Its time for Thanksgiving and the weather has given us the opportunity to fly. We didn’t have any plans, but the weather has invited us to go south to visit family.
Papa Pilot and The Little Dude start the adventure in the Bonanza a few days before Mama Pilot and Plane Girl can join. The guys fly to Moab and explore for a day before arriving in Sedona. In Moab they are able to rent a truck and drive around the stunning red rock trails and rocks.
Mama Pilot and Plane Girl catch a ride on southwest from Seattle to Phoenix where we are picked up at the airport and we drive to Sedona. The plan is to all fly home together in a few days .
The weather in Sedona is cool, but warm in the sun. We enjoy our traditional american thanksgiving with Grandpa and Kami and planned to visit a few local attractions.
First stop: Out of Africa wildlife park. The park is about 40 minutes from Sedona in Camp Verde. The park is medium size and perfect for a few hours with the kids. We started by walking around a visiting a few animals. There was a tram that could take you around the park and there is also an African Bush Safari. We took the tram to the encounter pavilion where we met a snake and a few reptiles. Then we rode the safari bus where we saw zebras, antelope and giraffes. They provide you with lettuce to feed the giraffes so they come right up to the open window bus, it was very cool and the highlight of the experience.
Our second stop was dinner at the Blazin’ M Ranch. The ranch is about 30 minutes from Sedona and offers a chuck wagon supper and dinner show. We went after Thanksgiving so they were performing their holiday show. The ranch has a small old west town and wagon ride to enjoy before the show. In the museum are carvings by Jack Britt, He showcased many scenes of early life in america by mechanicalized wood carvings.
It was a short trip and we woke early to head back to Seattle. The forecast showed weather moving in the northern California area so we had a goal. 6 hours of flying with 2 kids and only 1 stop. We did arrive at the airport early; but we didn’t take off for an additional hour because of the delay for the fuel truck to arrive. Our half way point was Reno, NV. We were just in Reno in August and didn’t have the best experience at Atlantic Aviation but decided to give them another try. Well, our second experience was worst then the first. Its like we weren’t even there or recognized as customers even though they weren’t that busy. Our goal was a quick fuel and go. We knew we weren’t going to have time to go out for food so we tried Grubhub delivered to the airport. Huge Success. We were able to get lunch delivered all packaged in togo containers to eat in the plane. Once we finally were fueled we had our food and 3 hours till Seattle.
We made it. The kids were anxious during the 2nd leg of the flight and somehow we all ended up up front at one point. Its hard to ask small kids to sit still for so long.
We landed in auburn before the fog rolled in and we had a new record 5 hours and 42 minutes of flying with 1 stop as a family of 4.
