Sorry you haven’t heard from me since Thursday. We had a test on Friday, so I thought it a better use of my time to study for said test than to write. Then on Saturday we went to
The day started as usual. Breakfast at 7, devos at 7:30, then class starts when devos are over. About two hours into class, Mr. Scroggins announced we would be having a cognitive exercise the next day. So much for hiking to the cell tower… I thought as I considered necessary study time. We got through the day all right. Erik and I shot 10 rivets, and never felt more successful. Then Erik ditched me to go flying… the loser. Just kidding!! It just left me to wander around, trying to find something to do until he got back. The excitement of that evening involved some studying and mostly procrastination on the study.
Friday… the test went all right. It was short answer, which posed the challenge of interpreting the question, trying to figure out what the professor wants, and coming up with a cognitive way to state it.
After the test, we went through more regulations (oh boy!) before lunch and hangar time. I got thoroughly frustrated with my project, and we put about 8 more rivets in. Really, based on how small the piece is, we should have had it done in a day. No such luck, the little bugger.I was thankful when it was dinner time. After dinner, we hiked up the hill to the north of us, the one with the cell phone tower on top. It was sprinkling, giving everything a drab gray coloring that reminds me so much of home. We didn't make it all the way up, but took a side trip to a clearing that overlooked the ranch, with a perfect view of the final approach course. Hal was landing in his 170, which was awesome to watch.
We decided not to go all the way to the top, namely because ice cream and brownies with hot fudge sauce were waiting for us. After ice cream, we hung out for a while, played some rummy, and eventually headed to bed.
I woke up Saturday morning to Sydney asking if I wanted to go to the airshow. I had seen a flyer about it, and really wanted to go. It's called Arctic Thunder, and the thunderbirds would be performing. I rolled over sleepily and asked what time it was, and when they were leaving. In my half conscious state, I managed to calculate a grand total of 20 minutes to get up the hill and meet the convoy heading to Anchorage. I guess I wont be straightening my hair this morning... I thought as I dragged myself out of bed and headed for the breakfast foods. I also called one of the guys to see if they were going to wake up and come. Eventually, they all decided to come, but it took much persuading. Seriously, who would want to skip out on going to an airshow??
When we got into Anchorage, we realized that about two thirds of the state's population had turned up for the event. Cars were lined up for the exit about 2 miles before it even turned off. Lucky for us, we had Hal driving the lead car. Hal is an 80 some-year-old former Navy guy who could talk his way through anything, and knew his way around the base. He dropped us off at the gate, found a great parking spot for the vans, and we headed in.
We had a blast being flight nerds all day. We took hundreds of pictures of all the different airplanes, talked to some of the people showing off the planes, and settled in to watch the performances. I had seen the blue angels about 6 weeks before, so it was absolutely thrilling to see the thunderbirds as well, and have a good basis of comparison. Although nothing beats the mountains in the background, I think the blue angels put on a better show. No matter though, I still got to see a bunch of airplanes going ridiculously fast. It was a great day.
Sorry for the length, maybe I should be a little more consistent about daily updates :p
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