DStilled

Thunder Over Louisville

April 14, 2008 on 1:38 am | In Blog |

Saturday morning I woke up as I have done for the past several days, in the middle of a dream. I’m astounded how real they are to me and much I want to remain in them! Seriously, I wake up and forsake all to simply turn over and go back to that magical world. The dreams aren’t even all that pleasant, but they do give me adventure and purpose; two things I feel like I often lack in this reality. I’m not quite ready to leave the Matrix right now.

Anyway, I woke up and had a bite to eat and jumped into a car with Emily, Marie, and Sarah to head off for the day’s festivities to begin. Jonathan chose to opt out of having fun because he thought it might be irresponsible to neglect two papers more than he already had. So we went to Adam and Essie’s place closer to downtown and met up with them, Rachel, Brianne, Jennifer, and some peeps I had never met. So as the eight of us walked the couple of miles to the Louisville Slugger Stadium, we enjoyed the warmest weather of the day - 50. It didn’t take too long of sitting at the stadium to make me wish I had worn better (or at least more) clothes.

The Bats are the AAA affiliate of the Cincinnati (I still sing the song from Babes in Toyland to spell it) Reds and handled the Pawtucket Red Sox 3-1. Our seats were on a sloping lawn that reminded me of UVa’s stadiums. We did had some blankets and cuddled up for most of the game. It will never cease to amaze me how much money we spend/waste on stadium food. I was VERY conservative and only spent $8 on the day. I say day because after the game was over, we were just beginning.

After the game we had five hours until the fireworks. Fortunately Thunder over Louisville isn’t just the biggest fireworks display in North America. It is also an air show featuring dozens of jets, fighter planes, helicopters, and even a Harrier. The Harriers are the jets that have thrust vectoring (the engine rotates) and one of them actually did a vertical take off for the crowd. I remember once hearing that they initially cost $2 BILLION a piece in the 80s! My friends were not nearly as impressed with the showcase of might and power. Ryan Bradney actually chose not to come due to the fact that much of the day was an advertisement for the military. Emily actually was appalled that children were playing in and around some tanks they had set up. I asked her why and her simple but convicted answer and the consensus of my friends was, “Tanks KILL people.” The wow factor of technology and power still override my passion for the sanctity of all life to this extent. Plus, I’m not a pacifist at heart. I wish I didn’t enjoy violence, but I do. I just wish we could be violent without causing people permanent harm.

Another thing I will never stop being amazed by are jet planes. First of all, the NOISE! If any of you have been around me when really good bass is being utilized well, you know I get excited. Now imagine seeing FIRE exit the back of a large piece of metal that’s FLYING and hearing - no FEELING - the tremendous power of sonic vibrations! Ah, I feel good already. Secondly, there are people in those planes and those people are flying. If I could have any super power it would be to fly. I will be watching Top Gun very soon.

So after wandering a bit we went back to the stadium and waited. Anticipating rain, we moved our stuff under an awning in the actual seats and waited some more. There was lots of food eaten, some card games played, and just general hanging out. As dusk rolled in, there was a country/bluegrass/jam band concert that became quite enjoyable. I’m not at all into country, especially the twangy kind, but this group had a good variety. That ended a bit before 9 and we had some more time to chill.

Adam and I decided to search for a better spot to watch the soon-to-be fireworks. I said left and he said up. So we did both and got the rest of our people into the seats just in time. So yes, the fireworks were HUGE and it lasted 28 minutes. The reason why this is the biggest is that there are two sets of fireworks going off at the same time. So it would be like going to a normal big show that happen to last for AN HOUR! This is the 19th year they’ve done “Thunder” and lately it’s been attracting over a million people. We in the stadium were only a very small handful. Most of the people were down on the riverfront. This year because of the cold and moment of rain was probably a couple hundred thousand less. But still it was packed.

Thunder is the kick of of Kentucky Derby Festivals and was an awesome way to spend a Saturday. We walked back to Adam and Essie’s and drove home after watching the most recent episode of the Office. A long day indeed. The short clip below is what I filmed of the last part of the fireworks. Not the greatest quality but you’ll understand how massive these explosions were. When I got back Jonathan was still working on one of his papers and said he could hear the fireworks easily three and a half miles away. One of the Louisville guide websites put it like this for the average visitor: “You may be surrounded by strangers that are standing closer to you than you care for, you may be covered in ash and soot when the show concludes, and you may sit in your car for three hours in a parking garage trying to get home, but you’ll smile through all of it and swear to go back next year.”