A GREAT DAY WITH 10 HOURS ON THE BEACH AT AN AIR SHOW IN GODERICH ONTARIO WEDNESDAY

With the air show in Goderich happening out over Lake Huron late Wednesday afternoon I knew there would be a ton of people all along the beach.  We decided Tuesday night to take our Motorhome in the morning & hopefully secure us a good parking spot at the beach's south end.  Loaded up some hot dogs & juice drinks early & we were on the road by 9 Wednesday morning.  Pheebs & I in the rig with Kelly following in the Jeep.  Kelly had some errands to run in Goderich so the thought was she could do that after we secured a good parking spot.  And that's what she did.

Now backing up just a bit…….Tuesday night after publishing my post Pheebs & I once again headed back to the Goderich Sky Harbor airport.  Not nearly as many people around as in the morning so I was able to grab a few tarmac aircraft photos.  From there with the sun sinking low in the west it was back into Goderich.  Coffee & a carrot muffin to go at Timmies & we headed for the beach.  Pheebs had a big run in the dog walking area while I cracked off some sunset photos.  Well quite a few actually.  We also scouted out a few areas where we could park the rig next day which of course was today.  Figured the best all round place was right next to the dog walking area.  So far so good.

CANADIAN SNOWBIRDS LINED UP ON THE TARMAC AT  GODERICH’S SKY HARBOR AIRPORT


With darkness falling Pheebs & I then headed east of Goderich to a hilltop location in the countryside where we go to take Moon photos sometimes.  How nice to once again stand under a starry night sky with views for miles to the south.  I was able to see a big half Moon aligned with the Planets Jupiter & Venus in the west.  In the south I was able to see the Planet Saturn overtop my favorite summer constellation Scorpios.  The real surprise though came when looking south along the horizon line & seeing a multitude of red blinking lights all flashing in unison.  I'm guessing 50 to 60 wind turbine lights splayed out southeast of Bayfield were visible with the size of each red light determining how far distant it was.  I'm guessing the faintest blips were probably between 5 & 10 miles away.  A bit of an awe inspiring sight.

CANADIAN ARMED FORCES CF-18 HORNET




THE SKYHAWKS JUMP PLANE

<<< TUESDAY NIGHT’S HALF MOON
Okay fast forward to Wednesday morning………No problem getting the rig through Goderich down the big hill to the beach.  Nice paved road runs along for about a mile parallel to the lake with the dog walking area being at the southern most end.  Imagine our frustration as we approached & found that area cordoned off.  Nuts!!!!  Ok plan B.  Luckily there was not a lot traffic or vehicles milling about & we were able to get us a nice spot in one of the parking lots right next to a treed Island. Lots of room to put our main slide out.  Nice cooling breeze coming in off the lake & we were set for the day.  Pheebs & I stayed with the rig while Kelly slipped into Goderich & did a little shopping.  A stop at McDonald's brought some lunch back about 11:30.  Using Kelly's Blackberry we were able to hook us up some internet for our laptops so that gave us something to do while waiting for the air show events.  About noon we decided to take Pheebs for a walk to the nearby dog walking area & along the way we caught us a break.

THIS WAS OUR COMFY SPOT FOR OUR 10 HOURS AT THE BEACH DAY
  
Noticed a big area cordoned off with yellow tape & talking to a fella he told us the CANADIAN ARMED FORCES SKYHAWKS parachute team were going to make a jump at 12:15 & land within that taped off area.  Bonus.  About 12:45 I heard the drone of the SkyHawks jump plane out over placid Lake Huron.  The plane made about 5 altitude gaining circuits & then there they were, 4 chutes out of the plane high in the sky.  Minutes later more chutes & minutes after that more chutes again.  I'm guessing about a dozen or more jumpers came down in groups & singly landing in the drop zone right in front of us.  Had the fella not told us of the 12:15 jump we may very well have missed it. Like I said, we caught ourselves a break.  Lots & lots of photos of course & in a later post I will have more to say about these young military parachute fellas.  We were back to the rig about 300 yards away by 1:30.  How nice to have a cool comfortable place to sit down or stretch out for an afternoon snooze.  And how nice to have 'our own washroom'.  Remember when washrooms were never much of a concern years ago.  Wow when did that all change eh!!  Next part of the airshow started at 4 p.m.

