This was one of those unplanned spontaneous experiences that makes road trips so sensational. We had just left our picturesque campsite at Blue Lagoon State Park in Pensacola, Florida. Our son was on-line in the back seat getting his school day started back in Los Angeles as we drove to our next destination. Over the news from NPR coming from our speakers, we heard the sound of military jets flying overhead. Crowds were forming in a Target parking lot, people climbing out of and on top of their cars and they were all looking up. We pulled over and joined the group and watched the precision and teamwork of the Blue Angels fleet as they performed.
The Blue Angels are a flight exhibition team originally formed to raise the public's interest in naval aviation and to boost Navy morale. Pensacola is their home base. It was the week before Memorial Day, and they were practicing for a show for the big day. Our son displayed the performance through his computer camera to his twenty-seven classmates as his teacher described the various formations. We were impressed by her spontaneity to divert from the lesson plan and her knowledge or aviation.
We were amazed not only by the Blue Angels skill, performance and timing but also by our timing. If we were held up a few minutes at the campground or left a little later, we would have missed it all. With all of the planning that we did for our trip we could not have planned for this experience of exhilaration that we shared with the Target shoppers of Pensacola Florida and a 3rd grade class in Los Angeles, California.
