A Cool Thing to Do on a Beach Vacation That Doesn't Involve the Beach

The end of vacation is always sad.  As we ended our beach vacation, we headed east instead of back west toward home.  Just a short 30 minute drive took us over the Alabama/Florida state line and to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola.  We had gotten word that on certain Wednesdays during the summer, tourists are invited to watch the Blue Angels practice for free.  A Free Air Show?  Are you kidding me?  We were on that like white on rice.

Many other people had the same idea. The traffic was especially backed up at the Main Gate where security was checking everyone's IDs, but we got there with a few minutes to spare.  We walked up to the flight line and stood on a grassy hill and watched as the solo Blue Angel pilot took off first.

He was followed by four others who flew VERY close to one another in tight formation. It was amazing to watch them.

The F/A 18 aircraft zoomed by us so fast it made our heads spin.

However while we watched the four aircraft in front of us, the solo pilot flew around behind us and came racing right above us flying very low and very fast and scared us all to death.  I jumped along with almost everyone else.  For the remainder of the 55 minute air show, I made sure that I could see all five of the aircraft together.  I didn't want to me scared like that again.


The solo pilot joined up in formation with the other four...

They soared heavenward at breakneck speed.

The announcer had names for each of the aerial stunts they performed. I thought they all were impressive.

After the air show concluded, we went into a couple of hangars there that housed the Naval Aviation Museum where they have all sorts of interesting aircraft on display.  We could have spent a long time in there, but had to get back on the road. Benjamin picked up a souvenir Blue Angels T-shirt

Before turning our car toward home, I snapped a photo of Benjamin and Tricia by one of the Blue Angels aircraft.  I really like that photo!