July 16 2005: Dayton, Ohio


We missed the Vectren Air Show last year, so we made it a point to attend it this year. The show actually ran for 2 days but we chose to catch the Saturday show. We arrived in Ohio at around 1pm, but had to drop papa's boss at the rental car lot in Cincinnati first, which made us miss some of the earlier shows like the skydivers, etc.



Latecomers. We still had to pay the whole $19/pp entrance fee! It's a good thing, I still get in for free! Otherwise, Papa would have had a fit, hehe.


It was ok, though, because we arrived at Vectren at 2pm just in time to catch the main event: the Thunderbird exhibition.



The US Air Force Thunderbirds fly the Lockheed Martin F-16C Fighting Falcon. Image swiped from the Vectren website.


It was raining that day yet the crowd came to watch. However, the weather delayed the show and the main event did not start until past 4pm. We took this opportunity, of course, to take pictures.



Mama forgot to take note what the planes on display were, so we all have to content ourselves with this unimaginative description: Papa and me in front of a plane.



Mama and me with a big plane.



Papa and me with a small plane.



See my little feet? I was running around on the runway and my shoes got wet because of the rain! I hate wet shoes, it makes my feet fell icky.


Finally, the air show!



The thunderbirds waiting for the command to zoom out!








Nice no? More pics of this on my papa's picture site, coming soon.


And so, as we zoom ourselves out of Dayton in the pouring rain, we vow to return next year (and earlier, i hope). Til then, this is Ninna flying off into the sunset.



Angkas si Papa.

July 4 2005: Chattanooga, Tennessee



We went to Atlanta for the 4th of July weekend to meet with Ninang Judy. Mama wrote about it here, on the Mother Ship. We have previously driven to Atlanta at least 3 times already thus it seemed we ran out of places to explore there.


On the way home, however, somewhere in Chattanooga, Mama saw a huge sign directing us to Ruby Falls. Why not, said Papa. And so we did.



Entrance to Ruby Falls. The castle-like structure is actually made from the rocks that were dug up from the mountain when they were constructing the public passageway to the falls.


Ruby Falls was named after the wife of the Leo Lambert, the guy who discovered the hidden falls inside Lookout Mountain. The complete history of Ruby Falls can be found here.



Lookout Mountain is actually composed of three major attractions: Ruby Falls, Incline Railway, and Rock City. Unfortunately, we could only visit Ruby Falls this time because it was already 3pm and we still had 5 hours of driving to go to get home.


To get to the Falls, we had to walk 1 mile underground and inside the twisting caverns of Lookout Mountain. The rock formations are awesome, and even dating to as far back as several million years.



The guide said a mountain as tall as the Empire State Building was sitting atop us. That's not very comforting to know, is it?



Where? Perhaps if I squint a little?



As the sign says, this rock formation is millions of years old. Wow! It's leaning alright.



I don't actually remember what this is called, probably "creepy rocks", hehe.



Rest muna.


When we got to the farthest end of the cave, it suddenly got pitch dark although we could hear water gushing somewhere. And then, like a fancy Las Vegas show, dancing lights started to come on and, behold, right in front of us was: the Falls!



Ehem, ok so our picture didn't do it justice.



Here's one we swiped from the website. Beautiful! You really have to be there to appreciate this wonder!


And so, our Ruby Falls detour ends.


Going home, Papa remarked to Mama that he wished our Philippine attractions were as cared for and showcased by our country in the way the Americans do. Mama agreed.


Hopefully, the breath-taking attractions Papa and Mama hoped for me to see in the Philippines would still be there waiting patiently and beautifully for me someday.

June 27 2005: Boulder City, Nevada


DAY 4
(Continued from our Las Vegas trip)


We checked out at around 10am, packed and loaded up all our stuff into our huge rented Chevy Trailblazer, and blazed a trail to Hoover Dam.





Boulder City is about 30 miles from Las Vegas. It isn't far, really, but the heat and the vastness of Nevada's landscape makes you think otherwise. Also, many of the roads were under construction at that time, which made our travel to Hoover Dam quite a stressful one.


We parked at the Multi-level parking building (cost: $5.00)which provided an access to the lower level where the tour was conducted. Here's what we saw:



Hoover Dam is supervised directly by the Bureau of Reclamation. Papa and Mama paid $10 each to join the Hoover Dam Discovery Tour.




After watching a film called "How the West Was Won" (just basically what the Bureau of Reclamation has done to shape the rivers, deserts, and mountains to make the most out of America's God-given resources), we rode an elevator going down to the Power Plant Generators that lasted for exactly one minute. Afterwards, we walked along this tunnel drilled through the solid rock mountain. Very very fascinating!



Here's what greeted us down below.



The generators are right below us.



You are seeing the 650-foot long Nevada wing of the power plant and its eight huge generators. Wow!


Afterwards, we went up to the deck to see:



This!



And this!



And, also to take some pictures like:




This!



And this!



And a close-up of me saying bye bye to this awesome but literally really really really hot place!



Before finally leaving, we took a photo of this inscription dedicated to the countless workers who sacrificed their lives to finish this man-made wonder.







By 3:00, we wrapped up our sightseeing because we had to get to the airport for for 6:00pm flight back home.



Welcome to HPK Nevada, hehe. An almost perfect welcome back for us!



If we had more time, Papa would have wanted to drive to Downtown Las Vegas just to see what it looked like. Unfortunately, traffic was soooo heavy that we decided to just go to the rental car center to return our car and just hang-out at the airport. Besides, did I forget to mention that there were slot machines inside the airport? Yes, there were indeed slot machines in the airport! Only in Las Vegas, haha!




Me at the airport. So glad to be flying home already!


Finally, we boarded our flight back to Louisville. Just as we thought it was going to be a relaxed ride all the way home, again, the FA asked over the PA system if there was a doctor on board. Yes, another emergency! What were the odds of that happening to us on both our plane rides home??? Only in Las Vegas, haha!