This post is dedicated to my Great Aunt .

It’s fall and were into marginal flying days. Luckily, this October has been nice and warm. Mama Pilot’s Great Aunt  passed away on August 1st, 2018 and her celebration of life was October 20th, 2018. We’re planning on going to celebrate and Grandma Mary will be joining us.

Since it is October we instinctively bought airline tickets from Southwest for our trip. We knew the chances of being able to fly ourselves would be very slim, however, this year we were wrong. The crystal-clear days of Seattle summer linger and we have a window to fly each direction. The flight on southwest is 2 hours 30 minutes and to fly ourselves is 4 hours 30 minutes with a gentle headwind. But the time we save by not going to the major airport and dealing with security with two kids puts us about even on flight time with far less headache. The hardest part about flying on the airline is gear, as it’s simply not easy to get 2 car seats, bags and potentially a stroller from the car, to the bag check and then herd the family though security.

The Bonanza has spoiled us. Driving up to the plane with a car on both sides and not being restricted by time is the ultimate luxury when flying with small kids.

We leave our house and the weather is 10 miles of visibility and clear. However, as we get closer to the airport we notice the fog. The Auburn airport sits in a river valley and has similar weather to the Renton and Seattle Airports. We checked the WSDOT camera at the airport and saw the fog and took our time getting to the plane. It was so socked in, with less that 1/8 of a mile visibility, that one couldn’t even see the runway from our hangar. No big deal though. Even though we would be legal to pick up an IFR off the ground and take off zero visibility we decided to give it a bit of time to burn off. Papa pilot and The Little Dude taxi the plane down to the fuel farm to get fuel and when they return 20 minutes later you can see the whole runway. We do pick up an IFR just to pop though the layer which is less than 300 feet thick. We cancel our IFR clearance and head south with flight following.

The weather was so clear on the way down that we did a few turns around Crater Lake. The Lake is just beautiful. It was formed when Mount Mazama erupted. It is the 9th deepest lake in the world and the deepest in North America. There are no rivers coming in our out of the lake. There is an old hemlock tree “the old man of the lake” that has been bobbing up and down for over a century.

With the 5 of us there is no way we will make it straight to San Jose without stopping for food and the bathroom. Moving the car seats to a crew car and then back to the plane is just a time consuming and daunting task. We need to find an airport about half way with a restaurant or within very short walking distance. We find Klamath Falls! The Upper Deck was open until 2pm. It wasn’t very busy when we arrived and the food was fresh and fast.

KLMT: is a military base that is open to the public. It is the training base for the F-15’s in the Airforce. There is a terminal and and the FBO. We got a new sticker installed at the FBO and some gas.

After our lunch stop we finished our last leg to San Jose. We are going to Sunnyvale, so it made more sense to fly into KSJC, then any of the local satellite airports. There was a steady steam of jets into the airport and as we got closer to the airport we were told to make a 360 degree turn on downwind to sequence with the airlines.

After we land we taxi to Signature. Signature is one of our least favorite places to park because they provide very poor service to small general aviation aircraft. We did get parked and after about 20 minutes they brought over our car. We ordered a car from AVIS at the terminal and had it brought over since the cost was significantly less than Hertz offered from signature.

We stayed close to Aunt Helen’s home at the Embassy Suites. As you have probably heard me tout how much we love this hotel chain for connivence of multiple rooms with the kids. 

After we arrive in a new place we always make a market run for milk and snacks to have in the room. We always pack some for the flight, but it’s always a good idea to have plenty of snacks with the kids. There is a Whole Foods and short walk from the hotel which also makes a super easy dinner option too. 

The next day we take the kids to the park to let some energy out before the celebration. We find Central Park in Santa Clara. The park is wonderful to let out some energy. It has wide open spaces, 2 play grounds and a small lake with ducks and geese. The Little Dude loved climbing on the older wooden structure with the metal slide. 

In the afternoon we Celebrate with family and friends and the next morning we go to wonderful brunch at The Table with our local friends. The weather is a bit foggy and brunch lasts the perfect amount of time to let the fog burn off. It is still foggy at home and we hope that it will burn off there before we arrive.

We decide to break up the flight with a stop in KBDN for lunch. Grammie has agreed to bring us sandwiches from Mama Pilots favorite, Jeresy Mikes and meet us at the airport. We have to get back home before the fog settles back in the valley. 

Another wonderful trip is in the books as we land back home and beat the fog- barely!