2018 Ely Air Races

The Inaugural Ely Air Races were held in June 2018. I didn't want to miss an historic event, so we went. I had never been to air races before, so I didn't know what to expect. And since I wasn't sure that we would like them, I wasn't too keen on paying the $50 family fee and $15 parking fee (which they ended up not charging), so I signed us up as volunteers. The organizers said they needed lots of volunteers, so we were happy to help out.

 We signed up to help pick up trash on Saturday morning from 8 am to 10 am. I figured an early morning shift would be cooler, plus then we'd have the rest of the day to observe. 

When we got there, the tethered hot air balloons were still up in the air. They had started at 5 am the last three mornings. Folks could pay a fee and go up in the hot air balloons.


This is something I still haven't tried and would like to someday.

Hot air balloons do best early in the morning with a big temperature difference and slight winds, so a little after 8 am, it was time to deflate them.

It was interesting watching the process of getting all the air out of a big balloon.

Here are the stickers on the bottom of the basket.

Then the balloon is strapped in place and put away.

Soon after we watched this old Russian (or Chinese) trainer aircraft arrive. (I didn't remember the details, but Desert Boy remembered more than me.)

The National Anthem was sung.

And it was time to look at planes! Desert Boy went for a closer look.

So did Desert Girl.

Then the planes for the first race were towed to the starting line.

And they were off!

I don't know how they decided who was taking off first.

It was fun seeing the different colors of planes.

The planes flew around a circuit, so it was sort of like a race track in the air.

It was a little noisy, but not overwhelming.

It was really fun when a plane chased another one.

 How fast can you go? These races were touted as the highest elevation air races in the world.

The crowd kept increasing on the Saturday morning. There really wasn't much litter to pick up, so we could watch quite a bit of the races. It was about half an hour in between races.

Time to fly again!

The yellow plane is ahead...

...but not for long!

Now the white one is trying to pass! (Sorry, my plane knowledge isn't too extensive, so the colors were my best way of telling them apart.)

 At one point the AirMed plane took a patient to Salt Lake City. That's a fairly frequent occurrence, as Ely has a simple hospital and more complicated cases go to the big city.

A number of booths were set up. I was interested to see that Southern Utah University has a bit aviation program, with both fixed wing (plane) and helicopter programs.

Desert Boy enjoyed asking some questions at this booth.

Overall, we enjoyed our time, and we hope to attend next year. Kudos to everyone who helped put it on, it's not easy to get a new event going. Here's more info on the Ely Air Races, and an article from Air Race 1. 

Hill Aerospace Museum

On Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, we headed to Hill Aerospace Museum. It's one of the few places that is open on Sunday, so after church we headed there before continuing on to Golden Spike National Historic Site.

Hill Aerospace Museum is free, so it's popular. But it is so huge, it can accommodate a lot of people. It also houses so many exhibits that it can be a bit overwhelming. I found myself drifting along and reading a little here and a little there.

I was intrigued by the Navajo Code Talkers exhibit. I had heard that the Navajo language was the only unbreakable code in World War II, and it was interesting to read more of the details.

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) section also caught my attention. I hadn't realized how many women pilots flew in World War II, and although they helped the war effort greatly, their efforts were mostly ignored until decades later.

Seeing the huge flag at one end of the hangar reminded me of how grateful I am to all the servicemen and servicewomen for all they do. I feel very lucky to live in a country where we can take our freedoms for granted (even though we shouldn't!).

My husband knew lots of information about many of the planes and helicopters. I listened with interest, but have to admit that I didn't retain much.

Even fighter planes need a little dusting now and then.

The exhibits continued outside, with some really massive planes.

The museum has a nice gift shop. To ward off Desert Boy wanting something everywhere we went, we gave him five dollars and told him he had to choose where to spend it. This ended up being the spot, and he picked out his very own plane and it kept him happy.

We really enjoyed our visit and look forward to returning some day. By the way, the museum website has lots of information about each exhibit, so you can prepare before a visit or refresh your memory afterwards!

Desert Boy Goes Flying

A couple weeks ago, Desert Boy got to go for his first plane ride with his Grandpa in the two-seater Cub airplane.

He wasn't too sure what to think at first.

But then he relaxed and thought it was cool to look at everything from a different point of view.

This is the pond on the ranch, which is often filled with hundreds of geese and ducks this time of year.

The meadows are full of cows. I'm not sure if Desert Boy realized they were cows or not. After all, they do look quite different from this angle.

Here's part of our little town. It sure looks brown late in the summer--almost all the vegetation is past its peak. The trees provide welcome shade. Many are quite old, with some planted by the first settlers over a hundred years ago.

This is a view of town looking out towards the ranch, where the irrigated meadows make it look a bit greener. The fire hall and school are in the lower left-hand corner.

Desert Boy liked his trip. And every time he sees an airplane, or even a contrail lit up by moonlight, he gets excited and points them out! I think he'll be wanting to go on some more plane trips in the future.