Blue Angel's

The Blue Angels

The weekend of the 24th of July was a big weekend here in Idaho Falls. If you're from this area you know the 24th of July is when Utah and most Mormons celebrate the arrival of the Saints in the Salt Lake Valley. I grew up with it being a huge holiday with parades and fairs and things, but in Idaho they don't typically celebrate like they do in Utah. Actually, the 24th was a big weekend for another reason. The Blue Angels were in town to do an air show and the sky's were filled with all kinds of planes doing amazing tricks.

Getting stickers from the flight crew.

I've always wanted to go to an air show, but have never had the opportunity. We decided that even though we would probably all really enjoy the air show, it just wasn't a good idea for us this year. It was kind of pricey (especially with 5 kids) and being the end of July the weather would likely be quite hot. We were a little disappointed, but it wasn't a huge deal. Then Thursday afternoon we heard the planes in the sky to our west. I got a text from a friend saying the Blue Angels were practicing down at the airport and it was a great show. So, feeling this was quite possibly a once in a life time chance, we got the kids up from naps and headed to the airport.

4 of the planes taking off.

The kids watching the show.

We didn't know where we were going, but found a nice spot outside a parking lot to watch the two planes currently in the air, do some tricks. When they were done we saw a bunch of cars leaving an alleyway. We walked over and discovered the runway and a few dozen people waiting to see what was next. We loaded the kids in the car and went to join them. We found out they were doing a run through of the actual show in about an hour so of course we had to stay. While waiting the flight crew stopped by and passed out stickers to all the kids and talked to a few of the adults. It was a cool thing for the kids.

These planes flew amazingly close.

Making cool smoke trails in the sky.

The show itself was extremely impressive. When it started, it definitely didn't disappoint. We were right in front of the runway so we got to see the planes take off and land. The way those planes fly is just amazing. They started out in 2 groups. One group was 4 planes who flew very close to each other and did amazing tricks in the air. The other group was the remaining 2 planes who often flew straight for each other and then maneuvered away at the last minute. They were loud, which the kids didn't like at first, but they were so impressive. I can't even imagine doing anything like what those pilots do. WOW!!! If you ever get a chance to go to one of their air shows, I highly recommend it.

The two planes working together. The fence is in the way, but you can see one is upside down and the other is not. They too were extremely close to each other.

All 6 planes with their support plane 'Fat Albert' on the ground.

The next morning we heard the pilots were downtown meeting people. We loaded the kids in the car and drove down only to find out we missed them by about 10 minutes. Oh well! We went back to the airport that afternoon to watch them practice again and enjoyed watching their amazing tricks one more time.

Making more cool designs out of smoke.

So, we weren't able to go to the actual air show, which I'm sure was really cool, but we did get to see some amazing things. Honestly, I can't help wonder if our seats the two previous days were better than the actual air show. I heard it was a mess down there on Saturday because of all the people and I know it was a very, very hot day. None of us would have liked sitting in the heat waiting for the air show. Our way of doing it turned out wonderfully and everyone enjoyed the show.