KBIH (Bishop, CA) May 2017 ::Leg 2 of 6 ::

in Destinations

After a quick sleep in Bend we are off to Palm Springs for the night. The flight direct is 3:30. The airplane is capable of the flight, but the passengers aren’t. So we plan a stop in Bishop, CA. Bishop is about a 2 hour fight which will get us a bit over half way and has great fuel prices ($4.29 )plus fly in restaurant.

We get to the Bend airport before 9 and order fuel from Leading Edge. There are 2 FBO’s in Bend and we like Leading Edge. They have the best fuel prices of any stop on our trip $3.99!!! Grandpa is joining us to Palm Springs for we plan the weight and balance for 3 adults and 1 kid. That leaves us room for full main tanks and 10 gallons in each tip tank. We can almost take full fuel. Fuel in Bishop isn’t much more, but we really want to avoid buying gas in Palm Springs.

The Flight from KBDN to KBIH is 2:20 minutes. Even though we tried to leave early it is a super bumpy flight, especially in the back of the plane! Since is it going to be a longer leg, Mama pilot sits in the back with the Little Dude. This gives The Little Dude the chance to get out in flight and more help getting new entertainment items. We love that he can talk to us through his pilot cadet, but what we don’t realize is that he isn’t actually screaming at us every flight, it is his headset! Mama pilot decides to let him use a David Clark and the difference is night a day, he is talking to us in a regular volume. We really don’t like the pilot cadet.

When we land in Bishop we see 4 Seahawk helicopters parked on the ramp. Like a fly to a flame Little Dude notices them and wants to wander over. The crew of the BlackCats we so awesome! They gave us a mini tour and even offered for Little Dude to sit inside! He was pretty shy though. It was super cool to be able to exchange one of Papa Pilots flight test patches with one of theirs though! After checking out the helicopters it was time for lunch.

The FBO and restaurant are located in the same building. Thai Thai, was a bit busy with the crews from the Seahawks, but none the less we had a great meal! It is a super simple restaurant but the food was great! The Bishop Airport FBO was able to top off the tanks while we were eating so after we were done it was time to load up for another 1:30 flight to our stop for the night!

 

KBDN (Bend, OR) May 2017 ::Leg 1 of 6::

in Destinations

Its the beginning of Memorial Day weekend and we leave after work Thursday for the short flight to KBDN. We have a big trip planned; kinda. We aren’t sure what we are doing after Sedona yet, but we have some ideas. So far the plan is KBDN-KPSP-KSEZ, to be in Palm Springs Friday night and drop off Grandpa in Sedona after that. Then we have 2 days to get home to be back home from Sedona and were gonna pick a spot as we get closer and see what availability and weather allow. We have been looking at the Lodges in the National Parks all week, but they are full and it is a busy weekend, so were not sure about that.

The flight to Bend has quickly turned in to “riding a bike.” We know it will be about an hour, wind dependent. There are a few early summer thunderstorms along our route we plan around. It is super great we have on board weather radar to help us plan in flight too! As predicted we land in 1:05 (vs 5:47 driving in a car!)  We don’t plan any services as we are just parking, sleeping and leaving early the next day.

 

 

KRDM (Bend, OR) May 2017

in Destinations

Its almost summer and we are starting to put the time machine to good use! The Little Dude has tee ball on Saturday mornings until July so were down to just over nights for the next few weeks, minus Memorial Day weekend coming up! We love the weather in the summer; it makes planning so easy!

After the Tee ball game we go home and pack the smallest amount we have in months! We then head to the airport and load up the car seat and a few bags, get gas and take off south to Bend. On the drive to the airport, mama pilot calls Leading Edge and requests a rental car. We decide to go to Redmond instead of Bend for just this reason. Our plan is to land about 3 hours from the time of the phone call. With the terminal and Avis super close, it is easy for the FBO to accommodate our last minute rental car request. After we do the run-up and we are almost ready to go, we get out the Hilton app and book a room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Old Mill. The new hotel apps make it so easy to have all of your information stored and just click, click, book! Mama pilot has already looked online at a few places before leaving home, but we wait to book because most hotels have a cancel fee and even though we have been super lucky about not getting grounded due to maintenance or weather, it is always a possibility.

