Air Force Academy

As my previous three posts eluded, I spent the last part of the week in Colorado Springs learning all about the Air Force Academy. I won't bore you with details like who actually grants a medical waiver, whether or not to grant a nomination to someone who already has a Presidential nomination, or what a "turnback" is. Instead I'll give you some of the fun highlights and loads of pictures.

After a briefing on Thursday morning we toured the dorms, ate with a cadet, and even attended a class. Last time I attended a class I learned how to extinguish fires on a naval ship. This time I "learned" about physics. Professor Masmanian (like Tasmanian but with an M) encouraged my participation and made sure I was included in the class. I even managed to get a question right. He loves physics and you can tell by his lectures. We ended with a demonstration that included two copper tubes and a big light bulb. It had something to do with t.v.s.

Tour of the Chapel with my Cadet.

The real high light of the trip was the flight simulators. In order to keep this post semi-short, I won't delve into those details either. After the flight simulators we got a tour of the athletic facilities. They really have it made there. Plus they have another facility in the works. We followed the athletic facilities tour with a little bus tour of the 19,000 acre facility. Also on site is a prep school, bowling alley, Burger King, 2 Subways, gas station, 2 housing communities, and much more.

Thursday evening I was fortunate to be able to have dinner with some long time friends of my mom's. John, the guy who helped with the flight simulators, and Millie were great hosts. On our way to dinner at a hippy restaurant Millie loves Adam's Mountain Cafe they pointed out sites and took me through small towns that are huge tourist attractions. Adam's is famous for their Orange Spice Tea. It is a black tea that is made with cloves, cinnamon and orange rind and it is d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s.


Friday's highlights included tours of the airfield and chapel. I was able to take a walking path from our morning sessions to the Chapel. This was my only time to enjoy the scenery. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

And how about that weather? I arrived to 70 degree temps on Wednesday and Thursday was 40 degrees cooler with snow. Yep, snow. That puts my first snow of the season a good 2-3 months ahead of the rest of Ohio. Friday was supposed to be warmer, but wasn't, and Saturday's weather was even worse. Our bus to go to the airport was 30 minutes late because of two multi-car pileups on both ends of the highway. One north of us was 30 cars while the one on the way to the airport was 22 cars. Not to mention the tens of other accidents that were on the way (the aftermath of some which we witnessed). My flight to Denver was an entire 20 minutes. We had roughly three minutes to turn on and use our electronic devices while in the air. Its too bad the flight was so short, because the views were amazing.