DCI. Drum Corps International. Santa Clara Vanguard. Concord Blue Devils. Loud. Exciting. Too much fun.
Except when it isn't.
We get excited for DCI every summer. We've been taking James since he was 2 years old and Oliver since he was 5 weeks. (So what if I'm trying to get my kids into drum corps?) It's a great little vacation time and we usually have an amazing time. Who wouldn't?! It's all the best things about drums and horns. Walls of sound that flatten you wave after wave. So it would be an understatement to say we were really looking forward to DCI.
But it was never meant to be.
Fact: Weather in the midwest is as readable as a book.
Fact: high humidity means a storm is on the way.
Fact: Storms in Nebraska are fast and mean.
Observe in the photo a gently overcast sky without threat of rain.
I'm serious about this time frame. NOT 5 MINUTES LATER:This is a serious storm cloud- these kind of clouds are FAST.
proof: 30 seconds after I took this photo, the tornado sirens went off.
That's right. Tornados.
This is that fast fast FAST cloud moving towards us. We saw it. 3 minutes later we were running for shelter.
It's an interesting thing being caught outside when the tornado sirens sound. When you hear the whine it kind of sounds like a very close fire-engine until you realize that it's not moving anywhere. By that time the wind is blowing so fiercely you can hardly hear anything at all. The air moves past your ears so fast, it just sounds like "shhhhhhhhhh" but longer, louder, faster. I know these descriptions can't possibly put you in the moment. But it's exciting in a heart-pounding, electric, run-for-your-life, kind of way. Woo!
This is that fast fast FAST cloud moving towards us. We saw it. 3 minutes later we were running for shelter.
It's an interesting thing being caught outside when the tornado sirens sound. When you hear the whine it kind of sounds like a very close fire-engine until you realize that it's not moving anywhere. By that time the wind is blowing so fiercely you can hardly hear anything at all. The air moves past your ears so fast, it just sounds like "shhhhhhhhhh" but longer, louder, faster. I know these descriptions can't possibly put you in the moment. But it's exciting in a heart-pounding, electric, run-for-your-life, kind of way. Woo!By the time we made it to the high school, the storm was in earnest.
They (the organizers) kept us in the high school for 1.5 HOURS! Until it was safe for us to go outside.
Mind, it was still storming.
But not tornado strength.
And DCI was cancelled.
We were crushed.
The end.
4 comments:
Whoa! I'm sorry it was cancelled, but those are some amazing pictures. I miss my midwest storms.
Great pics. I also saw the yellow sky pics on your girlfriend's blog. Impressive. I love storms. NOR CA is not the place for storms LOL but I still love it here.
By the way, you have smacking cute kids. But I'm pretty sure you already knew that:)
from the Hollinger Fam
This story would be a whole lot less cool if it was just about DCI. But a story about DCI and a tornado, that's a cool story!
Funny thing about yesterday....I left my van windows DOWN while it rained. and poured. Saying it poured is an understatement (my van was parked outside, too). Now is that's not the awesomest thing you've heard in a long time? My husband thought it was pretty cool too.
Post a Comment