We have a tail wind on the way down and make it to Redmond in 1:05! Awesome!!! We land right about 3pm, Little dude can’t wait to get out to ride his strider bike all over. He is a good listener and stays in the area we ask!  He also really likes Leading Edge because they have a popcorn machine and they always have super great popcorn! The car is ready to go when we land and we head to downtown Bend and towards the hotel.

Little dude can’t wait to go to Gramies house though! Shortly after a disappointing spot for bubble tea at Townshends (were they were out of boba; again) we go to Dutch brothers and then to Gramies. Little Dude loves the sun and riding his strider bike like a dirt bike! Little Dude gets a sleep over and Mama and Papa spend the night at the Hilton Garden Inn in the Old Mill. We only sleep at the hotel but they do have a nice indoor pool and a hot tub that is open 24 hours! The Hotel is also in a retail district that has shopping and restaurants and its on the Deschutes river and there is a nice path along the river.

Mama pilot has to be at work later in the afternoon so there isn’t a lot of time to relax Sunday morning. We catch a quick breakfast at Chow before heading back to Gramies. Chow  is located in a small house across from Newport Market and their food was great. Food in Bend is constantly good though, I think a place would go under if it didn’t have good food in this town. We have been to most of the super popular breakfast places so it is always fun to try something new. Since we are there at 8:30 in the morning we don’t even have to wait. Super life perk of being awake early for work and with kids every day is you don’t have to wait if you are there early!

Back at the FBO and loaded up in a flash. A quick stop at the bathroom and the popcorn machine and we are ready to go! Before we can leave the receptionist must let us out the door. Papa pilot is settling the gas transaction and Mama pilot and Little Dude are ready to head out to the plane. Mama pilot asks if we can go out. The receptionist  hesitates then asks Mama Pilot “do you have a pilots license?” “Yes, I do” She says. Such a nice feeling to be able to say yes. Mama pilot has never been asked if she has a license to enter the ramp at an FBO before.

The most interesting part of this trip was the TCAS RA we had with a United Jet in the Portland area. We requested flight following from Seattle Center to S50 on the way home. About half way back, we get a call from Center about traffic on the arrival and if we can avoid them. We are so confused! How can we avoid him when we don’t know the altitude he is descending to? We decide to turn to go behind the A320, wery of wake turbulence. It is hard not to leave opinions here with Mama Pilots profession, but these are just facts. The United never saw us and responded to an RA and climbed up. We had the Airbus in sight the whole time, but it was still strange to be involved in such a moment. The rest of the flight was mundane and we landed back at our home airport just in time for Mama pilot to go to work.

 

KUAO (Aurora State, OR) April 2017

in Destinations

We are about 2 months away from the arrival of our baby girl which means it’s  time for take one last family photo shoot of our family of 3 and time maternity photos before she arrives. Tulip season runs the month of April in the Pacific Northwest and we have 2 amazing festivals within flying distance. The closer one is the Skagit Tulip Festival in Skagit, (KBVS) Washington and the second is the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, OR.

We tried to get information on how to access the Skagit fields early before the mass crowds arrive with no luck, but, we were able to purchase an early morning photographer pass to the Wooden Shoe Tulip festival in Woodburn with ease. Wooden Shoe also appeared more desirable from online photos on their website and Facebook because they have a large viewing platform and lots of benches and tractors throughout their fields.

The real deciding factor for this mission, like usual, is weather. We started checking the weather at the beginning of the week for our trip on Saturday. Plan A: is to fly down to KUAO the night before, stay the night so we can wake up early and access the fields. Plan B: is to wait until Sunday morning and get to the Skagit fields at 9am and try to be with the first people there.

