A Blue Angels Kinda Day - Wed., May 10, 2017

Yesterday on our walk we saw the Blue Angels from a distance. Today, we are at Naval Air Station Pensacola, the home of the Blue Angels, to see them up close. Oh, and to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum. Everything is free except out lunch and gift shopping.

National Naval Aviation Museum

Tom, Bob, Rosemarie

At 10:00 a.m. we rolled into the parking lot of the National Naval Aviation Museum. It would be an hour until the Blue Angels practice session. The Naval Aviation Museum was open, so we spent 45 minutes "nosing" around the exhibits. 

I particularly liked the "nose" and body of this beauty.

"The Homecoming."

At 10:45 we walked to the airfield with (about 3,000 other people) to watch the Blue Angels perform. Impressive doesn't begin to describe the power of those aircraft. The jets are super speedy, maneuverable, and built to withstand high G forces. The pilots are the best of the best and fly with high precision. You know when you go to a Blue Angels show that you are in for a treat. The photos below tell the story.

Tight formations

Ups and...

...downs

Wingtip to wingtip

Notice that one jet is upside-down!

The jets are flying slowly in the tail-down position

Upside down

Very tight formation

Crossing from six different directions...at 600 mph

Peeling off from the formation to circle and land

After the air show, we had lunch in the museum's cafe, Cubi. The restaurant is fun to look at, had good service, good food and they were very fast putting the food on the table.

Cubi decor

Bob, Tom, Rosemarie at our table

Me with some of my "friends."

After lunch, we shopped in the gift shop, finished seeing the first building, and then made our way to the second building. There is so much to see; we stayed until closing.

Below is the Navy-Curtiss Flying Boat, the first plane to fly across the Atlantic ocean. This plane was used to search for German U-boats in World War I.

Navy-Curtiss Flying Boat

See photo of "squadron car" below

Squadron car

Skylab

Me in a photo-op cockpit

Tom studying the interior of a display jet

Gotta love the bad dog! LOL.

Presidential helicopter

Look closely for George W. Bush's name on the cockpit

At the end of the day, we jetted out of there and went to dinner at Wayne's Family Diner, the place Bob anf I went yesterday for lunch. I was cured of the diner after tonight's experience. For the second day in a row, they didn't have oysters. Bob really wanted their oyster po'boy sandwich. I ordered a Reuben sandwich. About 15 minutes after I ordered, our waitress came back to say they were out of corned beef.I ended up with a generic burger and fries. Tom and Rosemarie were less than impressed with the menu choices (sorry about dragging you there).

Back at the ranch, so to speak, we watched the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie. Bob had never seen it and the verdict was that he won't be seeing "Guardians of theGalaxy, Vol. 2."

Stay tuned tomorrow for our day at Navarre Beach Pier and other exploration. Travel Bug out. (I'm trying to finish up the blogs from our last trip before I head out with friends Susan and Darren on our next trip -- leaving next Wednesday, May 31.)