It's Not Unusual

Does this ever happen in your city? You see this kind of thing all the time around here, because there's a huge Army base on the south end of town. In this case, there were several flatbed train cars transporting a seemingly endless supply of these armored vehicles (whatever they're called). It's also not unusual to see things of this sort being trucked by the dozens down the interstate.

And now, for your listening pleasure...

Look, Up in the Sky! It's a Bird, It's a...?

What is this thing? I thought it was interesting enough to grab a picture of it in the middle of a wedding last week. We have lots of military bases in this city, so curious looking aircraft are commonplace here. But I've never seen one of these before.

There's a Reason Why It's Called Memorial Park

Because it has a bunch of memorials in it, silly! For better or worse, Colorado Springs is a military town and Memorial Park is chock full of really cool monuments in honor of our service members. This one's the biggie, but it's surrounded by several smaller ones. I'll post more tomorrow.

American Legion Post 5

Our local American Legion is located downtown on Platte Avenue, between Cascade and Tejon. There's a big cannon that sits in front of the building. It's hard to miss! For some reason, military organizations always seem to gravitate toward cannons when it comes to large, symbolic display pieces. Maybe it's because cannons are somewhat portable (they do, after all, have wheels), making them fairly easy to put into position for display; yet at the same time they're heavy and cumbersome, which makes them hard to steal or destroy. I imagine every city in the U.S. must have a building like this, with a cannon in front of it.

Cheyenne Mountain view

The best view from the Cheyenne Mountain Resort (see yesterday's post) is mainly of, you guessed it, Cheyenne Mountain itself. In fact, from here you can't really see Pikes Peak at all, but Cheyenne Mountain sure looks good! I do a lot of weddings at this venue, but it's rare that I get a chance to enjoy it as a "civilian", as we did on Christmas.

You probably already know that Cheyenne Mountain is where NORAD is located. It's an entire military base inside a mountain! I've been in there one time, long ago, to take a tour. I don't think they actually offer tours to the public, but my mom was able to get us in at the time because she had friends in high places, as they say. Later, after he retired from the Air Force, my dad worked at NORAD for several years as a civil servant.

Lately I've been binge-watching the '90s era sci-fi TV series "Stargate SG1", much of which takes place inside NORAD. It's pretty fun to see them using footage over and over of the actual road that leads into the mountain. It still looks the same!

It's wedding season!

I shot a military wedding at the Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel on Saturday. Coolest looking church in town, hands down! Here's a shot of the chapel that I captured at a full trot as my assistant and I were rushing from the parking lot. Pro tip from someone who's been there many times: if you're ever invited to be a guest at a Cadet Chapel wedding, get there half an hour early. It's a LONG hike from your car to the chapel, and once you get there, be prepared to walk up a million steps to get to the front door. And bring water -- this giant metal sculpture of a building has no air conditioning!

Air Force Thunderbird crash in Colorado Springs

It's a longstanding tradition for the Air Force Thunderbirds to do a dramatic flyover at the moment the Air Force Academy graduation concludes. You can see them in the skies, practicing in the days preceding graduation. Every year, there's a Very Important Person on hand to deliver the commencement speech. And when I say Very Important, I mean VERY important. This year it was President Obama. The speech is delivered, the cadets graduate, then on cue they all fling their hats skyward as the Thunderbirds go screaming by overhead. It's spectactular, thrilling and utterly unforgettable. This year was no different, with one notable exception: after the flyover and subsequent air show, the T-Birds were heading back to Peterson Air Force Base when one of the pilots got into trouble and had to eject from his jet moments before it crashed into a field near the intersection of Powers and Fontaine. That certainly made the news! The pilot was fine. In fact, he was picked up by a helicopter forthwith and flown to Peterson, where he met the president! Coincidentally, about an hour later, a Navy Blue Angel also crashed, near Nashville, Tennessee while practicing for an air show. Sadly, its pilot was killed.

Of course, all of this has been a big topic of conversation around here. My friends have been posting blurry cell phone pictures of the jet, still lying there in the field since the crash last Thursday. Pat and I thought it might be worth a try to get a picture of it for the blog, so we headed over there yesterday around noon. What perfect timing -- the jet was in the process of being removed just as we arrived! Several TV news crews were on hand, parked on the shoulder along with a dozen or so lookie-loos (ahem). We joined the crowd and I took a few pictures from the car. Fascinating!

Skywatch Friday

I spotted this C-130 the other day, when I happened to be in the southeast part of town. Since both our airport and Peterson Air Force Base happen to be in that quadrant of the city, if you keep your eyes to the sky you'll see a large variety of military and civilian aircraft on the way in or out at all hours of the day. Last month I even saw a Learjet!

For more Skywatch Friday pictures from bloggers everywhere, click HERE. Have a great weekend!

A solemn duty

The other day I was wandering around downtown, trying to find some suitable subject matter for yesterday's Theme Day post, when I spied this soldier standing at attention in front of First Christian Church. I couldn't figure out why he was standing there alone like that, still as a statue. It was only later, when I drove by in a car and saw a few other soldiers with him, that I realized he was part of an honor guard for a funeral. A solemn duty indeed.

Edit: He's not standing at attention, he's at parade rest. I do know the difference! Apologies for the mistake, I wrote this just before going to bed and I was exhausted after a long night!

