I don’t think I’ll EVER learn the lesson.
1. California heat is dry.
2. Just because you’re not sweating bullets, that doesn’t mean you’re not losing water.
3. Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate.
For some reasons, I keep thinking I’m a fucking camel every time. I don’t know why.
And yes, once again, after a day baking in the Oxnard sun without much water, yours truly has that dehydration headache + fever thing. Not as bad as before though because this little outting was completely devoid of alcohol…unlike last year’s mead + sun at Renaissance Faire.
Fortunately for me, Miller was the sponsoring brew at the air show.
So here I am, at home still with a gargantuan headache, mind a little boggled and body a little achy from the low fever, sipping my water instead of knocking back a pint at a friend’s birthday party. (Sorry, girlie!)
Anyhoo. The Air Show was AWESOME. I was a fun little road trip up the coast on a beautiful day. The boys’ main goal was to see F-22 Raptor in action.
As we went up the coast, we went in and out of super dense and low marine layer starting from Santa Monica through Malibu. We started to feel discouraged. What if we made it to Point Mugu and we can’t see a dang thing? But the marine layer never really reached the Base.
After a good 20 minutes of sitting in the car to get to the parking lot, in true style, we got out of the car just as the Raptor took to the sky.
That damn plane was fast and loud as hell. We were still in the parking lot with a fly by set most car alarms off. But then, it also showed how quiet it can be. And damn, it was pretty stealthy!
The coolest thing was what listed as the Air Force Heritage show the World War II P-51 Mustang and a F-22 Raptor, and F-15E Strike Eagle. We just got onto the grounds when we looked up to see the 3 generations of planes flying over our heads. THAT right there kicked ass.
(And no, unlike the boys, I don’t know any of the planes by heart. I’m copying over the program from the air show website as I write here. Hehe.)
We didn’t pay that much attention to the show after that one, but we hunkered down for the grand finale of the Thunderbirds. Amazing. Truly. Amazing.
Guys, this was my first air show in my entire life! And we were steps away from the frickin’ runway! The Birds took off and landed right in front of us. I mean, they were so close!
You don’t truly appreciate the power of these flying machines until you stand right under them, watching them soar every which way around you. You can never get all of this from watching all the documentaries in the world. This is the time you truly feel the power of a fighter jet. How fast they could go. How loud the could be. And the mad maneuvering these pilots have to do.
Wow.
By the way, we totally take our tax refund present out for a baptism by fire. The Nikon D40 Digital SLR (squeal!) performs like a dream as you can see. Sure, we could have used some super zoom lenses for the air show but hey, we’re not going to splurge THAT much. 🙂 I’m super happy with this camera so far.
Olaina and Nhien: Ladies, now that I can keep up with you, let’s go shooting! 😀
And I’m even more amazed at my little plucky camera phone. It did take some neat pictures for my moblogging purposes.
That’s right. To my left 20 feet away, Brandon followed the Thunderbirds action with our itsy bitsy factory standard Nikon lenses. In front of him, 2 guys with sports telephoto the size of my arm. Behind me, a gentleman with similar professional photo gear.
And there was me, aiming my phone at the sky, cursing at the slowness of the sending progress as the announcement came on to prompt you for the next act.
Good times! :)Now, check out the rest of the pictures and have yourself a good night.