stealth Disney

Two random things that have happened this week:

After church and Christmas program rehearsal on Sunday, I drove home under the cool, cloudy skies. My thoughts were on the things that needed done and the way rehearsal went. I noticed a couple cars pulled over to the side of the freeway with hazard lights blinking. I assumed they had a fender-bender and kept driving. Then I saw another pulled-over car, then another, and another... How many cars could've been involved? Then I realized the freeway was lined with cars pulled over....

I looked to the other side of the freeway to find the same thing. People were getting out of their cars and looking to the sky. Cell phones were out for talking and photo taking. But I still did not see what they were seeing.

This started to make me nervous, as the scene resembled a suspense thriller where the monster begins a path of destruction, the spaceship breaks through the clouds, or the natural disaster blows in. Since this particular stretch of freeway gives a pretty good view of downtown L.A., i found myself imagining terrorist attacks. So i did what any sensible human being would do at that moment- i pulled the heck over.

My logic was I needed to make sure there was no danger, then I could continue home. Once I was stopped and my blinkers were on, I tried to figure out what was happening. I couldn't get out of the car, as other motorists were still passing with full speed. So I followed the gazes of others nearby.

I saw it coming toward us, flying low over the dam and rock quarry. The shape seemed odd at first, but once it got a bit closer, I recognized it at once- stealth bomber.

I laughed and said outloud, "THAT'S what y'all are looking at??" But I do have to admit that this has been one of my favorite planes since I was a kid. It's black bat shape is pretty other-worldly. But a mass pulling-over off a major freeway? That seemed a bit much. Then again, maybe I was just jaded growing up so close to Wright Patt Air Force Base....

I called my sister to process the whole thing, and to find a balance between the pumping adrenaline caused from not knowing what major event was about to happen and the silliness i felt over that event being quite minor. Thankfully, she said she would've done the same thing. ;)
Later that evening, I discovered the flyover was in honor of the funeral of a former Secretary of the Air Force.

This local blogger has some great video: http://victorcaballero.com/stealth-bomber-flyover-pasadena-ca/ . At about :54 you'll see pretty much my exact view.

***************************
Last night my awesome friend Leah treated me to her employee Disneyland party. Seriously, it is worth the exhaustion i feel today from schlepping around the park until past midnight.
In a mere four hours, we rode Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, The Matterhorn, Space Mountain, AstroBlasters, and Thunder Mountain Railroad. Also included in that time span were a Christmas parade, fake snow, brief shopping, and eating a Mickey pretzel with cheese while waiting for the tram. The lights were beautiful- especially the castle. They had great music going, and even supplied candy canes when you walked into the park. Disneyland is notorious for making you feel like a kid again, but they really achieved that kid-at-Christmas magic. Cheesy as it sounds... totally true.

Leah and I now suspect that God is a Disneyland fan (haha, or maybe a fan of His kids?), as we randomly got to the front of pretty much every line- either by a fast track line being opened up right in front of us, or just happening to be near Space Mountain right when it was reopened (yes, we walked right into Space Mountain with NO WAIT).

Best. Night. Ever.