As Saturday afternoon came rolling around the weather was marginal along our proposed route from S50-OLM-BTG-KUAO. We estimated the freezing lever to be 7000 feet by calculating the temps with the standard lapse rate. The minimum IFR altitude along our first route segment was 7000 as well, so we needed proceed with caution. With the sun soon setting and the freezing level low, with the calculated cloud bases at approximately 3,000′, our decision was to fly under the clouds until Chehalis, where is was foretasted to improved. Our planned take off time was about 6:30pm and sunset was at 8:10 pm. We would have no problem making it to our destination in the :50 required for the flight during daylight. Since there are a lot of mountains in the area we just prefer daylight.

Sarah, our great friend and amazing photographer met us at the airport.  We loaded what little we had for this short overnight trip and Sarah wanted to grab her camera for some cool photos in flight; but we knew it wasn’t going to be the super clear weather we usually enjoy. Papa Pilot and Sarah Ann sat up front and Mama Pilot and The Little Dude were in the back. Shortly after takeoff it was clear staying low wasn’t an option and we would need an IFR clearance. We called up approach who then gave us to Seattle Center for our clearance. They vectored us and warned us of moderate precipitation on our way to OLM VOR and climbed us to 7000 feet. It was soup outside and The Little Dudes first time being in Solid IMC conditions. He was a little nervous and unsure of not being able to see outside and it was a bit bumpy but not bad. Papa pilot was piloting the plane and using his experience to keep us on course and get us to altitude. Mama pilot was keeping an eye on the wings and horizontal stabilizer for any signs of icing, but there was none. After a mostly quiet 30 minutes we started to breakout between layers and then under the clouds. We executed a visual approach to Runway 1-7 and landed without incident.

Once on the ground. We taxied to Aurora Aviation to pick up our rental car. The FBO closed at 5:30pm. When the flight was looking like a go on Friday, Mama pilot called and made arrangements for an after hours car pick up. The FBO was very accommodating getting us set up and instructing us where to find the keys and the paperwork for our car. After finding the keys and getting the car loaded up we booked a few hotel rooms on our phones. The FBO was also helpful in offering a hotel recommendation for the night. We booked the La Quinta Inn in Wilsonville just north of the airport. The Wooden Shoe fields are about 20 minutes south of the airport and the hotel was about 10 minutes north of the airport. Everything was in great proximity! We wanted to get a late snack as it was already 8:30. We found an McMenamins in Wilsonville  that used to be an old church and it a perfect restaurant for our late night snack. McMenamins is popular in the PNW because they take old buildings like churches and schools and turn them into hotels and restaurants that are super unique! We checked into the hotel with no problems. It was clean and simple and just what we needed, although with our alarms set for 5:30 we would only be sleeping for 7 hours. Of course morning came in no time. It was cloudy when we awoke but the forecast showed sun around 7. The La Quinta Inn had a nice Continental breakfast waiting for us so we grabbed a quick bite and were off to the fields.

When we pulled up there were only about 10 cars in the parking lot and only a few people in the field, awesome!!! We wandered to the west field and started our family photo session, and as advertised it was very muddy. We planned on taking some nice family photos and the Maternity shots. The festival does have hot air balloons that use the field but decided not to go when we were there. They also have bounce houses and things for the kids to do plus food and retail vendors. The additional things weren’t open until just before we left at 9 am, their normal opening time. The West field had a pink and green tractor and the viewing platform and the north field has lots of little tractors for kids and benches for photos. Of course The Little Dude slipped in the mud and got his nice outfit dirty. We did plan to let him do a muddy shoot where he could just play in the mud too! He surprisingly wasn’t as into just playing in the mud as we thought he would be.

While enjoying our photo session we were also keeping an eye on the weather for the flight home. There were a few breaks in the clouds and the warm sun would shine though. It was looking VFR for the way home for sure, but there were still some clouds we would have to fly around. We headed back to the airport and returned the car to the FBO. We did tanker in gas so we were only responsible for for $15 overnight tie down fee. The Little Dude looked around for popcorn or cookies, but they did have any.

