Like I said yesterday...it's Water Follies time again! It has been years and years since I have been to the races, but today I took part in the annual festivities, and had a blast doing it!
Thanks to my now 'former' co-worker, Terry, Billie and I were able to get two sets of 3-day wrist bands that included pit passes, and several parking tickets. As part of the Water Follies group, Terry has offered these tickets up to us every year, but we have always declined. This year though it seemed like something fun we could do with Rob and Keith...neither of which had ever been. I have to admit, the draw really was more for the airshow portion, but I think we all wanted a taste of the overall experience.
When we arrived at the park, we headed straight for the pits, to take a bit of a tour, and get up close and personal with the boats. We hung around just for awhile waiting for the airshow to begin. When we finally decided to explore the rest of the park, we walked only feet out the pit gates and ran into Bre's mom Trish, who had some prime beach front real estate...so to speak! She had three tents located along the river, just outside the pits and was kind enough to let us throw up our chairs and have a seat! We really couldn't have stumbled into a better deal...thanks Trish!
The two-hour Over the River Airshow had several different participants. First, there was an all-women skydiving group - the Misty Blues, who parachuted out with American flags. The US Coast Guard had a helicopter and performed a mock rescue. There were several planes doing some aerobatics, including the Lucas Oil Bi-Plane in the photo above and the Firecat Jet, in the photo soaring near bridge. But the best part was the Air Force Heritage Flight at the end. It showcased a state-of-the-art F-16 fighter jet, along side a WWII P-51 Mustang. Seeing that vintage plane was really cool, but that F-16 damn near blew our socks off...literally! When that thing roared up over the banks of the river, you truly felt your insides shake. I'm not joking when I say that the first somewhat unexpected pass over caused dogs to bark, kids to cry, and car alarms to go off, just from the noise and vibration. It was really something. And even in it's subsequent pass overs, you only thought you were ready, but it shook your foundation each time! Every year I hear them come into town, see them pass through our skies, but seeing them up close and personal was pretty impressive.
We really hadn't intended to stay down at the park beyond the airshow, but once it was over there was some qualifying laps, and a heat for some vintage hydroplanes, so we stayed a little while to catch that. It wasn't too exciting, just a couple of boats out on the water kicking up their rooster tails, but they were loud and that was kind of cool. It reminded me of the good old days when I was a kid, and during the whole week of boat races, anywhere you were, you could hear that loud thunder on the water. It really was the pinnacle of summer.
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