Bring on the Blue Angels

Bumper to bumper traffic, road closures, and the ear splitting noise of the Blue Angels overhead…hmm something tells me it must be Seafair weekend. This being my first summer living in Seattle I have never endured the stress that comes along with one of Seattle’s most famed weekends. I heard the horror stories on the news, listened to people complain on the radio, and then avoided the area like the plague. This year however, I tightened up my boot straps and headed out into the 95 degree weather with three kids in tow to brave the traffic, noise, and masses of people.

Since 1950, the annual Seafair Festival has attracted thousands of Seattleites to participate in a weekend of hydro races, triathlons, parades, and the famed milk car derby. The crowning glory of the Seafair weekend comes each day as the Blue Angels perform a daring albeit noisy air show.

If you are from the United States and have never heard of the Blue Angels, well you’re not necessarily missing out on anything, but where the heck have you been? Six pilots fly the Boeing F/A-18 Hornets through a series of acrobatic performance that only leave me wondering – are they crazy? The maneuvers the pilots put these planes through cause my stomach to twist into knots as I watch the 1,200 mph planes plummet towards the ground or defy gravity in massive loops.

It was hot and it was loud as we stood on the I-90 floating bridge connecting Seattle to Mercer Island taking in the sights of the Blue Angels. As the heat radiated off the asphalt, children were melting and parents were losing their cool. Several minutes into the show, people started to abandon ship and left for the refuge of shady trees. We stuck it out for about half the show, but ultimately it was extremely uncomfortable and I had the health of the little guys I was watching on my mind. I couldn’t help but question the integrity of the parents who brought out their newborn or infant children to endure the 95 degree weather…to a freakin’ air show! My heart broke as I watched several nearby infants scream uncontrollably from discomfort. Not cool.

All in all, despite the heat, noise, and traffic, our journey to Mercer Island was definitely worth the trip. The parks were shaded and the ice cream trucks were there to relieve us of the heat. We enjoyed a fabulous picnic in the park and admired all the beauty that Seattle has to offer. At the end of the day we forgot all about the heat and traffic and eventually our hearing returned too.