Our flight home was much less bumpy and we landed back home at Auburn by noon the next day. Mission accomplished!

 

Strollers vs. Carriers

in Flight bag

Traveling in the plane leaves us short on space for extra bulky strollers. We tried to travel once with our bob, but we had to take out a bunch of seats and it wasn’t really needed on the trip. When The Little Dude was under 2, we would take our John Deere Umbrella Stroller on flights. It was only 10 pounds and fit in the back just fine. Once The Little Dude was a good walker, we would let him walk on our trips and use the carrier if it was a long distance or put him on dads shoulders.

We have 2 versions of soft structured carriers. a Boba Gemini and a Toddler Tula. The Little Dude is right at the cross over from the Gemini to the Tula when we start traveling by small plane. The Tula is great for flying and something we always take with us. It is very light and has a larger support base for toddlers up to age 4. We like to take it with us in a backpack if we are going to be out for long periods of time. If Little Dude is tired, he will even fall asleep in it.

We did try to SaddlePack too, but we sent it back because it was uncomfortable.

When Little Dude was under 3, we would travel with the Hiking Pack if we had any intentions of hiking on a trip. The Osprey was great because we could carry him and a few things in one carrier. It is really Bulky though, but it does have a stand if you want to take it off for a bit and leave them in. The Tula does not have this option.

 

KMMV (McMinnville, OR) April 2017

in Destinations

The first family flight after the plane has returned from annual is complete. It is finally starting to feel like spring in Seattle and today was the perfect day to throw a dart at the sectional and go. We picked McMinnville, OR. Mama pilot and the Little dude have never been, but Papa pilot visited many years ago. We did the basic: Weather, NOTAMS, crew car check and headed to the airport. The first stop was the fuel farm for some $5.03/gal 100LL. Normally Auburn has the best price but McMinnville beat them by $.05 per gallon. We just filled the tanks at home.

The winds were out of the southwest so we departed runway 1-6 for a quick 0:53 flight. We requested flight following after departure and Seattle Approach even gave us the coveted Class Bravo climb. Some puffy clouds to skirt around and before long we were landing runway 2-2 at KMMV.

The parking wasn’t very obvious at first but then we saw the transient sign and parked. We hadn’t decided whether we wanted to just do lunch or go to the museum across the street. The actual FBO (Konect Aviation) is slightly behind another building. We wondered into the FBO and learned that the Evergreen Air museum offered a shuttle from the FBO to the Museum. They also have a small café, Belle Cafe’ that was open. They do have another café, but it wasn’t open. We decided to try the Museum! The shuttle was quick and brought us to the museum promptly.

Pro tip: I did note the FBO had a GRACO carseat and inquired; apparently someone left it and never used it, so on top of 2 crew cars (a SUV and cop car) they also have a carseat and the museum across the street offers a shuttle. Never have we had so many options for a quick visit. They also had enterprise rental cars, but I didn’t ask about that process.

The Museum was so exciting for The Little Dude. We brought along a Blackbird and a Blue angel toy jets; then learned that the museum also had these on display. There are 4 large buildings at the museum: An indoor waterpark with a 747 on the roof that houses 4 slides, a hangar with the worlds only Spruce Goose, a theater and a Hangar which housed the Blackbird and space exhibits. Also, was a very large play ground with lots to keep kids busy. I wish we had planned more time to visit all there was to do!

The Space hangar and the blackbird were our first stops, there were many replicas and actual aircraft/spacecraft. As soon as you walk in there is a small airplane carousel (kids 24-48″ can ride included in the admission price.) Of Course we picked the Red airplane and the Volunteer showed him how to move the plane up and down as he was going round and round. The Little Dude also loved the Mercury rocket for kids with all the buttons and the cockpit of the F-100 with all the buttons and levers which all moved!

