NAS Oceana Naval Air Show

Click the picture below to see a larger panorama.

Incredible! I love football season and I never miss my skins play on TV -ever, but I missed it all today and didn't care one little bit. I love fast, loud airplanes and I was in heaven today. I can not even put into words the thrill it gives me when those fighters zip by. The noise is so incredibly loud that I scream at the top of my lungs and I can't hear myself. I am sure anyone who saw me thought I was nuts, but I don't care. I jumped up and down and was screaming like a little kid.

My kids were not even close to as excited as I was about the day. The strange thing is that I have lived at the beach for 17 years and this is only my second trip to the show. What a moron I am. The pictures and video below are just a small sample of the fun I had today.

I would give just about anything to be able to fly in one of those planes. I don't know how you could get on the list to be a passenger, but I think you have to be famous or something. I don't think they just let anyone off the street get in a multimillion dollar jet. I swear I would follow whatever rules they gave me and I am pretty sure I would hold my lunch. I would not even eat 3 days before if they would just let me have one ride.

When you watch the video above, turn the volume way up to get a feeling of how loud it was at the show.

The F-22 Raptor is the most awesome machine created by man. It is beautiful and fast.

The above picture shows the Raptor as it passed the stands. The white stuff on the wings is compressed air that creates vapor as it comes over the wings. It is very cool to see in person as it suddenly materializes right before your eyes. I was hoping to get a picture of this and I couldn't believe how lucky I was to get this photo. All by itself, this photo made my day.

The picture above shows the ordinance bay doors open on the Raptor. This is where death comes from...

Cool formation flyby. I think the lead plane is a F18 Super Hornet, bottom plane a P-51 Mustang, top F-86 Sabre Jet, and the F-22 Raptor in the back. Beautiful.

World's Fastest Truck. Jet truck of fire! I'd like to drive that baby to work just once.

This was the best Blue Angel photo I was able to get. Click to see a larger picture. Sweet!

This is a picture of me in front of some kind of futuristic Terminator like vehicle of death. I don't really know what it was, so that is what I am going to call it.

I took about 200 pictures today. I took so many pictures that I killed my battery before the Blue Angels flew. Bummer!

I had a super time today. I felt like such a child. I wish I could give that feeling to someone else. It feels so good and it is just not something that happens every day. It was a great day to be alive.