Wings over Alpena, Michigan

August 20-22, 2010

Dearest Dolls' Fans,

  The Dolls gather, once again at the airport on our way to a small town in Michigan – Alpena.  We arrive in Detroit where we have to connect to another flight on the lovingly termed "puddle
jumper."  Awesome.  I felt like it was a massage chair with all of the vibrations!  We arrive safely and are met by a member of the National Guard who presented us with our rental car.  We drive through the maze that was the base and have a quick meet and greet with the staff and volunteers.  We make our way through the little town of Alpena, quickly noting that our landmark for the base was a giant blowup eagle advertising the air show.  We check in to our hotel and have a quick rehearsal before we get ready for the barbeque!

At the barbeque, we meet Andy who took care of us the whole weekend! A lovely man, this was his first time as operations manager for the air show…you would have thought it was his 50th.  At twilight, there was a brief demonstration by some of the planes featured at the air show that weekend and we had a sneak preview! We also had the pleasure of meeting the Misty Blues – the only all woman sky diving team. Check them out! www.mistyblues.com

  The following morning, despite the rain, there were hundreds of people milling about the air show and as the day went by, there were more and more who decided to brave the elements. We sang The National Anthem and gave the crowd a teaser of our show that was to come later in the day. In typical Dolls fashion, we were roaming around and taking pictures with all the guests and had the honor of meeting a Purple Heart recipient as well as his son and grandson who are also in the Air Force. What an incredible treat and honor to meet 3 generations of servicemen and all of them so proud of what they do and have done.  

Thank you for your service, gentlemen!

  The end of the air show featured the A-10 East Demo Team. After their demonstration was over, we had the chance to meet the pilot – Major Johnnie Green – and his crew. Visit their site: www.moody.af.mil/units/acceastcoasta-10demoteam/index.asp. They invited us across
the orange fence to check out the A-10 and get pics with the guys. The gentlemen that they were, they came to the hangar dance that evening to watch our show.

  Before the hangar dance, we had a quick rehearsal with the Alpena City Band and then we were searching for our dressing room, not the easiest thing to come by in a hangar but after several levels of security were cleared and the right key brought to the hangar, we were shown where
we could change  At first glance, you wouldn’t see anything unusual-tools, work table, work lights, but then you look all the way to the back of the room and what do you find? Missiles.  You read that right, missiles.  Not sure if they were live or not and not willing to take any chance, we stayed as far away from them as possible!!!

  After the hangar dance, we all piled into a car and drove to the bar on the base to chat with all the pilots and crew that were present for the show and we had a great time! We danced, played some pool and eventually made our way back to the hotel after a long and full day.

  On Sunday morning, we decided to take our time and enjoy the hotel, relaxed in bed and had brunch in the hotel restaurant.  We took the car and a map and made our way to Lake Huron, a first for all of us Dolls!  Andy met us at the airport to pick up the car. Now a mention about the Alpena airport – when we walked in, the ticket counter had our tickets printed, knew who we were when we walked in, took care of our luggage and when I asked about the poster for the air show that was hanging up in their office, they took it down, taped it and brought it to me while I was sitting in the lounge! Some of the nicest people ever!! We piled into the “puddle jumper” to make our return journey to Detroit and said a fond farewell to Alpena.

This was a great trip and we look forward to our next visit to their area.

Until we sing again,
Sarah Doll