We didn’t have time for much more after exploring the space hangar, we skipped the theater and playground to have time to see the Spruce Goose. There is a small area of the Spruce Goose that can be accessed by a few stairs. The Docent in the Spruce Goose was very informative. He shared it was 95% wood and that it only flew one time. We then grabbed a quick bite from the Café.

The Belle Café that was open is a small open dining area as soon as you walk into the aviation hangar. The menu was simple; salads, soup, hog dogs and pre-made sandwiches and such, not many offerings for a pregnant mama pilot, but it was fine. A quick bite and we were back on the shuttle with no wait and over to the airport. We walked right onto the field and did our preflight. The Little Dude is such a great helper, he untied the tie downs all by himself! We departed runway 2-2, to return home. The puffy spring/summer time clouds had built up and we found a nice hole to climb up though VFR. Although, there were 6 airplanes within 1000 feet of our altitude in our area. We love our ADSB in for finding all of these because we could only see 2! After we were on top of the clouds it was mostly smooth ride back with a 20 knot cross wind. Landing back home on 1-6 and we tucked the Bonanza in until next time.

 

 

 

 

KUDD-KSAC (Bermuda Dunes, CA to McCellan, CA) Feburary 2017

in Destinations

A fun long presidents weekend vacation and unfortunately we only flew one leg as a family. With work schedules and winter weather we have to be very flexible with the little plane. Papa pilot and Mama pilot wanted to head to Palm Springs for the Palm Springs Air Museums Annual Gala. We also wanted to fly the bonanza, but the weather wasn’t great for all 3 of us to fly together. So we made a plan. Papa Pilot flew the plane S50 to KUDD, Palm springs on Tuesday (6:00 with a stop) and Mama Pilot and The Little Dude flew on the airline on Wednesday. The weather Tuesday was amazing down the west coast and if we wanted to get the plane south it had to be Tuesday.

After our weekend in Palm Springs and watching weather; we knew we probably wouldn’t be able to make it all the way from Palm Springs to Seattle, so we bought Southwest Airline tickets from Sacramento home. The weather looked mostly good from Palm Springs to Sacramento; worst case we would have to cancel the airline tickets and we would keep the fare. Southwest is the most flexible airline! They are the only airline that allows you to change flights without a change fee and check 2 bags for free.

Papa Pilot parked the plane in Bermuda Dunes, (KUDD) on Tuesday night. We chose Bermuda Dunes over the Palm Springs Airport because the last time we flew into KPSP there were so many fees and they charged so much for gas! The only FBO on the field is Bermuda Dunes Airport. Papa pilot parked the plane in the tie down area and there it was waiting for us on Sunday morning when we arrived as a family.

The weather wasn’t super clear in the area. Our plan was to go VFR to at least Fresno, Then at fresno there was a wall of rain green and yellow intensity on the radar.,we could watch the movement of the rain on foreflight and on the Garmin in flight, so our plan was if it looked too bad or there was icing, we would land and  let the storm pass. This year California has gotten so much rain! The Orville Dam is full and some areas are experiencing flooding.

We took off runway 10 and got flight flowing from SoCal Approach. We decided to climb up through an open area in the clouds and we chose 10,500 ft for our cruising altitude. The Little Dude was so good on this flight! He had the iPad all loaded up with movies and we finally realized his headset has an aux in input!! We bought a 2 sided mic cord so that he could listen to us talk and the movie. He is doing better with his pilot cadet headset, but it still isn’t comfortable for him.

The flight from KUDD to KSAC was 2:30. About the 1:30 mark and near Tehachapi we decided to request an IFR clearance. We were below the weather, but it was raining hard and difficult to see. We knew the metars of airports along our route were reporting the ceiling at 7000 so we requested 6000. We flew under the dark green and yellow intensity clouds with little turbulence. We executed the ILS to KMCC via radar vectors, it was pretty marginal VFR when we did the approach, but it was great practice for us to use the Garmin and autopilot on the approach.

