Flying Day!

Today Mike and I amused ourselves by going to the Red Bull Flugtag here in Chicago, although in complete honesty, we didn't stay the whole time. We arrived when the gates opened and snagged a good spot. But then as the opening ceremonies arrived and over 70,000 people swarmed North Avenue Beach, we found ourselves overrun. People stood up in front of us and it was really hard to see. We tried to move to another area with a jumbotron that might give us a better view, but it was so crowded and such a hassle - add that to the heat and the just plain annoyance of dealing with over 70,000 people pushing and shoving...and it was time to go home about halfway through.

Still, we had a good time and Mike went over to the "hangar" and got some pictures of the teams and their air crafts. My favorite are the Flying Ditkas (pictured further down), whose bio says "How far will the craft fly? In true 'Superfans' spirit, Mike says that his team 'plans to file a flight plan at both O’Hare and Midway airports.'"

The last pictures are of the sky divers who loop-de-looped and whatnot before touching down on the launching deck. Quite cool. One of those guys is the stunt double who did the parachute landing trick at the beginning of one of the Austin Powers movies. Huh. Who knew?