So, my lovely wife and I decided to take in the Dayton Air Show this morning. I hadn’t been to the show since before I was old enough to drive. Danielle had never been to it. It’s held at the airport which is technically in the City of Dayton, but really resides in the north suburb of Vandalia. We’d normally drive Dolph, our Volkswagen Golf, if we were going to hop on the freeway, but we had seen that the Regional Transportation Authority would be running shuttles from both the University of Dayton Arena and the Air Force Museum. Neither one of us wanted to navigate the airport traffic, and paying for a parking space that still required a couple mile walk didn’t make any sense to us either, so we opted for the bus.
But, which bus? We could either drive east to the museum or south to UD. Actually, we could’ve ridden our bikes to either location. Both places are near enough to home to be really convenient. It really didn’t matter from which location we departed. Ultimately we chose to drive to UD. The possibility of rain made biking a little risky.
The show turned out to be great. We skipped out before the Thunderbirds appeared, but enjoyed the ground displays and smaller aerial acts. The burger I had for lunch was good, too. I think Danielle was secretly craving a bite of it.
On the bus ride back, it occurred to me that our earlier transportation dilemma was really a benefit of living in Huffman. We are so close to so many of the area’s attractions it’s easy to take them for granted or forget how convenient they are. In fact, it also occurred to me that we probably could’ve stayed home and watched part of the show from our porch or balcony. The planes that were away from the show’s flight area would periodically fly within sight of our house!
After a little longer, I realized some of the planes were the same aircraft that fly over all the time on their way to and from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Geez, we see an airshow every day! And, with the museum just down Springfield Street, we could’ve seen ten times the number of planes that were on the ground.
Okay, before I reveal what cheapskates Danielle and I are, just understand that I have no intention of belittling the air show. It really was great. But, the thought of biking to the Air Force Museum in the morning, riding back past our house on the way to the Oregon District to pick up lunch at the barbecue joint or the deli, and then plopping ourselves down to eat on our front porch as the C5s and KC135s rumble in is worth every dime we spent for the show and shuttle. Oh, and before I forget, I should mention that museum admission is free
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2 Responses to “Aviation Location Consternation”
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July 18th, 2009 at 6:30 PM
Hubby John & I talk about this a lot. From Huffman [and depending on our preferred mode of transportation that moment] we are always 5-15 minutes from any place we want to be in Dayton: UD basketball, Nutter Center concerts, Dayton Art Institute, Riverscape, Air Force Museum, unique restaurants, shopping, Neon movies. We can even get to two different Sam’s Clubs for delicious samples and a year’s supply of ketchup!
July 18th, 2009 at 6:49 PM
So true! I especially love the easy 3rd Street (Airway) to Wright State route that’s highway free.