Air Show!

Today we went to an amazing air show in town. They had a B-25 from WWII flying around. Can you imagine? A plane from WWII still in good enough condition to fly? What a privilege to see.

At one point it "dropped" a "bomb". It was pretty sweet! Especially since I got a picture of it. :)

I couldn't resist editing some of the photos to look old.

Notice that the bomb bay is open:

This random kid had the right idea. :)
It was LOUD.

There were tons of planes sitting around that you could look at.

An unmanned plane!

Me sitting in an awesome helicopter:

Then Miss Mitchell the B-25 landed so people could get a close look at her.
One of my favorite pictures:

I got to stick my head inside and snap some photos. What a surreal feeling, being in a piece of history. I could just imagine the people who flew it years and years ago. Wow.

I love just staring at the next picture. After photoshopping it, it looks so old I can hardly believe I took it!

It's looking into the tail, and the light at the end is from the gunner's dome.

The bomb bay:

Later they had a stunt plane. It was simply amazing! The pilot did things I didn't know were possible. He did sideways rolls and stalls that made it look like the plane had technical problems and was spiraling out of control. And then he'd pull up again! At one point he was only ten feet off the ground! Once he turned upside down and flew that way for a long distance, taking one hand off the controls and waving (still upside down) at the crowd below! You could see it, he was so close.

 And then! Then the pilot flew over the crowd, opened his hatch (!) , stood on the seat (!) and waved at us! Zero hands on the controls!

Heheehe! 
What a show-off.
I love it. :D

Then the Blue Angels came out! In this first picture, their wings were only 18 inches apart. And they were going well over 100 miles an hour. o_O

Notice that white mist on the wings of the top plane? I'm not sure what caused it, but whenever they went incredibly fast, that would appear.

At one point the announcer told us to look to our right, so we all turned that way. And then ROAR! A plane flew over us from behind and startled everyone! It was super funny. :)

 And lastly, one of my favorite pictures.

Have you ever been to an air show?

Vacation!

(Warning: bazillions of pictures of beautiful things in this post!)

Last week we went to Medora, North Dakota!

Traveling through prairies:

  

Getting to the badlands:

We blew a tire on our camper!

It wasn't just flat.
It blew.

We got it repaired quickly, and arrived at our campsite. Soon after we left for the Medora Musical!

 That blond guy in the middle? Amazing stage presence! He was hamming it up, grinning and really DOING the dance moves. Not just ... doing ... the dance moves. I love it when people do that!!

This fiddler played so fast it's amazing her fingers didn't fall off! She got the most cheers of the night. :)

I get such a thrill from the stage and shows. They just makes me so happy!

The next day we traveled to the North unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

There were oil trucks everywhere on the way!

Pumping oil:

At the campground we got invaded by bison! o_O

Strolling through the campground like they owned the place...

Dust bath

 ^The screen on my camper window.

Exploring the park:

Dad

Right as we were walking up to a trail for a hike, a guy was just leaving the trail. As he walked past, he told us that he had seen a rattle snake in the weeds right next to the path!
Ummm .... *gulp*

Don't ask me why, but we went for the hike anyway. And I was wearing shorts. And the trail was about 6" wide, weeds brushed our legs as we walked past ... and there was a rattle snake in there somewhere!! o_O

Creepy much?

Yeah. Much.

Tracks on the trail:

We spotted buffalo hair on the trail! Wild buffalo and snakes on our trail. Niiice.
Still, I'm thankful there is still a part of North Dakota that is wild enough that you have to fear snakes. Call me crazy, but I love natural places.

 The next pictures are from a different excursion.

This place was so quiet and beautiful. The sound of insects chirping in the distance, the soft thrumming of the wind across your ears, the lazy buzz of a fly swirling your head ... all added to the silence.

Blurry but cute. ;)

Ah, siblings...

Back at the campground. One of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen.

The next day we went on yet another hike. The sun warmed the clover and filled the air with a thick summery scent.

 Prairie dog town!

This guy was very friendly!

And now, after those bazillion pictures, I'll leave you with one of my very favorites from that gorgeous sunset...

Which ones do you like?