We found out that Lambert's was in Foley, about 25 miles south of us. We had read about this place along with their "throwed" rolls and decided on Tuesday to make the drive to try it out.
We arrived about 2:30 in the afternoon thinking it would be between crowds, WRONG! It's Spring Break and the wait was 45 minutes. We found a bench and probably didn't wait more than 25 minutes.
We ordered and I got a picture of Jim's barbecued pork steak when it was brought to the table. It's quite a bit of food, but then you add the sides that come around of potatoes, fried okra, apple butter, blackeyed peas, macaroni & tomatoes plus the people who come out throwing hot, gigantic fresh yeast rolls about every fifteen minutes. We had lots of leftovers to take home for our dinners the next day. :)
Since we were about 35 miles from Pensacola, we went to the first Blue Angels practice on Wednesday at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. The show started at 11:30, we had been told to get there early, so we were in the parking lot by 8:45. It was a good thing, there were over 25,000 people there, the highest attendance in history for one of their practice sessions!
The Blue Angels did not perform most of last year because of budget cuts, so a lot of people wanted to be sure they got a chance to see them this year. The Blue Angels is part of the Navy's flight demonstration squadron that was first organized in 1946.
We were all lined along the flight runway as we watched the F/A-18 Hornets taxi downed. As they took off, they caught up with each other and flew over us. What a feeling! The sound of the planes flying over at full thrust was awesome.
They then began to dazzle us with their close formation flying.
Here's one that flew upside down just above the runway at full speed.
Two more crossed each other above the runway, one upside down, the other right side up.
They were higher up here, two upside down, two right side up.
There were volunteers stationed down through the audience that explained what was happening or pointing up in the air to show us where the planes were coming from next.
The Blue Angels flew up high in the sky together, then separated in different directions.
Their precision flying was so spectacular, there were times they were right on top of each other.
Towards the end, all 6 flew together overhead in formation.
Then, they separated again to begin landing.
There was another treat in store for us, Fat Albert, a C-130 Hercules cargo plane, took off and flew over us several times. We were told this did not happen very often during the practices.
Very cool! Glad you're having so much fun.
ReplyDelete