A FEW PHOTOS OF THE SKYHAWKS MORNING JUMP



HEY GET THAT CHUTE OUT OF THOSE TREES


GETTING THE AIR OUT OF HIS CHUTE
Luckily we had thought to bring & then position our gravity chairs just above the sandy beach in a grassy area under a nice young shade tree.  And we were only a couple hundred feet in front of our rig. With crowds of people jamming in about mid afternoon we were at least assured of front row seats. We spent our waiting time reading, resting, & relaxing in the rig.  By the way, we were the only RV on the beach that we saw. Kelly whooped up some hot dogs about 3:30 & by 4 we were in our gravity chairs on the beach waiting for the airshow to begin.  And we waited, and waited, & waited.

OFF SURE FOR SAFETY & SECURITY REASONS WERE 3 TUG BOATS, 2 POLICE BOATS, & ONE PONTOON RESCUE BOAT


POLICE BOAT UNDER FULL POWER

THIS WAS THE FIRST OF 2 BIG LAKE FREIGHTERS WE SAW COMING INTO THE PORT OF GODERICH
Finally did have one yellow propeller plane make 4 passes.  Let me say here that I think the town of Goderich & the Maitland Sea Cadets did a bang up good job of organizing the air show & I’m sure if they do it again they will have learned from Wednesday’s show & make a few improvements here & there along the way.   We did have us a nice sit in our gravity chair for nearly an hour though. 

ONE LONE AIRCRAFT ON THE MILITARY FLY BY

NO SHORTAGE OF AMBULANCE CREWS & PARAMEDIC VANS ON SCENE

TOOK THIS PHOTO THROUGH OUR SCREEN DOOR BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT KIND OF CAR IT WAS GOING BY

A FOOD VENDOR COMING IN TO SET UP

NOT OFTEN WE SEE POLICE ON ATV’S AROUND THESE PARTS

Back to the rig for a few minutes then I headed on down to the parachute drop zone where I heard the SkyHawks jump plane gaining altitude out over the lake once again.  Twenty minutes later red & white Canadian flag parachutes began blossoming high in the sky.  The SkyHawks performance was basically the same as the morning's performance only this time some the fellas were carrying colored smoke canisters.  Again lots of photos which I will later compile into an album.  One slight mishap when 1 of the last 3 jumpers veered off course at the last minute & landed on the beach amongst a group of people.  Only damage done was to the jumper's pride I suspect.

WITH HELP FROM HIS BUDDIES THIS EMBARRASSED JUMPER HURRIEDLY SCRAMBLES ACROSS THE ROAD TO THE DESIGNATED LANDING ZONE AFTER VEERING OFF COURSE & LANDING ON THE BEACH
After they all regrouped on the ground for a military formation salute they all gathered for hugs & high fives.  Next they encouraged the crowd to step over the yellow tape cordoning off the jump zone & come meet them.  It was really something to see how each jumper soon had a crowd around him while he packed his chute & talked with the crowd.  What surprised me most is how the jumpers had the little kids join in & help them pack their chutes.  I will include these heart warming candid photos in a separate Canadian Forces SkyHawks album shortly.  As you might well imagine I have totally overwhelmed myself in photos & I am probably going to have to break them all down into categories & put them in Live Writer photo albums.  More about that later.

 
THIS FELLOW WAS CARRYING THE SMOKE CANISTERS & THAT’S THE LINE HANGING UNDERNEATH HIM

THE BRITISH FLAG CARRIER COMES IN FOR A LANDING

I HAVE A FEELING THE JUMPER ON LEFT MAY HAVE BEEN NEW TO THE TEAM

OOOOPS NOT THIS FELLOW’S BEST LANDING

SKYHAWKS SALUTING THE CROWD

LOTS OF HIGH 5’S GOING ON AFTER ANOTHER GOOD DAY FOR THE ARMED FORCES SKYHAWKS PARACHUTE TEAM

THE PARACHUTISTS HAD LOTS OF HELP PACKING THEIR CHUTES

THESE KIDS ARE COUNTING ALONG WITH HOW MANY FOLDS THIS FELLOW IS PUTTING INTO HIS CHUTE

OK WHO’S GONNA HELP ME PACK UP MY CHUTE TODAY

THESE 3 KIDS ARE HELPING THIS JUMPER ROLL ON HIS CHUTE TO GET ALL THE AIR OUT OF IT
Next on the air show agenda were Canada’s aerobatic team the CANADIAN FORCES SNOWBIRDS & they started their show right on time at 6 p.m.  We quickly tipped ourselves back in our gravity lawn chairs overlooking the beach.  This was probably about my 10th time seeing this superb aerobatic team at various air shows over the years with the first time being in Kelowna BC back in the early 70’s.  The Canadian Snowbirds never fail to excite & entertain the crowd with their dazzling formation flying, loops, twirls, & high speed passes.  ‘Those Daring Young Men In Their Flying Machines’  Being a well disciplined military team they rapped up their show right on time.  In the Part 1 Snowbird album below I simply picked the first 25 of 78 photos I took.

