At the Gun Show

There's never a dull moment when the Europe team gets together, and this time in Minneapolis was especially memorable. When Saturday's training event ended early, we were scraping for something interesting to do.

We found interesting. My buddy Todd talked me into an outing with some of the guys (it's pretty special being the only female in the crowd) . . . we were off to the local gun show!
You know, there's nothin' like a Saturday afternoon with a bunch of rednecks and weapon fanatics. Just nothin' like it. "Gun-shy" holds brand new meaning for me, especially as they handed me six inch long bullets for the machine gun Todd was itching to try out. I was feeling pretty out of place for the first hour, but once they put the MP5 in my hand, I was in a different world. I got my first shooting lesson and then they put me in the range with a paper target. I think I may have actually hit the top edge once or twice! (Those submachine guns practically shoot themselves.)
I tried to catch Todd on video when he shot the .50 caliber rifle (with the hecka big bullets!), but I couldn't manage to hold the camera still when the gun fired. Between the air blast and pure shock from the sound, my camera was all over the place.

What a day! Just another first.