The Implosion Was Awesome... Albeit Fast

Okay, so this morning we got up at the very crack of dawn, had our coffees, wiped the sleepy from our eyes, made Bloody Marys, and headed downtown for the implosion, which was set to happen between 7:45 AM and 8:00 AM. We left home at approximately 7:15 AM and were parked & walking to the viewing area by 7:25 AM. I have never witnessed so many people up, out, and downtown on a Saturday morning. Apparently, our friends slept through their alarms because we never located them.


This picture shows the set-up for the implosion. It's on the very far end, on the left. Streets were, of course, blocked off for obvious reasons.










I was amused by this family that had obviously gone *all out* with their gas masks.


As it turned out, the hotel that was offering a Bloody Mary Viewing was strictly for the press. Go Figure. However, we also noticed that there was a team from the Discovery Channel there to film as well. Apparently, they have covered something like 27 implosions and this was the largest one yet. Here. In our little West Texas City. Who knew?




We had to wait for a while as more and more people began to appear. You could hear different conversations all around about people or firms that had once occupied the building. Then, the mayor made a very short but eloquent speech. We heard a siren marking the three minute warning, then the one minute warning.



One moment you saw it. One moment you saw it fall. And the next moment, it was nothing but dust.











Believe me, it all happened so fast that you would surely have missed it, had you blinked your eyes. When the first three demolition explosions went off, nothing happened at first and we were thinking "Oh NO!". Then, the rest of the explosions blew and within seconds, the building was just gone, in a cloud of dirt. It was truly amazing, really. It was also a bit melancholy watching the destruction of a piece of local history.








Walking back to the car I was forced to put my ski goggles on because everything that was floating around in the air was severely irritating my eyes. I already had my ski mask pulled up over my nose and mouth, but my glasses just weren't protecting me.





Within a matter of about 15 minutes, the air had totally cleared. It was almost like nothing had ever happened. That really amazed me. So, within a matter of moments, it was all over, which also held me in total fascination....




Now, I did take some video, but of course, I can't figure out how to upload it to blogspot or to youtube. I'm so intelligent that way. Because I feared that if I videoed the whole thing I wouldn't be able to post it, I chose to just take pics of the implosion. They aren't the greatest pictures I've ever taken, but they will do.