Monday’s start watching the weather throughout the week trying to decide if flying is in the forecast for the upcoming weekend! It looks great in the Seattle area and through Portland to Bend with a small chance of rain Sunday. We decide it is a go and meet our friends the Birdie Family on Friday after work. We call Leading Edge in Redmond and secure a rental car for the 6 of us! Yep, we are maxing out the Bonanza! Even the receptionist verify “6 in a bonanza?” I want to tell her it is really 8 since both mama’s are pregnant but resist. We load up all 8 of us in the 6 seater. Weight and Balance numbers show we are limited to 60 gallons of fuel.oreFlight has really revolutionized the pre-flighting process. We have the profile of the plane stored. The App makes it so simple to plug in the passengers in each seat, and help us figure out how to load the bags. We are limited to 70 pounds in the aft baggage compartment, so we use small duffles, backpacks and reusable shopping bags to put weight between the pilot and co-pilot and the second row of seats. ForeFlight also allows us to view our flight path with real time weather, look at notams, and plan fuel.
We stop by the fuel farm since only self service fuel is available at S50. This is also the final opportunity for a bathroom stop. Since the winds are out of the south we take off and just go straight. It is 10 and clear. Seattle Approach even gives us a Class B climb, that never happens. The planned 1:12 trip down is great with smooth air d beautiful fog for as for as far as the eyes can see east of the Columbia River gorge. The Kids are happy in their carseats watching their iPads. The Little Dude actually wants to wear his headset. I offer him the pilot cadet since it is already plugged in behind him. He doesn’t actually get the concept and yells at us the whole time. He is used to talking louder when we don’t have headsets on. Baby Birdie next to him is just fine without one. The kids snack and we land at KRDM in no time.
The FBO is ready for our arrival, helps us park and brings over the requested 6 passenger car, a Ford Explorer. The Explorer has a 3rd row and we are loading up as the Papa’s head inside the FBO to check us in and grab the FBO staple, popcorn! We’re all ready for dinner and Gramie is going to meet us. We head to Tumalo Feed Company in Tumalo just outside of Bend for a western meal. Tumalo Feed company is the kid of restaurant where your photo hangs on the walls and locals consider it a staple. With full bellies we seattle for the night.
The next day starts with Mama Pilots favorite, Sparrow Bakery. OMG the Croque-monsieur is the BEST. We love this counter service bakery that is super kid friendly. Anything you order from the display case is handed to you at the counter and there are books and toys to entertain the kids while the rest of the meal is being prepared. Next on our itinerary for the day is the High Desert Museum which is great for its history of the area and engaging animal exhibits. We stroll tover the mountains ahrough the main building consisting of a “walk through time” of local history. It is very interactive for the kids and provides a visually stimulating history lesson at the same time. The kids are super-excited about the bobcat, and Papa Pilot takes a quick look at the Museum’s newest exhibit on Central Oregon during WWII which was impressively done. As we all meet up again the next stop is the indoor play area for the kids- always a hit and a great way to expel some of that kiddo energy. The next stop is the Birds of Prey exhibit. Today we’re lucky enough to catch a presentation on the Peregrine Falcon. The presenter was very knowledgable and enthusiastic, and kept the kids attention with ease. The falcon was amazing and the lesson was great as well for both kids and adults alike. What trip to the High Desert Museum is complete without a stop at the otter exhibit? Sadly, the otters were tucked warmly in their little home and we were only able to see one briefly, but, that just leaves us something else to do on our 7th, 8th, or maybe we’ll be on our 10th trip here- I can’t remember now. But for today, our list is complete, and the kids are ready for their naps.
After some rest, it is time to play in the snow at Gramies! Since our last visit, Bend has set records with the amount of snow fall and the kids love seeing the animals and eating the snow. We end the day with sushi at 5 fusion (again) in downtown. Since we were a large group we were seated at the front round booth. Ordering sushi with a group is always better since you get to order more rolls and try different things. The first roll was made so fast that we thought they brought it to the wrong table! We followed sushi with delicious gelato at Bonta! Bonta makes their gelato so it isn’t icy and they use local ingredients and offers seasonal flavors.
Sunday starts with a look at the weather as we have to head home today. We choose to eat breakfast at The Victorian Cafe. Breakfast is big business in Bend and there are a bunch of small places to eat. Most utilize outside seating in the warmer months. We had a 15 minute wait for breakfast, not so bad, but they don’t really have a lot of room to wait inside. They do have a outdoor waiting area with a fire place set up. It was cold out, but by the fire it wasn’t too bad. Once seated we ordered and received our food in the standard 15 minute time frame. The menu says they are famous for their Benedict’s and the spinach and tomato one was delicious. All of our food was good and the kids portions were actually small but more than enough for our age children. The only down side it they don’t have Espresso type drinks.
We have packing and cleaning to do at Grandpa’s house where we stayed before heading for a small tour of the Old Mill District and then off to the airport. We call the FBO on the way and request fuel. We drive to the plane and unload and were taxiing to the runway before long. Then it happens, our first aborted take off as a family! Mama and Papa pilot have both experienced this, but not with a plane filled with 6 people. The gas cap on the pilot side has popped off, right at rotation speed. The Papa’s are in the front and handle the situation and communicate with Redmond tower. We pull off the Runway and the cap is inspected and secured. Another attempt and we are off the ground and the cap stays on! We know there will be some weather as we get north of Portland. We are still in the season of icing so we have to be mindful of the freezing layer. As we get north of the Columbia river, we descend to go below the clouds and north of Centralia pick up an IFR clearance with Seattle Approach for a GPS approach to the Auburn airport. The GPS has a high minimum of 1400 feet, so our alternate airport is KBFI. We climb into the clouds for the MIA and shoot the approach, no problem at all, we are below the freezing level, so we don’t encounter icing and we break out of the clouds well above minimums and cancel our IFR. We land and taxi back to the hangar, unload the baggage and push the bonanza away. Another fun double family vacation has come to a close and were coming to the end of traveling with another family. Once the baby arrives in June, we won’t have the space to accommodate two families anymore. But we have til June!