		Canadian Armed Forces Snowbirds...Part 1 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

When you click on the photo album a page of photos will appear.  Click on the top left photo making it larger.  Now you can choose to see the photos in a slide show format by clicking 'Play Slide Show' at the top or view them one at a time by clicking the arrow at the bottom.


We had about half an hour before Canada’s CF-18 HORNET took to the air so we took our chairs back, put the slide in & ready the rig for travel.  At 7 p.m. we were back at the beach as the Hornet came roaring in low over the crowd.



CF-18 HORNET
 

Another fine performance by a well trained Canadian jet fighter pilot as he rocketed that plane through the sky with bursts of thunderous noise.  We hadn’t taken Pheebe with us the second time & when we looked back at the rig Pheebs was up laying on the dash watching the CF-18Hornet from there.  As loud as all the jets were today the noise never phased Pheebers one bit.  She is just the the most best of the bestests.  The CF-18 Hornet pilot wrapped up his presentation & that brought the 2015 Goderich airshow to it’s conclusion.

WHAT A LITTLE SWEETIE PIE THAT PHEEBS IS AS SHE MADE FRIENDS WHEREVER SHE WENT
Fortunately despite lots of vehicles & people around we were able to maneuverer our 37’ rig out of it’s spot & join in the long line of cars exiting the beach.  Pheebs & I in the Motorhome & Kelly following along behind in the Jeep.   Probably took us close to half an hour before we were free of the traffic jam & on our way home.  We made it back about 8:15. & I knew there was no way I could put a post together until tonight.  Even I was surprised at how many photos I had taken.  Took me a fair few hours today going through the photos which I didn’t mind except I had not realized my Nikon D40’s sensor was full of dust to the extent it was.  I have my 75-300mm lens on this camera & used it for all the sky shots Wednesday.  I had to re-touch every single airplane photo to take out all the dust spots in each shot.  I probably didn’t get them all & you may notice the one’s I missed.  Looks like I’m gonna have to run that camera through the car wash again.

HEADING ALONG THE BEACH ROAD ON OUR WAY HOME

OOPS, THIS IS THE TAIL END OF THE TRAFFIC LINE UP BUT IT WASN’T TOO BAD

MOVING ALONG SLOWLY IN THE TRAFFIC LINE i WAS ABLE TO SNAP ME OFF A FEW EARLY SUNSET PHOTOS

In conclusion……it was  a great day for us, weather could not have been more perfect with no humidity & a wonderful cooling breeze off the lake.  Everything came off like clock work & we did not run into any difficulties anywhere.  Well except for one.  Our dam fridge wouldn’t work again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, fast forward to today & I’ll quickly get myself up to date.  Luckily it was a quiet day.  A mobile coffee with my good friend Richard this morning as we motored ourselves around the countryside.  It was Richard’s turn to drive & we’ll meet again in a couple weeks for coffee & a Jeep ride.  Sure beats sitting in noisy coffee shops on rock hard plastic seats.

Now, because I have completely snowed myself under with photos I will only do 1 photo album per post for the next few days & I’m thinking I’ll break my albums up into several categories,  The Armed Forces SkyHawks into maybe 3 albums.  One or two in the air with their parachutes & one of the fellas on the ground mixing it up with the crowd.  One album of just the CF-18 Hornet & probably two albums of the Snowbirds.  I have a collection of beach shots & sunsets as well but haven’t figured out how I will fit those all in yet. 

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Our co-worker kept trying to get her mother to fly out for a visit. "No way am I getting on an airplane," was the inevitable answer.  "Look, Mom, when it's your time to go, it doesn't matter if you're on the ground or in the air."  "I know," said her mother. "I just don't want to be that far off the ground when it's the pilot's time to go."