Flights (Colin)
As of September 2006, these are flights I have taken, and a bunch that I would like to take.
Taken
I haven't written up enough of them. The first significant family trip was up to Fresno to get into Yosemite. We need to do that one again in a modern plane rather than in a thirty-year old Cherokee. The boys loved Yosemite (Nell was writing a lot of the time and saw less of the park), and there's an airport that's probably closer than the one we used.
Our real first family flight was up to Santa Barbara and since then have made a bunch of trips to that airport and the walk to lunch on the beach.
The first family trip in the DiamondStar was up to Monterey for the weekend and that was a stupendous adventure (complete with a night time diversion to a strange, un-towered airport that was mostly deserted, and a through-the-mist night time landing at Monterey's airport after we thought that it was fogged in and we weren't going to be able to land. It was so much fun that Rudy mentioned a number of times that he wanted to do it again (and we have). (He has also requested a diversion to Paso Robles because he loved the airport restaurant there (Matthew's). It has since closed.)
It's a short flight, but it's fun, so I've made it out to Catalina a bunch of times. The buffalo burgers get a little old, but the last time I went out (with Rudy, Adam and Sharalyn) we had a picnic off the end of the runway, looking out over the Pacific, and it was a wonderful spot to be.
Our friends Tom and Marcy are up in Sonoma Valley north of San Francisco Bay. There's a cute little airport right near them called Shellville and we finally flew up for a weekend.
Looking Forward
Most of these I have already sent to Nell in email: musings about where I think we should be sailing through the air to next.
- I really want to go back to Yosemite for a weekend. Something that is a lot more tolerable in a plane than a car.
- Adam and I have landed at Big Bear and I've flown my parents up there. I would like to fly Nell and the boys up before the snow melts. It would be great to be able to go from the beach to the snow-covered peaks and back in a day, and to wander the powdered slopes for a quick picnic lunch. (There's also a resort up there which looks nice and sits right on Big Bear Lake.)
- Our friends the Colliers had a great cross-country ski vacation at Monmouth Mountain. There's a little airport up there, too. They rented a little cabin and they were able to step out onto the cross-country ski trail right outside their door. It sounded great.
- I would like to return to Marfa, Texas. We were there for a single night and a lot of the galleries were closed. Having been to South by Southwest once, I would like to return and be in the little plane so we can look around Texas a little.