LauderBlog
Jan 12: Blimping Out
Posted On: January 12, 2009 5:30 PM
Posted By: LauderBLOGGER
Related Subjects: Greater Fort Lauderdale
After all this time, it still makes me smile. Always has. When I first moved to South Florida many years ago, I noticed an odd noise one day coming from the sky, not a plane or helicopter or anything else I’d heard before. I looked up and was delighted by the bulky, awkward, distinctly unlovely Goodyear blimp. At the time I was living in Plantation, west of Fort Lauderdale, and this odd airship was floating over my neighborhood flashing messages about a tire sale or whatever. Until then, the blimp was only something I’d seen on TV during big sporting events. I soon learned from friends that I hadn’t witnessed anything particularly special at my Plantation home because one of the blimps is based in northern Broward County. I found this a very cool thing – to live in a place where the blimp is nearly as common a sight as a flock of seagulls.
I was thinking about all this because over the weekend I saw another first for me. Sitting outdoors with a cup of coffee alongside A1A, I watched an older gentleman looking up and waving to the blimp. I’m pretty sure he was a tourist and he seemed just as delighted by this floating behemoth as I’d been nearly 20 years ago.
There was something childlike in his reaction, greeting the pilots as if they actually would glimpse his welcoming hand. Childlike, but understandable. The blimp appears out of nowhere like a weird birthday balloon that came untied at some kid's party. Often I’m driving when the blimp comes into my view, rounding a corner in my car and suddenly there it is. Each time, I feel some youthful sense of wonder at this impractical piece of technology. If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing it for yourself yet, let me assure you that you’ll know when the blimp is in your vicinity. It’s surprisingly loud, generating a labored grinding energy that appears barely enough to propel it forward, a massive aircraft drifting slow as a lazy cloud. Those who have taken a ride in the blimp tell me it’s deafening inside. But down here, from the ground, the blimp is a little piece of the past that adds to Fort Lauderdale’s charm today. There’s more than one of them nowadays, with companies other than Goodyear also flying blimps around here. But no matter the logo, the effect on me is the same. I may not do it but, just like the tourist, I feel like waving hello.
I was thinking about all this because over the weekend I saw another first for me. Sitting outdoors with a cup of coffee alongside A1A, I watched an older gentleman looking up and waving to the blimp. I’m pretty sure he was a tourist and he seemed just as delighted by this floating behemoth as I’d been nearly 20 years ago.
There was something childlike in his reaction, greeting the pilots as if they actually would glimpse his welcoming hand. Childlike, but understandable. The blimp appears out of nowhere like a weird birthday balloon that came untied at some kid's party. Often I’m driving when the blimp comes into my view, rounding a corner in my car and suddenly there it is. Each time, I feel some youthful sense of wonder at this impractical piece of technology. If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing it for yourself yet, let me assure you that you’ll know when the blimp is in your vicinity. It’s surprisingly loud, generating a labored grinding energy that appears barely enough to propel it forward, a massive aircraft drifting slow as a lazy cloud. Those who have taken a ride in the blimp tell me it’s deafening inside. But down here, from the ground, the blimp is a little piece of the past that adds to Fort Lauderdale’s charm today. There’s more than one of them nowadays, with companies other than Goodyear also flying blimps around here. But no matter the logo, the effect on me is the same. I may not do it but, just like the tourist, I feel like waving hello.
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