Uncategorized

Nebraska Discoveries 19: Offutt Air Show 2010

by

We’ve done this two times before here and here, but it’s worth discussing again.

It’s late August at Offutt AFB — time for an AIRSHOW!

This year’s airshow lucked out with a last-minute booking of the Thunderbirds after the Coney Island Airshow was cancelled. (Don’t know why, message boards have speculated it was financial). Unfortunate for an entire airshow to be cancelled, but yay for us, right? When the airshow was first announced in mid-July, the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team was the headliner.

Like the past two years, the aircraft start to roll in around mid-week and we can see the air traffic from throughout my neighborhood as the aerial demo teams start to practice their shows. While the propeller planes and helicopters stay pretty close to the runway, the jets need more maneuvering space and often have to turn around over our neighborhood. Whoo hoo! So we were seeing the Thunderbirds, the F-22 and F-18 several times right from our yard! The kids at school had quite a treat during their recess on Thursday and Friday too 🙂

In 2008 we watched the Thunderbirds from the local bike trail. In 2009 we watched from a local neighborhood that offered a good view. This time, the boys and I watched right there in the middle of the action.

Enjoy some of our experiences from the airshow.

These KC-135s are Nebraska Air National Guard planes from Lincoln
From 2010 08 28 Offutt AFB Airshow
I’d never seen a Global Hawk UAS up close before, after all the times I’d forecast for them….
From 2010 08 28 Offutt AFB Airshow

Read more

The Vollmer "Weather Curse", Take 6

by

Most of this text is stolen from a 21 November 2008 blog post about the crazy weather experiences we’ve had everywhere we’ve lived since we’ve been married. At the end of that blog post, I posed the question: “What will Bellevue, Nebraska bring?” Now that we’re wrapping up our Nebraska tour and headed toward our … Read more

Iowa Discoveries: The Iowa State Fair…or…What Did They Try to Fry THIS Year?

by

This past weekend we paid a visit to the Iowa State Fair. In 2008 and 2009 we drove right down the road to Lincoln for the Nebraska State Fair, which was fun when it was nice and close. This year, the state fair will open up on August 27th at their new home at Fonner Park in Grand Island, NE, which is about 2 1/2 hours away from here.

The former State Fairgrounds in Lincoln will become the Nebraska Innovation Campus, a university-private industry research center. Similar to N.C. State’s Centennial Campus, and Penn State’s Innovation Park.

Since Nebraska’s State Fair moved relatively far away, we decided to check out Iowa’s State Fair, near downtown Des Moines, about 130 miles east of us.

I think this might be the biggest state fair I’ve ever attended. I’ve only been to 4 of them: Ohio, North Carolina, Nebraska and now Iowa’s. The old buildings reminded me of the historic buildings at the NC State Fairgrounds. There were numerous midways, and we had trouble finding the little-kid-friendly rides. Unfortunately, it was incredibly hot, and I think were all that much crankier from it.

Enjoy some pictures from our day at the fair!

Timmy did a leaf rubbing and taped it to a display area:

From 2010 08 21 Iowa State Fair
From 2010 08 21 Iowa State Fair

Read more

Colorado Discoveries 4 — Rocky Mountain National Park

by

The reason we went up to Estes Park was to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. We spent 2 days at the park enjoying hikes and scenic drives.

We took a somewhat advanced trail near the Bear Lake trailhead on the first day, I think some of the rangers were surprised that we were considering taking our young boys, but they did really well. Yep, we were going way up there!

From 2010 08 09 Rocky Mtn Natl Park Day 1
From 2010 08 09 Rocky Mtn Natl Park Day 1

Read more

Nebraska Discoveries 18: Fontenelle Splashground

by

Today Shannon and I took our boys to this new “splashpark” that opened 2 weeks ago in North Omaha.  What a fun, FREE, way to spend a hot summer afternoon! School starts Monday!

Since the original post this afternoon I’ve had a chance to add more commentary about this place. The City of Omaha has built several of these “Splashgrounds” around the city and they’re a great time for the boys. Papillion has one, but Bellevue has none (hint hint!)

Today the boys spent nearly 3 hours at the park — then the horseflies started attacking and the boys were happy to go. Shannon and I sat under a tree in the shade and had a good old fashioned chatfest.

This particular one was intriguing: there’s this innocent looking post stationed near the entrance to the fenced area — you rub the top of the post (yes, I know what I’m saying here) and that activates the water for 5 minutes.  As long as a kid runs back to the post every 5 minutes or so, the water stays on.  A nice conservation tool.  You can see the post in the 3rd picture here.

From 2010 08 13 Fontenelle Splashground

Read more

Nebraska Discoveries 17: Ashfall Fossil Beds & "Fossil Vacations"

by

A couple weeks ago, Jacob and I (Timmy was in NY visiting Grammy and Grampy) headed out with our friends and neighbors, Shannon, Brandon, Connor and Dean to the Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historic Park, which is near the small town of Royal, Nebraska.

From 2010 07 30 Ashfall Fossil Beds

We had learned about it from our visits to Morrill Hall State Museum in Lincoln, there’s a room dedicated to the skeletons assembled from Ashfall, along with an advertisement for the facility.

Ashfall isn’t close. About 180 miles from Bellevue, and well over 3 hours worth of driving each way. So Shannon and I aimed for a 7am departure time, and headed out.


View Larger Map

Read more

4000 Mile Road Trip: Part 3

by

The next stop on our trip was our alma mater, Penn State University! The Department of Meteorology had a 75th Anniversary celebration weekend, and Dave and I took advantage of our time without the kids to have a good old fashioned party weekend!

We took a scenic route from Niagara down to State College, and had a chance to see what will soon become the extension of Interstate 99 from I-80 near State College up to I-86 in Corning, NY. It’s currently U.S. 15 and it’s really beautiful.

The heat wave was still in force, and Dave and I began to wonder if it was a good idea to book our accommodations in Irvin Hall. But that’s what our arrangements were, so we were sort of stuck. After all, it was half the price of all the other hotels in the area…more bar and souvenir money, right?

So here we are, Irvin Hall! This is the dorm I lived in all 4 years of college, Dave lived here his junior and senior years. It’s one of the oldest dorms on the campus, but the central location made up for the lack of A/C, old-school hot water radiator heat and small rooms. Remember, it’s all about location.

From 2010 07 09 PSU Meteorology Reunion

Here’s Dave checking in, like going back in time almost 20 years ago!

From 2010 07 09 PSU Meteorology Reunion

Read more