For the USAFA camp, instead of flying, GG and Bubba drove a leg to Colorado Springs, and Reid and I drove a leg.
My parents took Grant to the camp.
By this time, he had been home 1.25 days since May 28th.
Mom went with me to USAFA in 2018 but it has been decades since Dad has been there.
Reid and I left on Wednesday so we'd have one full day of fun before grabbing Grant around noon on Friday. According to my "wonderful" map app on my "wonderful iphone", we ended up on this road for 40 miles going to Colorado Springs. What?!? At one point when I had no cell service and we hadn't seen a car in 5 or 10 minutes, I started panicking that I was the adult in case something went wrong. (when did I become the adult in charge??! time flies).
So, we made it. In the most direct route apparently from Guymon to COS. This is County Road W, btw. Looking back, it was an adventure and a nice gravel road.
But, really?!?!
These are my birkenstocks... with Reid's feet. AHH!
Baymont Inn in Colorado Springs.
Don't. Ever. Stay. There.
We finally ended up in the third room offered to us (front desk LOVED me) and then we went to Walmart and bought a blanket to sleep on. The final room we had was actually the cleanest and far away from the incessant smell of weed in the hallway. We did use my disinfecting wipes from the van and wiped down anything we'd touch just to be sure.
Another adventure in the memories and it was only day one!
And, their website says free breakfast... nope. "Kitchen" was closed.
I may think twice before prepaying for a hotel again.
But they did have a super fun pool slide...
See how dirty the sides of the slide were? stain. Tiles falling off the sides. So gross. But, when you're in a car all day, you want to burn some energy!
When the Stilly Chickfila is closed for months, you go when you can! Breakfast at CFA!
With full bellies, we headed off to hike. This trip was about discovering the Red Rock Canyon area. It was beyond better than Garden of the Gods and wish I had known about it years ago. We spent several hours here and finally left when the sun started beating down and we were getting hot.
Garden of the Gods in the distance
All I can say about Reid is that he is soooo easy right now. He is agreeable to just about anything - whether it is doing an activity, running errands, chores around the house, or deciding to relax - he'll have an opinion but is usually up for and agrees to most anything.
We didn't have one disagreement and shared a lot of laughs this trip.
We rode the ferris wheel at Scheels after some shopping and grabbed lunch. One is coming to Tulsa in 2024 according to what we learned while there! Woo hoo!!
Our afternoon activity was to visit the National Museum of WWII Aviation (oh the things we do for our children...). We spent nearly 4 (FOUR!) hours in this museum. Had I been alone, I would have spent maybe 1.5 hours.
I don't even know how to caption most of these, but Reid wanted all of the pictures, and he wanted them on the blog.
So enjoy looking!
The docent was very impressed by Reid’s knowledge and the thoughtful questions and comments he made during the tour.
This plane was in the movie Midway.
It really flew in WWII.
"In the Mood"
This model was made by one man.
USS Arizona. Took him 7 years.
Reid grabbed my phone and took pictures of the slideshow. The first is how many airplanes of each type were produced...
...and this one was of the battle areas of Europe and the Pacific during the war compared to the US and Texas.
I don't know if you'll be able to see this - but the 33 plane below was buried during WWII (most were thrown in to the water) and recovered (I believe) in the late 1990s. It has undergone a major restoration and is on display.
The real pilot, pictured below, lived to see it unearthed and brought back. He died one week after the celebratory event and that photo. His son said he was living for it, and he literally was.
This is the real plane, restored.
We paid extra for a docent tour and it was so worth it. We were able to spend time in a nearby hangar where a plane parts reconstruction company is held. I wish I had Grant with me at that point - he would have loved the mechanical and astronautical stuff that was above me.
The pictures below are from that tour. Did you know a huge majority of old planes and even parts of some today are made of cloth? I did not, and neither did Reid. The picture with the iron is the cloth that is formed and then heated and placed in the appropriate spot of the wing.
You can see the refurbishing on propellers here. Finished on the left and just arrived on the right. We were able to hear and watch part of the process. It was fascinating.
I wish I remembered the story behind this plane. But this plane rescued hundreds of soldiers in a water rescue during WWII. They sat all over the wings (which are bigger than most large commercial planes today). It has been mostly restored from the damage of that rescue.
Our docent was the best! Arnie.
Arnie was a Marine. Flew helicopters and had been an instructor in Pensacola for years. He then sold airplane and helicopter parts to make his money.
He also flew the helicopter for President Bush and President Obama and landed on the White House lawn.
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