An ex-boyfriend of mine/retired Air Force pilot, emailed me the schedule of the Endeavor the night before. I took note. So, at 10am, I looked up to the skies.
I had no idea what to expect and when I saw a very large airplane slowly making it's way across the sky at a pretty low altitude at 10am, I thought, hmmm...that's it?
I went back to my business.
Two hours later, I was heading west on Temple Street in Hollywood. I was almost run off of the road as the very low flying space shuttle came into view! It seemed the most out of place thing I have every seen. It was large and there were two planes...then there were 2 other planes surrounding the larger planes, like pilot fish surrounding a whale. I was thrilled but frustrated because I was not expecting THIS sight and my camera was not ready to capture this dramatic piece of history. Damn!
I guess I just felt happy at least that I had seen it though. But when I pulled into a pre-school to pick up the little girl that I nanny, I noticed a bunch of people standing on the roof of the Mack Sennett Studios bldg. across the street. I turned on the radio and heard screams, "There it is, there it is, it's coming back around!" I cranked up the audio as loud as it would go, jumped out of my car with my camera and waited watching the skies. THIS TIME I would get the shot!
The sky was blue and to see the contrast of the beautiful white planes against the sky was really something! I got a couple of good shots and felt like I had participated in something really special.
I particularly liked that the pilot of this adventure was giving L.A. a show flying south then north, then to the beach, then to the Hollywood Hills, then downtown...I thought perhaps this should be a thing. Maybe every year...just fly around and let everyone see how connected we all are. I'm sure there wasn't one person seeing this that didn't feel part of something wonderful.
Have a good week!
