2019 Quad City Airshow

After a hiatus of a couple of years, the Quad City Airshow rebooted this year, so we went and checked it out. It was a hot day; the temperature was 95º with a heat index of 107º, but there was a breeze and we brought our own shade. There were lots of cool static displays to check out: 

This is the first time they've had a C-17 Globemaster at the QC show. This monster can haul military trucks and still has enough power leftover to be able to takeoff/land on very short runways. The cargo bay can handle 170,000 lbs. of equipment and the overall length of the plane is half a football field. It was cavernous inside:

It was really difficult to capture the whole plane in a single picture. I even tried taking a panoramic shot on my phone:

It's too tall:

Cynthia tried it, too:

The After Shock jet-powered fire truck was on display before the show started. It reaches speeds of around 400 mph:

I liked the wooden prop on this old plane from the 1930s:

People were allowed to walk through/climb inside a lot of the static displays:

The rest of my airshow photos are posted here: Quad City Airshow album

The umbrellas kept us from melting on a very hot day:

Also, the gyros at the airshow were awesome. There are always a lot of food trucks to choose from, but that one is always the right choice.

Marion Plane Rides

There seems to be a common theme to my blog posts just recently...

We went to the Fly-In Drive-In event at the Marion airport to take some plane rides and we ended up on the news! Cynthia and Rose are in the very first plane featured and I'm visible in the plane that appears in the video at 00:25 (you can kind of see Emily in the backseat): Marion Fly-In Drive-In

Cynthia and Rose were in the plane just ahead of us waiting for takeoff:

It was the first time flying for both Rose and Emily. I think they had fun.

It had been raining, but cleared up right before we got there and the flights were just starting when we arrived. Even though it wasn't sunny, it was still really cool to go up in a plane:

That plane that looks like a dot in the middle of the sky is the plane that Cynthia and Rose were riding in:

I think that's Marion High School down there:

That's Collins Road and Lindale Mall in the distance:

Linn-Mar:

During the flight we kept drifting through low-hanging thin ghostly clouds:

Hey, there's a roundabout! That thing that baffles Iowa drivers:

See the runway up ahead?

They offered helicopter rides as well, but they were shorter than the plane rides and more expensive. This one was just taking off as we were about to land:

Coming back down:

Cynthia and Rose's plane again:

That was a lot of fun and maybe we'll do it again soon.

The airport had several planes and helicopters on display in and around the hangers:

Rose tried out a helicopter:

Good times! I think the girls are ready for a plane flight to Pensacola...

Cessna Ride, 1994

I was recently going through boxes of old photos when I ran across pictures of my first plane ride. In October 1994, my aunt and uncle (who live in Pella) arranged for me to ride in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk piloted by a friend of theirs. The flight was only about 30 minutes long, but it was a lot of fun and very memorable. It was a on a very still autumn evening just before sunset, perfect for flying and taking pictures.

My Grandma Brackin and my sister Abby are in the lower right corner of this photo:

I'm standing in the doorway of the plane and my dad is right behind me. My uncle rode along with me and my dad stayed behind. He's not a fan of flying.

My mom taking pictures of my dad taking pictures of the plane taking off. Everything was documented in full detail, we got it covered:

During the flight I saw a barn burning, so we circled it for a few minutes so I could take pictures:

Then we flew out over Lake Red Rock:

And that's it; those are the only surviving pictures of that experience. If I remember correctly, there were at least two rolls of film with pictures from that evening, but this is all that's left. It's enough, though! We buzzed around over Pella and along Highway 163, before circling back and making a steep landing on the small airstrip. We made a very rapid descent onto the runway; I think the pilot was having fun with us. It was worth every minute.

White Sand Beaches

Last week we flew down to Huntsville, AL, to visit David and Daphne and my new niece, Willow! She is a super cute kid and loves to be the center of attention. I think she's going to be very talkative, too; she is quite chatty in her own baby language. It was fun to see them again since we hadn't seen Dave and Daphne since Thanksgiving a couple years ago when they came to our house. We rode in the dirtiest cab I've ever seen on our way to the car rental place and then drove to their apartment. They picked up fried chicken for us and Daphne ordered Dave wings with the "Executioner" hot sauce which made his face melt a little bit. Later, in the afternoon we drove the rest of the way down through Alabama to Pensacola Beach.

