Branson Air Show

This week's adventure was purely the product of being in the right place at the right time. That is to say we are in Missouri and the Branson Airport is opening tomorrow (Mon.) so they held their grand opening festivities this weekend. Mycal (with his infinite resources) knew that part of the celebrations would include an air show.

Upon hearing that I had never been to an air show that I could remember the matter was settled - for Mother's day we would be traveling to Branson for an air show. Despite the three+ hour drive to the Branson Airport (the last hour of which is another story in it's self...) the show was a lot of fun. Mycal had paid a little extra to get into a particular area which included beverages (no hauling in our own water!) as well as seating (ditto the water remark for chairs). It was worth the it! Not only did we not have to haul our weight in extra supplies to and from some remote spot on a field but we were right up front for the action. It was really nice - it also meant I got pictures I would never have been able to get from the general admission area. Throughout the post are some of my favorite pictures from the day.

One of most enjoyable demonstrations was from the Army's Golden Knights - a PR parachute team that do a coordinated jump. While some things were not as much fun for the girls this was really enjoyable because they could see the parachutist coming down (almost right in front of them...) and there wasn't an excessive amount of noise accompanying this part of the show.

Whereas many other parts of the show were quite loud, the portion with the F-16 being a notable one. Emmuska was always more ready than the rest of us when it was making a fly over because she covered her ears as the slightest sound that might be an airplane approaching. There were quite a few times when the rest of the crowd was caught off guard by the planes coming seemingly out of nowhere - but not Emmuska - after the first surprise she always had her ears covered.

After the airshow we went out and visited some of the sponsoring displays (including NASA as seen by the bags) - grabbing this shot in front of a helicopter on display by the United States Marine Corps. By the end of the day we were all pretty tired (well except Liberty who managed to grab an hour and half nap on Mycal despite the noise of the planes...). One thing for sure is that sleep was generally sounder around the Brown house last night than it usually is.