a party in the sky

I have a degree in journalism. I am not a journalist. I am right now proving that fact, by posting photos of an event that's a month old. It's not news any more.

I'm sure there are better photos of the airshow online somewhere. I'm sure the Thunderbirds have their own publicity photos that are fantastic.

But I want to remember that I was there. That we escaped the crowds, if not the heat, taking advantage of the preview day. That I got close enough to the F16s to touch them and smell them…not just hear them roar over my head while I'm on the highway.

So, without further ado…I present…the Thunderbirds! (and some other planes that I won't even attempt to identify, because I'd likely get them wrong).














That last photo has a story that goes with it. It goes like this: my husband says to me at some point, oh, it looks like they're going to do the starburst formation, where they all fly together to one spot then abruptly take off in all different directions, It's a really cool maneuver! We waited expectantly, but it didn't happen. What did happen a couple of times was a lone jet buzzed right over our heads from the back of the "playing field" so to speak, and I missed getting a picture of the underside of the plane by seconds. I don't like missing shots like that.

So…with that background, there was a moment when I KNEW that lone jet was going to be coming in from behind at any moment, so I had my camera trained on the sky BEHIND US while the rest of the jets were all together out in front about to do something or other. I just figured it would be another group fly-by. My husband was saying "Jen, Jen, look!! Get this!" or something like that, and I was like "no way, I'm going to get this straggler guy when he buzzes us this time!" and I totally missed the starburst. But got the aftermath. Which you see above.

Moral of the story: listening to my husband is a good idea.

And no, the lone jet didn't even buzz us that time. Never got that shot either!