The Hardys: Anniversary Part II (Take 2)

*Note: I managed to delete the post...and then Erica helped me save it. We lost the higher resolution photos...but the video still HDs up just fine. Enjoy, and please pardon the weird spacing here and there...I gave up on trying to fix it all in the HTML code =).

Hi Everyone. I'm sorry this "part II" is a bit later--having Monday off is like a bad joke...it means that you spend Tuesday in a panic attack and the rest of the week recovering. All that aside, we had a great trip out to Jones beach.

Driving there was smooth--sort of. I made a couple of driving errors having not driven for six months. There was this instance where I sort of thought there was a turn lane where there wasn't (they aren't that common out on Long Island, apparently?) and there may have been a few 'buzzed' Stop signs. But overall, we were fine. I actually forgot to grab a picture of our dorky little Kia Rio that we rented. I meant to take on when we returned it, but it was raining cats and dogs and forgot. Thankfully, Kia likes to try to sell the Rio, so here you go:

Highly aerodynamic. With a larger trunk that one would expect. It even has those fancy flip-out keys that you used to only find on snooty European cars. Underpowered--yes, but somehow, still rather jolly. (Yes, I had to give it a Top Gear-esque review).

After getting out to Jones Beach, we found that our hotel room wasn't ready yet because they had to change a lock out. No big deal. We went and found an Olive Garden and ate (thanks Mom & Dad), and then went to a mall to get supplies for the next day. There was a Walmart, so we bought some snacks, water, and a couple of extremely cheap beach chairs for 10 bucks (renting them was 10 bucks...may as well own).

Before going out I had researched a maternity store that I wanted to take Erica to (forced shopping, sort of a typical 'present' but oh well). We couldn't find the storefront (darn it Google Maps, you've failed me once on this trip already. The Target we tried to stop at to get supplies from was closed), but we did find a nice Macys and Erica scored pants, a belt to use her normal pants and bottoms, as well as a nice skirt and these awesome gaucho type pants that I found and suggested. Erica wore those on the ride home.

Now for the airshow day. Traffic was crazy getting out there--hundreds of thousands go both days of the show each year. We beat most of the crowd and were early enough to park in the back of one of the big lots and get the free Blue Angels poster that one of the sponsors was giving out. All said and done, it was about an hour and a half to go six miles--but worth it considering that later in the day people were parking on the side of the road miles away hoping to get a small glimpse of the action.

First, we got settled on the beach. The chairs worked out nicely. I can't remember who gave us the collapsible Columbia cooler for our wedding, but we love it--it worked great. We were able to keep fruit and Gatorade cold all day thanks to some ice I pilfered from the hotel. We left before anyone was there in the morning so I snuck back into the kitchen and nabbed some. OH! The hotel, before we move on, behold the luxury:

The TV didn't work. The bed was solid, the pillows, flat. But we laughed at how nice the tub was and the overall feel of the place. It was like a throwback--filled with the patina of a bygone era. It worked for a night's rest.

Now, on to the airshow (and if you love me, I expect you to read on, you can give me a few minutes). In all seriousness, if you don't really care about the details, scroll to the bottom and watch the video I made!!!

US Army Golden Knights

The Golden Knights opened, putting on a great show

B-17 Flying Fortress

Perhaps the most important aircraft of WWII

Stealthy--except for the noise. The loudest aircraft at the show by far

The F-22 was difficult to capture in-action. The maneuvers were quick and at a higher altitude than many of the other performers. I'm not sure if this was for safety, to maintain the mystique of the aircraft, or because the USAF didn't want to risk anything happening to this, the most expensive and high-performance fighter plane on earth.

Perhaps the highlight of the solo military planes--the F/A-18 Superhornet, AKA "Superbug" or "Rhino." This airplane supersedes the F-14 tomcat of Top Gun fame. This is the twin seat configuration, and both Pilot and WSO were present in-flight. This was fun. There were no holds barred on displaying the aircraft's performance (unlike the F-22, which felt rather restricted). You could practically see these guys grinning during multiple high-speed passes and a demonstration of how their plane cuts through the air like no other. The Prandtl-Glauert vortex created by the F/A-18 at high speed is a thing to behold.

More of the Superhornet--I wish I could have caught some of their high speed maneuvers but our camera was unfortunately not up to the task.

One last shot of them on their way out.

A pleasant and impressive display by the Canadian Forces Snowbirds. They normally fly a nine plane team--they were short one plane at Jones beach, but seeing so many aircraft maneuver in sync was impressive. They put on a great show.

You can see the hole in their reverse-diamond formation here. Not sure what the deal was.


The GEICO Skytypers. Using computers, this team will fly at high altitude releasing timed smoke puffs to produce extremely legible, accurate "skywriting." I wasn't able to get a good shot of their work, but they came down low and demonstrated later in the show.

A nice, low pass from the Skytypers. These are SNJ-2 training aircraft that were used at some point by every branch of the military as a trainer.

Sean D. Tucker and his Oracle Biplane. I didn't know at the time, but this fellow is the top dog of air show stunts. He is the only civilian pilot to have been allowed to fly in formation with the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds, and his airplane, the Oracle Biplane, is absolutely astonishing. Look the videos up on YouTube--the things this man does...he's very much in control of how out of control he is.

Ernie! No, seriously, that's his name. The Blue Angels have a team of Marine Corps C-130 pilots and crew who perform as a part of their show and transport the team's gear and personnel around the country. Usually, the team is accompanied by a special, painted C-130 named "Fat Albert." Albert is undergoing maintenance this year, so Ernie is filling in. Here he is demonstrating the C-130's ability to take off from a short runway--a key strategic ability of the airframe. When I was a kid, they used to attach JTOW rocket bottles to the aircraft for a jet assisted takeoff. These are no longer in use--but the idea is still the same.

And now--for the main event! The Blue Angels--the camera was dead, so I moved over to my cell phone video recorder to capture a few key moments. I had fun putting this video together--Dad, the music is for you. The balance is pretty high, so don't have the volume on your computer up too loud as you watch. I was surprised at the quality my little camera was able to get. I hope you enjoy the video and didn't think the post was too cumbersome--I get excited about this stuff. Please, turn up the quality to HD and full-screen for proper enjoyment =).