Yesterday, I spent a good four hours stuck in snail traffic, to and from Arctic Thunder air show. Still, there are some airplanes in this 27 image slide show
Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 3:20PM 
Click here for the full, 27-image, show
The reason Kalib looks so miserable is because he, his mom, his dad and I got stuck in traffic for two-and-half hours on the way to the Arctic Thunder air show staged yesterday at Elmendorf Air Force Base. For awhile, I had been thinking about taking in a bit of airshow with these three, then driving downtown to attend a wedding and then to come back, pick them up and then return today for the entire show, but I tell you, when you get stuck in traffic for two-and-half hours and then later for about 45 minutes and then after that for another hour all over again, you change your plans.
Still, we did get to see airplanes - both as we crawled along Boniface and at the air show, where we arrived in time to see the Blue Angels perform.
Now I am going to try a little experiment. This day is growing old and I did not post yesterday and I have already spent quite a bit of time making the slide show that goes with the spread, so I am going to skip my usual picture/narrative and instead invite readers to go directly to the 27 image slide show.
Here is a brief explanation of what you will find in the slideshow:
The above photo, followed by a scene of jammed up traffic ahead of us.
Two shots of a woman and boy walking, images that would be inconsequential, except that they show how much faster these two were traveling as pedestrians than we were traveling in the car.
A photo of jets climbing into the sky way beyond a street lamp. I took this through the windshield of the Escape. Jacob drove, to free me to just take pictures.
Some boys who play on a football team that had staged a car wash fundraiser along the route. They took advantage of the big bog-down in traffic to walk down the road between the lanes of traffic to seek contributions. We contributed.
Jets, taken from the car, flying behind leaves.
Two Mormon missionaries who came walking past and who agreed to pose for my Mormon missionary series. When I asked where they were from, one said Salt Lake City and the other said Utah. Before I could probe deeper, a gap of about 100 yards suddenly opened between us and the next car, so we had to dash forward and leave them behind.
After two-and-half hours, we finally arrived at the air show. Lavina bought Dilly Bars for everybody from the Dairy Queen booth. The roar of jets flying terrified Kalib. It looked like, after our big ordeal in traffic, we were just going to have to turn around and leave, but then Kalib calmed down and took courage, so we stayed.
Various and insundry scenes of jets flying and people watching - mostly the Blue Angels - as well as a young girl looking out the cockpit window of a C-130. Jacob tried to take Kalib into the same C-130 so he could look out the window, too, but Kalib refused to enter.
A memorial for four airmen killed last week in the crash of a C-17, the same kind of cargo plane as the one behind their photographs.
As reported in the Anchorage Daily News, the airmen are: Maj. Michael Freyholtz, 34, and Maj. Aaron Malone, 36, both pilots assigned to the Alaska Air National Guard's 249th Airlift Squadron; Capt. Jeffrey Hill, 31, a pilot assigned to Elmendorf's 517th Airlift Squadron; and Senior Master Sgt. Thomas Cicardo, 47, a 249th Airlift Squadron loadmaster.
Kalib refusing to peek inside a helicopter.
A pilot, his jet and his dog.
Kalib dozing on the 45 minute slow-ride back to his house.
Jobe, who spent the day with his grandmother, who, fortunately, likes babies better than she does airplanes, reunited with his tired dad.
As I drove Margie back to Wasilla, we again got stuck in traffic for another hour - this time due to highway construction. After we had been alternating between a snails pace and no pace at all, this couple approached from behind us, riding on the shoulder. Then they spotted the police ahead, who can be seen in the distance on the right hand side of the photo pulling drivers over for doing this very thing, so the couple started to cut back into traffic directly in front of us when their engine died.
Slowly, as the driver sat there, trying to restart his bike, the gap widened between us the next car. Finally, I carefully worked my way around them and continued on. Shortly after, the driver started his bike and moved back into traffic a few cars behind us.
I then forgot about them, until a ways after we had passed the police cars. Suddenly, they came roaring by on the right shoulder, she flipping the bird at motorists as they passed by.
Next year, if I am around at the right time, I will try to go to the air show early, stay all day and photograph it the way it should be photographed.
Now, for those who may have been at the Gwich'in Gathering and are eager to see more pictures, I will make a big effort to post several picture stories over the next two days. I think I will do it in slide format, with minimal comment, so that I can get more pictures up and you can see them, just as I promised you would be able to.
Sometimes, the daily flow of life simply overtakes me.
Reader Comments (8)
Deep breaths. Deeeeeeeep breaths. It will be okaaaaaaaaaay. You may not have noticed, but really, your readers are a patient lot, my friend.
Jets, taken from the car, flying behind leaves.
My favorite! Excellent shots all of them though.
great slide show and Kalib is cute even when he is frowning :)
Getting there early for the airshow is definitely the best thing. I didnt fly in until 12:26am Sun, so my husband and kids went to the airshow and hung around town until my flight arrived. Being a Navy family we all wanted to see our beloved Blue Angels perform, and my husband said they were fantastic as always. I am sorry I missed the show this yr but I enjoyed your pics, as well as the one my 14 y/o daughter took for me.
Bill, this is totally off topic, but very important.
I know you love that little boy with all your heart. Please, PLEASE adjust his carseat. The clip that holds the harness straps needs to be at armpit level. It is a pre-crash adjuster clip. In the event of a wreck, a properly positioned chest clip will assure the harness is in the safest position.
Thank you for all you share with us.
I really enjoyed the slideshow -- the photographs set against the black background work very well -- but I missed the commentary alongside the photos. I think that it is your photos plus the commentary that keeps me coming back.
Thank you, everybody -
CPSTMom - although I believe it is set up according to the instructions, we will look into this and make any necessary adjustments.
Kathleen, be assured that I am not abanding my photo/commentary style of narrative. It's just that at the moment I find myself overwhelmed with so much material that I just can't put it all out in my usual style and get enough of it done. But then I just realized that I am not going to be able to put it all out anytime soon, anyway.
To CPST mom~thanks for catching that. I'm usually pretty good about checking this out but this time must have slipped. I should know better too, I teach childbirth, & this is one of the subjects I teach. Fortunately he doesn't ride in this carseat everyday. Thanks again for catching this.
have a great day!