Blue Angels Air Show: Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July, indeed! My all time favorite July 4th activity is watching The Blue Angels air show in Traverse City.  The Blue Angels come to the Traverse City National Cherry Festival every other year (although they didn't come in 2012 due to federal budget cuts) and they never cease to amaze.

They center their show over Grand Traverse Bay (above).

They fly in a 6-plane formation against the bright blue summer sky.

How is this formation possible?  The formations and proximity to each other blow my mind.  I love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Look at this awesome drive by (above) where you can see the pilots!

Look how close the 4 planes are to each other. I don't even want them to fly that close. 

When I went onto the Blue Angel website to give you a link, I noticed that they now have videos that you can watch to see 3 views of each special maneuver: inside the cockpit, from the ground and the pilot saying the verbal cues.

You really must go to one of their air shows if you can.  And wear ear plugs, it will be louder than you think.  But you'll love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Blue Angels

Wow. wow. wow. Seriously. You know how I love the Blue Angels and once again they put on a fantastic air show at this year's National Cherry Festival in Traverse City.

I went to the air show twice (Friday & Saturday) and loved every minute of it.

On Saturday, I also went to the official NMC Aviation Pancake Breakfast at Cherry Capital Airport with some of my friends and was able to meet one of the Blue Angel pilots. Lieutenant Jim Tomaszeski flys in position #2 (in photo above, second row, plane on right) and spoke to the group about having big dreams, the importance of time management and his favorite part of life as a Blue Angel, being a positive role model and goodwill ambassador for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. It was a great speech and the applause were loud!

I have a cute Blue Angels story for you. One Christmas Eve, my entire family was exchanging presents and I was handed a small odd-shaped tissue-wrapped gift. When I opened it, I was amused to find a metal replica of the Blue Angels F-18 Hornet. My three nephews (approximately 8, 6, 4 years old at the time) were sure that I had been given the wrong package and that this model plane was for them.

"Oh no, boys," I said, "this gift is definitely for me."

I keep my model plane in my office and it reminds me of how much fun it is to have a life full of varied interests.