Leaving CR!

After we got out of the cab there was some nasty funk on our hands just from touching the door handles... on the INSIDE of the car. They seem to have the "fast" part figured out, but they could probably work on cleaning their cars once in a while.

Willow! She is going to be crawling any day now.

The next morning after arriving in Pensacola Beach we visited the National Naval Aviation Museum. If you don't care about planes, you'll want to skip ahead.

The sky above Cynthia looks unnaturally blue:

Inside the museum...

Planes from WWI and shortly after were constructed with wooden frames and canvas tightly stretched over the frame. You can see light through the wings:

This plane had sheetmetal for the body and was flown a few years before WWII:

The Ford Trimotor, a passenger plane from the 1920s. It looks super rickety with its corrugated metal shell and the gaps in the body that allow air and daylight through. The cables for the control surfaces are on the outside, which seems really sketchy.

This makes our crowded Delta flights seem not quite so bad:

Cool nose:

An early jet turbine engine cutaway:

Cold War-era aircraft with a Soviet MiG-15 suspended from the ceiling:

The Coast Guard still uses Bell Jet Rangers like this one to patrol the coastline several times a day:

The Blue Angels jets from the 1970s:

There was a guided trolley tour of the aircraft behind the museum led by a retired pilot who actually flew one of the Navy planes parked out there. There was a brief shower that passed through and it lent a dramatic effect to the photos:

For lunch we went to McGuire's with the million-dollar ceiling. The ceiling (and most of the walls) throughout the entire restaurant were covered with dollar bills:

The view from the balcony of our hotel room. It wasn't ocean-facing, but it was colorful at least:

We also took a 2-hour dolphin tour while we were down there. It was overcast and rained a little at the beginning of the trip. Typically, it rains at least once every 24-hour period - usually at night. The sun came out once we got out on the water.

This is one of the bridges connecting Gulf Breeze to Santa Rosa island:

Shark!

Nope, it's a dolphin. The difference is easy to spot because dolphins have curved dorsal fins and they swim in an up-down motion. They also have a horizontal rear fin that often flips up as they dive. Sharks have a very geometric-looking triangular dorsal fin and a vertical tail fin that both jut out of the water when they are hunting prey. They don't swim in an up-down pattern like dolphins, but instead they tend to move their tail fin from side to side.

The boat captain said that the tetris hotel is the best one to sneak into. Lots of free stuff to do there. Hmm...

There were a lot of people parasailing along the sound. We didn't try it this time... maybe on our next visit.

The dolphin cruise was a blast and we'll definitely go again the next time we're down there.

At Flounder's for lunch:

We spent most of our time in the water. It still blows my mind how crystal clear the water is along the Florida coastline in the gulf. Even when you are in neck-deep you can still see your feet.

The pure white quartz sand and endless dunes:

Sometimes when we first jumped into the water we'd catch an entire shoal of fish swimming by:

And when we went out onto the pier we could see several small sharks circling the pilings. Can you see 'em?

This pelican was very chill around people. He was watching the fisherman along the pier closely, hoping to catch an easy meal:

Peg Leg Pete's! Probably our favorite place to eat when we're down there:

Ft Pickens! The park has been gradually restoring the fort and there was more to explore this time.

The cannons could lob 30+ lb. explosive shells a distance of a mile around the time of the civil war.

There were a lot of creepy storerooms throughout the fort complex:

Despite the heat outside, the inside of the fort was cool and comfortable. This is another series of gun placements that looks eerie every time I see it:

The moisture has created interesting patterns and calcium deposits on the ceilings throughout:

Lots of archways:

This room also looked spooky. I think it was once an officer's quarters:

The view from the top of the fort:

This is the prison where Geronimo was kept in the 1800s:

The Pensacola lighthouse is visible just across the sound:

Most of the bars and restaurants are open-air. This was at Paradise Island:

The houses along the island are super cool, most of them are painted bright sherbet colors, but a few are really offbeat:

We drove from one end of the island to the other:

...and it looked like this most of the way. Development is limited to only a couple areas, the rest is protected land.

We stopped at Red Fish Blue Fish on our last day before going to the airport:

Goodbye, Pensacola Beach! We'll be back again soon...