The military memorials at Memorial Park (Part 2)

Here are a few more of my images of military memorials at Memorial Park. There are actually quite a few more than I was able to photograph on Tuesday, since I was in a hurry. I'll make it a point to try again in a few months to capture all of them. I think they all deserve a moment in the spotlight.

The military memorials at Memorial Park (Part 1)

I suppose they call it Memorial Park for a reason, right? Although I don't know if the park was christened before the memorials were put here, or if the memorials were put here because the park was handily named Memorial Park! Hm. Anyway, I was there briefly yesterday strictly for the purpose of photographing them, but I had very little time and I wish I'd had a better lens with me. (The one at the top of this post should look familiar to you, since I've featured it here on the blog more than once.) Unfortunately I didn't manage to photograph all of the memorials -- the collection seems to have grown exponentially since the last time I looked! I'll post a few pictures today and and a few more tomorrow, and hopefully later in the year I'll have a chance to go back and document these memorials more artfully and more thoroughly.

Look! Up in the sky!

I was in the middle of taking the pictures for tomorrow's post when this giant helicopter flew right over my head last Wednesday! Equipped as I was with a snazzy camera and a long lens, I couldn't resist getting a shot of it too. Pat tells me it's an Apache, and certainly helicopters like this are a common sight around here, surrounded as we are by military bases. This particular pilot appeared to be practicing take-offs and landings.

Practice makes perfect

A few days ago, Pat and I were running some errands on Academy Boulevard when we noticed a large plane moving slowly and circling very low in the sky above us. It was a little unnerving! The plane continued to circle around then apparently landed at Peterson Air Force Base, only to take off again and do the same thing (or perhaps it was a second plane that took off once the first one landed). Pat identified it as a C-130, a large cargo plane. He said that they are sometimes used to battle wildfires, and together we determined that the pilot(s) must have been doing practice take-offs, landings and low altitude flyovers. When we got to our destination I waited, camera in hand, for the plane to make another pass while Pat picked up a prescription. I can't believe how low it was flying. Very skilled piloting!

Pueblo, Home of Heroes

Pueblo is known as the Home of Heroes because there are no less than four recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor from there:  William J. Crawford (Army, WWII); Carl L. Sitter (Marines, Korea); Raymond G. “Jerry” Murphy (Marines, Korea); and Drew D. Dix (Army, Vietnam).  Our neighbor to the south is very proud of its military heritage.  I took this photo in front of the Pueblo Convention Center, where four larger than life statues honor Pueblo's hometown Medal of Honor recipients.

The Peterson Air and Space Museum

Did you know that there's a museum on Peterson Air Force Base? It's called the Peterson Air and Space Museum, or the Edward J. Peterson Museum. There are a number of really cool aircraft in the airpark, from bombers to fighter jets to cargo planes. There's even a missile launcher! I had completely forgotten about it until recently, when some clients requested to do their engagement portraits at the airpark (he's an Air Force pilot so it made perfect sense). We went there late one Saturday afternoon and I snapped a few pictures of the beautiful Art Déco building for you. I didn't get any pictures of the individual aircraft, or at least not any that didn't include my clients. I'll have to go back when I'm not working and get a few more pictures one of these days. Maybe in the winter when I'm not so busy!

Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day! Are you enjoying your three-day weekend? I thought it would be nice to post a photo of our local American Legion on a day that honors those who have lost their lives in service of our country.

The Thunderbird Airmanship Overlook

After I snapped yesterday's photo from the side of the road, I decided not to be so lazy about it and actually drove across to the aircraft display so I could get a better shot. It turns out there was a second plane (or jet, I suppose) in the same area, which I hadn't noticed from my bad vantage point. I'm glad I made the effort. This display is in honor of Thunderbird airmanship. By the way I think this is a T-38 Talon; those of you who know more about aircraft than I do, please correct me if I'm wrong.

If you're an Air Force brat like me, the Thunderbirds are a big deal! I'm sure you've heard of them. These guys are the aerial team that perform death defying stunts in their jets, eliciting oooohs and aaaaahs at every Air Force Academy graduation, when dignitaries or presidents visit, and at air shows all over. I think every guy I've ever known (and a few girls, for that matter) has daydreamed at one time or another of being a member of this very elite team!

It's a bird, it's a plane!

I've been spending a lot of time on the Air Force Academy lately -- I had a wedding there last weekend, and this weekend I participated in a bridal fair on base. Four visits in eight days, that's got to be some kind of personal record! Normally I rarely go to the Air Force Academy, my only reason to visit being the occasional wedding. Months or even a year or more can go by in between times. So as I was leaving yesterday, I resolved to get a picture of at least one of the aircraft that are scattered all around the Academy (for those of us who grew up on and around military bases, a sight like this is perfectly normal). I pulled over to the side of the road and grabbed a quick shot from a distance. I don't know what kind of plane this is but I'm sure my brother could tell you. It's definitely a military thing to use actual planes as decor! I love that.

Bronco country

Pat and I came across this guy the other day in traffic. He's got it all: the US Army stickers, the God Bless America magnet, the Denver Broncos license plate frame, and most importantly, the Army flag and Broncos flag flying diplomat-style from the door frames. Gotta love Colorado Springs!

Welcome back my soldier!

I saw this in traffic last month and had to grab a shot of it! You see this sort of thing a lot in Colorado Springs. It always makes me smile.