We landed at the McClellan Jet Center and checked the weather looking north, it indicated snow and a low freezing layer. McClellan helped us with a Hertz rental car that we asked for one way to be dropped at the Sacramento International airport about 30 minutes away. The weather wasn’t looking very good for leaving Monday to Seattle for the final 3:30 of our flight. We asked to put the plane in the Hangar since the weather in the Sacramento area was raining and windy. We were able to book a room at the Hyatt Place about 15 minutes away for the night. Hyatt Place is consistently great for families. Great rates, free wifi, breakfast, and spacious rooms with seating areas, a refrigerator and microwave.

After waking up the next morning and reviewing the weather along our route home, we knew we would be using our airline tickets that night. We are home now, and the plane is still in KMCC. Papa Pilot will buy another airline ticket to fly down and get it this weekend. Summer travel is so much easier, but we all made it home safe.

 

 

KTIW (Tacoma, WA) February 2017

in Destinations

February is one of those dull months in the PNW with minimal flying adventures. When we got a call from friends to meet at The Hub at the Tacoma airport for Sunday brunch we thought why not! Yes, it is a 50 minute drive straight there from our house and 30 is to the airplane, but of course we would rather fly in! We head to the airport and with our pre flight complete load up. It is a 9 minutes flight from S50 to KTIW so no need for extra fuel today.

Today we decided to let The Little Dude sit up front with us because there is no  need for a car seat at the other end of our destination and it is a short flight to keep him controlled on. The Little Dude sits on Mama Pilot’s lap for his first carseat-free ride. He loved it of course! It is trying though to control his feet and hands because there are buttons! Lots and lots of buttons, and levers and different colors, i mean who doesn’t want to check them all out. But since it is a short flight its fine to corral. There isn’t really a “how to teach your kid how to ride in the front of the plane” book, so were winging’ it.

Getting the ATIS before landing, we hear a friendly voice, its our friend Potsy! How exciting; always more fun when you know people where you are going. We land and get to spend sometime talking to our friend, the tower controller, before our other friends, The Birdies, arrive in their 172. The Little Dude is excited to see his friend, baby Birdie and we venture in for lunch. Of course our 3 year old wanted to wear his spiderman costume flying!

The Hub is such a great spot wether you fly in or drive in. The Hub is owned by a brewery in the area and has great food. They offer the kids crayons and menus and the atmosphere is casual. The food was delicious! We were surprised mostly that the crowd was mostly people who had driven in, rather than flown in- this must be a testament to their quality and reputation.

When we venture back outside, we hear the tower on a speaker and notice the airport has a designated area for visitors to observe the airport! This is so awesome! Because of security now everything has a fence around it. It is great to see a welcoming area with an elevated surface, a picnic table, and speakers playing the live air traffic communications with the aircraft and tower.

We load back up and head to S50 for our 10 minute flight. It is another overcast Seattle day. This leg, The Little Dude decides to sit in his normal seat in the 3rd row. We were like “okay?!” so he flopped around a bit, played down and did well for 3 year old standards.

We learned we can take him without a carseat, but I would rather have him in one just incase he needed the 5 point harness. Til next time!

 

 

KRDM (Bend, OR) January 2017

in Destinations

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!

Travel Crib

in Flight bag

After an abundance of research we decided on the Guava Family Lotus Travel Crib. Since our son is now 3.5 we have not been traveling with it. But we will be using it once again when the new baby comes in June. The Guava Family was an easy choice because it is 11 pounds. Most of the other “pack n’ plays” are 20-30 pounds! The Lotus is light and has backpack carrying straps. It is also really easy to set up and take down. As The Little Dude got older, we really liked how it was on the ground and we could leave it open for him to get in an out of on his own.

We prefer to take our own travel crib if weight and space allow since you never really know what you are getting when a hotel says they have a crib or pack n’ play. We have also stayed in some locations in which upon our arrival we were informed they were out! It is so much easier to just take our own.