When I grow up...

... I'm pretty sure I *don't* want to be a pilot. But I sure am glad there are pilots, and ground crew, etc, because I sure do love to travel!

HIA (Harrisburg International Airport)'s open house today had 2500 people looking at and climbing around in:

• Hershey's Kissmobile. One time it was behind me on the highway -- let me tell you, it was kind of disconcerting a shape to see in the rearview! It wasn't until I pulled onto the exit ramp and it passed me that I saw what it really was. Even now, it, like the Turkey Hill cow car, reminds me of Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go.
  
• A UPS plane, the 2nd *smallest* of the planes UPS uses to deliver packages. At Christmastime, UPS alone sends the volume equivalent of five of them to HIA daily. They pack containers full of packages, load them on skids, slide them on rollers to the right place in the plane, and lock them down.
  
• A replica of the plane from Tora Tora Tora, complete with bomb. Near the cockpit you can see two cruisers and three air-to-air battles noted.
  
• A FedEx Boeing 757, M's favorite of all the planes we were in, I suspect because they gave him stickers and a trading card.
  
• The lifeline medical helicopter, which I did not realize loads the gurney thru a door/hatch under the tail!
  
• This awesome blue tunnel for running down!
  
• Personal aircraft, with seats for 4.
  
• A cop car (we taught him the sign for cop). M got to use the radio to report "10-4" and run the siren. D wanted to drive off with the cop car, and Officer Steve said since she had the wheel, he could give her the keys. She immediately looked below-next-to the steering wheel and sadly reported, "No keys."
  
• A United Express plane (why is an "h" sound preceeded by "an" and a "u" sound by "a"?), seats approx 60.
  
  We ongoingly work on "buckled up thumbs up?" with these two. And plane seatbelts are a lot easier to buckle (and unbuckle) than car seatbelts!
  
  But the cockpits are tougher in a commercial plane than a personal plane.
  
  That's a look of "Not so sure about this copilot," I'm sure.
  
• And more!
  

Fun facts:

• HIA's airport code is MDT, which is short for its location, MiDdleTown.
• This entire event was located at the "old terminal", which is separated from the active terminal by parking lot barriers. Not the 2-foot-high K-rails, the curb-height ones kids practice balance beam on.
• We love flying out of HIA because once you get thru security (where the line is usually shorter than that of our local library), you're basically at either gate A, B, or C.

But the best part was that Big Frog came with us. All the small frogs love Big Frog.