fun weekend

[zdmz]

I went to Reno for a couple days and had some fun. Went fishing on Friday on the Truckee River out at Verdi - I caught one fish On the bright side I reminded myself how bad I am at fly fishing.

 

On Saturday I went to the Reno Air Races. That was a blast. Just the sound of the Merlin V12's of the unlimited planes was worth suffering through the wind and cold.

 

They had a couple of new things this year - they now invite private planes to be displayed in the static display and you can vote on your favorite plane, much like is done at car shows. They had many beautiful and rare planes. Someone had even salvaged a Japanese Zero from the Solomon Islands are restored it - I had never seen one before - fascinating!!

 

There is also a new event - it's called Red Bull Racing. It is a timed event with aerobatic planes flying through a series of pylons and a required set of stunts to perform. Very entertaining. See it at http://www.redbullairracing.com

 

I got to see the new jet class race - it was almost anti-climatic - they are very quiet. Good demonstrations from military planes like the F-15, F-16, F-18, and an F-4. The F-4 is going to be completely phased out of service for the U.S. later this year. They also had a jet car, cars dropped from helicopters and a lot of other fun stuff. It was a great time.