Air Force One

We live really close to General Mitchell Airport, which is Milwaukee's airport. I've never lived this close to a "real" airport before. I mean, in Annapolis, BWI was the nearest one; in Plainfield, Midway was closest-- but all were far enough away that we never really saw the planes up close. Here, it's different-- you can clearly see who owns the plane, the individual windows, and the wheels are always engaged, ready to land. It's neat to be able to look at the sky and think, "Hm, Southwest, alright." or AirTran, or Midwest, or whatever.

I remember last summer, Eric, Josie and I went out to eat at Ferch's. We watched the planes as we ate. I mentioned casually that one day I'm going to see Air Force One flying overhead. Eric doubted me, but I remained steadfast. From then on, I made sure to look at all the planes that flew overhead, just in case. I got so obsessed with catching a glimpse of it, I even had a dream where I saw it (and went on to meet President Obama, but that's neither here nor there.)

Yesterday, my little dream became a reality. President Obama came to Wisconsin to hold a town hall meeting in Racine, but his aircraft utilized General Mitchell Airport. Because of Eric's job, he was clued into the general itinerary of the president (but had no specific times for flights, for obvious reasons.) I realized that this was my chance to see the plane and I headed out to the airport-- knowing where my best vantage point would probably be Layton avenue-- the route I take to work.

Security was so high that I couldn't park anywhere on Layton, and was told that if I was caught walking around on Layton, I would be asked to leave. I went a block back and ended up in a little driveway on top of a hill, overlooking the airfield.

It was the perfect view! Here's the airport:

Haha, it was closer in person. I guess if you really squint your eyes, you can see a police car every ten yards or so. Anyway, there was a police officer in this little driveway observatory area, and he was kind enough to let me know what was going on and when. He let me know when President Obama's motorcade was going by, as seen here:

So, that was pretty thrilling, and then before too long, the airplane started taxiing and my police officer friend took a picture of me and President Obama (inside his plane, which is blurry and behind me, BUT STILL!!!)

So, these pictures aren't too impressive, but I was very fortunate in choosing my observation point, because Air Force One flew directly over my head!! Here's a few from the short glimpse of the flight that I saw:

So, all that to say: Dreams really do come true!!

And by the way, some little fellow just cut his first two teeth: