Airforce Week

This last week Salt Lake City celebrated Air Force Week. They had all kinds of activities going on down town....paper airplane contests, art shows, performers, imax movies, and over the weekend Hill Air Force Base had an open house and air show. We were really excited about this because everything was free of charge!! We had planned our week so that Monday we would go to the Aerospace Museum on the base, Wednesday we would go see the Fighter Pilots Imax movie, Friday Mark wanted to go to the art exhibit, and then Saturday we would see the air show.
The museum was fun, and we all walked away with a flattened penny, so it cost us a total of $1.53. The boys wanted to get in the planes more than anything, and thankfully they had a flight simulator, so they at least got to sit in a cock pit. We planned our entire day around the Imax movie on Wednesday. We had a playgroup at the park that morning, then had a picnic, and headed down to Gateway mall, getting there over an hour before the show started, only to run into this.....
We were so disapointed! All the other showings the rest of the week were at Thanksgiving Point, and in the evenings, so this was our only chance to go, darn it! Instead we walked down the mall, attempted to play in the fountain, but since the only one interested in going in was Luke, we left and then went for ice cream.
We were mostly excited about the air show though! We packed a nice cooler of lunch, snacks, and drinks, loaded the picnic blanket into the car, and left at about ten am for the base. We didn't even make it onto the freeway before we were at a complete stop, apparently EVERYONE was taking advantage of the free airshow. AFter a mile or two of creeping, the traffic started to move, and as we slowing took the first exit for the base, a traffic cop was standing there and informed us that there was no wait at the next exit, so we swerved around him, got back on the freeway, and sure enough, the next exit was completely empty, and took us directly onto the base immediately. At this point Mark was giddy! Just being on the base was exciting for him. He kept pointing things out, and practically jumping up and down. Thank goodness I was driving! We drove through the ENTIRE base, right onto the big 'parking lot', and were in only the third row of cars, whew! As we were waiting in line for the metal detectors, the opening ceremonies started, and we quickly scurried through the crowds, found a patch of grass, laid out the blanket, built a tent for Luke, and enjoyed the show. Seven hours is a long time for the boys to sit in the sun, so Mark and them wandered around, checking out the planes on display, the booths, and the inflatable jumper. The performances were AMAZING! There were prop stunt planes, WWII, Korean War, and Cuban missile crisis reinactments, and lots and lots of fly-bys. The Thunderbirds were the last to fly, of course, and they did NOT disappoint! I found out later that 290,000 people were at the show that day, which explains why it took us two hours to get home!!! Definately an experience we will NEVER forget!