Obama in Long Beach

[lindyhop]

I live about two miles north of LB airport and was going to be home so I drove down the street just after 5:00 in hopes of seeing Air Force One take off. I wasn't going to go to any great effort to get close to the airport but I thought the parking lots of either Walmart or Kohls (about half a mile from the runway) should be a good vantage point if the plane used the usual flight pattern. I parked near Kohls and then watched other cars pulling in and people jumping out of their cars and heading down the street. Two big helicopters flew just a little to the west of where I was standing and I could see all the dust flying up when they landed. Then a huge helicopter flew over from the north, directly above me and quite low. A fourth one flew in a few minutes later. I've decided Marine One was the one that buzzed me just because it was enormous and because I like believing that.

The helicopters obviously got everyone's attention because cars really started coming in but the street was blocked just a little way ahead. I waited ready to take a picture of the plane taking off but there was nothing and then everyone started coming back so I knew the plane had gone the other direction. Oh well, seeing the helicopters was fun.

It was incredible how many people came walking back from close to the airport. I like that kind of spontaneous mass event.