good choice. We get to the front buy our pizza and eight bottles of water and head back to our chairs. Once we get there, Ben calls to say the line they have been waiting in has run out of rice and it will be 20 min before the rice is ready. The Hawaiian place says they will give them macaroni salad instead if they don't want to wait. Let me explain this dish: it is this saucy, sort of sweet, slow cooked chicken or beef served over rice. The sauce flavors the rice and the combo is quite yummy. Does anyone at this point think that that over macaroni salad sounds even the slightest bit tasty? Again, NO WAY they are getting in a new line, so they wait for the rice to finish cooking. At this point, the show has started and I will admit there are some pretty cool things. Ben and my dad get back with the grown-up food (with rice) and we all eat our lunch, faces pointed to the sky.

I think this might be a good point to mention we have applied sunscreen to most places on our body at the beginning of the day. I, however, did not apply any to my face, as my moisturizer and foundation both contain sunscreen. Ben did not apply any to his face because he is a man. More on that later.

So...panes, planes, planes...blah, blah, blah. Really cool stuff, really long. Finally, the moment we've been waiting for: The Blue Angels. Now this really is good stuff. It was pretty spectacular. I was positive on more than one occasion that there was going to be death and destruction and we were going to be featured on "World's Deadliest Crashes" (I know this is an actual show, because I have boys). Those pilots are amazing.

Here is my 10 sec video of the awesomeness:



I'm sure that gave you all a real taste of what we experienced. :-)

So the show is over and we start making our way to the gate and eventually our bus. This is the point the day takes on a surreal quality. We make our way to the gates with thousands (38,000 to be exact) of other people. No one knows where to go or what to do. There are no signs, the people who look like they should be in charge are as baffled as the rest of us, and there is just plain (there's a pun in there) chaos. You know those Armageddon type movies where the world is going to end and there are all these people with their strollers and their crying kids, looking like they have already been through hell and they are all trying to get on buses that will take them to the only safe place left on Earth, but there are only enough buses for a 1/4 of them and people are starting to get a little crazy and fights over who was there first start breaking out? Those movie scenes are filmed at air shows. The lines are hundreds of people deep, there is no organization at all, and people at this point don't even care if the bus they are getting on will take them to their shuttle stop as long as it JUST GETS THEM OUT OF HERE. There is no water or food (remember, they won't let us bring that), it's 90 degrees and people are standing in sprinklers just to cool off. The other problem is that there are no police directing traffic, so even if you manage to get on the bus you aren't going anywhere. When the first fight breaks out, we decide it's time to just walk the 2 1/2-ish uphill miles to the car. Now, apparently, my mom had somewhere to be because she was speed walking to our destination, and my poor sea-level lung-ed family is doing its best to keep up. I really thought I had been saved from the air show crash tragedy only to die walking to my car. Finally, we made it to a gas station about 1/4 mile from the car where we stopped and I bought a 44 oz cup of ICE, and we ran into a member of my parents' ward who drove Ben and Dad the last bit to the parking lot and they came back with the cars. It was at this point my pioneer ancestors started weeping, because I was so glad to have air conditioning that I cried.

If nothing else, I learned a valuable lesson: If you are going to spend the day with your face pointed at the sun, you, perhaps, shouldn't rely on the SPF 8 in your foundation, especially when you don't put it up all the way to your hairline. Ben also learned a good lesson, man skin burns just like girl skin. By the next morning both of us were praying for botox, because every time we moved our foreheads a white hot pain would shoot through our bodies and by day five we looked like we had leprosy.

Good times.