KJAC, (Jackson Hole, WY) July 2015

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After loading up at KWYS we take the short flight over the Yellow Stone park and over the Grand Teton Park to Jackson, Wyoming. Jackson is still known to be one of the old wild west places in America. We land and park amongst the Jets at Jackson Hole Aviation. We again are only here for one night and did not book any accommodations before hand. The FBO was awesome and helped us locate a room for the night as most of the area was sold out! Summer is especially busy in Jackson with the plethora of activities available to all walks.

Papa pilot loves Jackson, Wyoming and has spent a lot of time on the trails and backroads photographing nature and all the wildlife.  Because our stay was so short, we planned to visit Schwabacher’s landing which is known for its beaver population, and placid beaver ponds reflecting the Grand Teton.  One of the greatest things about the area is that one is never quite sure where, when or what type of wildlife will be out, and if you leave without seeing something, I’d be surprised.  Our visit to the landing was no exception- we were lucky enough to see baby beavers cruising around.

Our hotel was within walking distance of the town so we ventured out to explore. We found the famous antlers in the park and even stubbled across a shoot out reenactment! It was also a concert day! We found the concert venue and enjoyed some music from the grass watching the sunset. The next morning was July 4th; America’s Independence day. We had a quick breakfast and coffee before heading back to Bend to watch the fireworks with little dude. Even though our trip was only a short 2 nights, it had amazing scenery and company!

 

KWYS (West Yellowstone, MT) July 2015

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Little Dude is 2 years old and Mama and Papa pilot get Gramie to watch Little Dude for a few days so we can venture out on our own. It is our first no baby flying trip. We drop Little Dude off in Bend, then we load up the next day for Yellowstone followed by Jackson Hole, before returning to Bend. We Plan to leave Bend at 1pm, but are delayed because of maintenance. We asked someone to work on our plane and it was suppose to be a quick fix, but ended up taking longer (an unfortunate usual in aviation.)

We have already left Gramies so we take some alone time to go bowling and other wise help the time pass. We booked last minute the only room left at Old Faithful Inn and we are really looking forward to spending the night there. But the time keeps ticking and the plane still isn’t ready. Where about to give up and just want until the next morning to go, when it is finally done! We don’t want to go late at night because of the flying over the mountains at night, the wildlife on the runway, and the lack of services upon arrival.

Its about a 2 hour flight to KWYS and we taxi and park at West Yellowstone Aviation. The FBO is closed, but the rental car location is located right next door to the FBO in the Terminal. We tell the Avis agent it is our first solo trip since our son and he upgrades us to a Mustang convertible! Perfect for exploring Yellowstone. We head towards the West entrance and decided to buy an Annual National Parks Service Pass. Once inside, it is about a 45 minute drive to the Inn. Our room is quaint, the Inn is known to be the largest log building in the world and dates back to 1903. The inside is grand with cathedral ceilings. The old faithful geyser is just out side but dark at night. We wake the next morning to a buffet in the main dining area and we are off to explore the Old faithful geyser before packing up to explore more of the park. The next stop was the Grand Prismatic Spring. The Spring is known for XXXXX> and since it was summer, there were tons of people there and limited parking. After the Spring we headed back to the airport to load up to KJAC for our second night of the trip.

 

 

KSUN (Sunvalley, ID) June 2015

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Its coming up on Fathers Day weekend and we decide to fly to Sun Valley for the weekend. Sun valley is a great place to visit in the summer or winter, although flying the little airplane there in the winter is not practical. Grandpa and Kami fly over and meet us there too!

We rent a 2 bedroom condo near the lodge and enjoy a weekend of sunshine. It’s just before The Little Dudes 2nd Birthday and we surprise him a bring his present, the soon it be famous Strider bike! We didn’t know it at the time, but this compact bike would be traveling with us to all the airports we visited for the next 3 years.

The Saw Tooth mountain range is near by and in the afternoon  take the little dude on a drive nap and venture to Stanley, Idaho to explore and enjoy the picturesque views from the drive.

Its a little over 2 hours home. We take off meet up with Grandpa for some formation flying, then head back to S50.

 

KPFC (Pacific City, OR) November 2014

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We’re off on a day trip! We throw the dart at the map and Pacific City airport comes up! It looks like a great day trip location due to its proximity to the beach and restaurants. The runway is 1860 feet and knowing the weight and balance for our new plane it seems like it should work. We fly down in a little over an hour but we got a later start and we land after noon. If we want to get back before dark we don’t have too long to eat and play. We walk to the Grateful Bread Bakery and grab a quick bite before heading to the sand to play. The sand dunes are very soft and it is difficult for the little dude to walk. We load back up and take off. This is only the little dudes 3rd flight so he is sitting behind us in the 2nd row. 2 things surprised us about this trip.

1. We are now setting our personal runway minimums to 2500′. (Yes, all flight planning, weight/balance and take off data were calculated, and there was enough calculated runway, but one cough with the engine would not have a pleasant result to the takeoff roll.)

2. Little Dude is totally capable of flicking the emergency exit window and making it pop open in flight. Number 2 was terrifying! We are only about 10 minutes north of the airport, climbing through 7,000′ when a loud whoosh went though the cockpit. Mama and Papa pilot both looked backwards and to our surprise the window opened to the ventilation stop! Mama pilot tired to pull it closed but that wasn’t going to happen. We looked at the GPS and landed at the next airport KTMK. Thankfully the window did not pop all the way open! Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, and we landed safely.  Once on the ground we were able to close the window. We asked the line man for duck tape to secure the latch to the window so curious little fingers could no longer wonder near the latch.  We have since installed the inboard 3rd row seat to further prevent this situation from arising again. The high point of the unplanned landing was that we learned Tillamook has a nice airport with fenced off camping on site for pilots. We may go back there, but never again to KPFC.