KGPI (Glacier Park, MT) August 2016

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With the summer sun shining we wake up and prepare to head to KGPI. The Little Dude is sitting this trip out and Mama and Papa Pilot are getting a date flight. We depart KBDN and it is 2:20 to KGPI. The weather is great and the scenery on the way is stunning. The Glacier park airport is just beyond an lake bed. We are cleared to land on runway 2 and taxi to the Glacier Jet Center. We called the FBO before we left to secure a rental car and let them know we were coming. They gave us a ride to the FBO from the general aviation parking area because it isn’t super close to the FBO itself. The main terminal is right next to the FBO, so the rental car was there. We loaded up and found our accommodations for the next 2 nights. It was a little different booking a place to stay since we did not have The Little Dude with us. Although, The Great Bear Inn had a very spacious kid friendly room and breakfast in the morning. We would have liked to stay in Apgar on the south side or Many Glacier, but since our trips are plan as we go based on weather we don’t always get to book in advance. The Great Bear in was just fine. We headed into the park and bought a new annual pass since ours was expired, then we drove logan pass and hiked the Hidden Lake Trail off going to the sun road and returned the first day. The Hidden Lake trail would have been perfect for The Little Dude since it was mostly board ward and very wide when it opened up to gravel. We also saw many wildflowers and mountain goats on the trail.

The second day we wanted to visit the other side of the park, so we drove Highway 2, to 49, to 89 to get to Many Glacier. it was about a 2 hour drive. When we finally got to Many it was raining, hard! So we are the rest of the tourists retreated to the lodge for some beverages while the storm passed and it did! We decided on the Iceberg Lake trail. it was about 10 miles round trip, so something we would not to with The Little Dude. it was known for its bears, but we never saw any. We thoroughly enjoyed the trail and drove the mountain to sun road back to the Inn.

The next day was time to head back to the airplane ad head on to our next destination, McCall, ID.

 

KBDN (Bend, OR) August 2016

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After all the excitement of the Oregon International Airshow we are rested and fly back to Bend to see The Little Dude and spend the night before heading to our next stop. Mama pilot gets her first opportunity to fly formation with Bo Driver in his Bonanza. The flight from KHIO to KBDN is only 45 minutes, but it is a beautiful morning and we get some great photos of each other flying over the cascade mountain range. We both land at KBDN and park at Professional Air. We spend the day in Bend and hang out with Our Little Dude and give Gramie a break.

 

 

KHIO (Hillsboro, OR) August 2016

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After a night of rest,  and Little Dude spending the night with Gramie, Mama and Papa pilot load up and fly over to KHIO for the day. This weekend is the Oregon International Airshow.  Papa pilot is a photographer and cinematographer and is planning on doing a photo shoot with AceMaker in the T-33 VAL-HALLA a P-51 from the Heritage Flight Museum, and Oregon Air National Guard’s 75th anniversary F-15 from the 173 fighter Squadron. To help us with our shoot, Bo Driver is coming up from California in his Bonanza, and he will serve as the lead formation pilot for our Bonanza.

Hanging out at an airshow is a really fun and unique experience, and from this perspective it’s a behind the scenes view of the inner workings of an airshow. One gets to see tons of different airplanes and meet lots of interesting people and its an amazing experience to see all that goes into the making of an airshow. To help Papa Pilot with the camera work Le Pousser has driven down from KBLI. The photo team in complete!  To get the photos and videos we need a clear open view, so the back doors of the Bonanza are removed (one of the main reasons we purchased an A-36). The Photographers in the back sit on the floor harnessed in to take the photos.

After meeting up with Acemaker and the pilot of VAL-HALLA  a plan is created for our first of two shoots for today. The first shoot is planned as a transit between KHIO and KPDX, and a formation currency flight for AceMaker.  After a full briefing and a complete plan in place for our shoot/transit we take off from KHIO and and rejoin with the T-33 and P-51 off our right wing. It’s a relatively short distance between KHIO and KPDX so there’s not much time to shoot, but, we were able to make some nice images of these two planes together.  Mama Pilot has the incredible opportunity to ride in Val-Halla, and Papa Pilot was only slightly jealous…

We drive over to the 142nd Fighter Squadron from Atlantic Aviation to discuss the 2nd air-to-air shoot with the OANG F-15 team.This experience is very rare, and as we walk into base ops our excitement really increases as this is “really going to happen”. What a great group of people is all I can say.  We conducted our briefing in the flight planning area within base ops, and then it is time for a tour of our subject.  The F-15 we will be shooting has been painted as an eagle to celebrate the 75 anniversary, and it’s really a sight to behold. After our tour, it’s time for Role Call, a USAF tradition, and we came prepared with a bottle of whiskey for the squadron. Shorty after, it’s time to head back to Atlantic and calm the nerves before we part on this shoot.  There are lots of moving parts, and everything has to come together  just perfectly for this to work- planning and experience are KEYs to a successful mission.

Our plan is take off towards Mt. Hood well in advance of the P-15, T-33, and F-15 because we have a slight speed deficit.  It’s a beautiful Oregon evening, and the stoic Mt. Hood is as Iconic as ever.  We establish in our orbit, and the first plane to rejoin with us was the F-15.  WOW!!!  Usually being intercepted by an F-15 is a really bad thing, but, today it was one of the most exciting times of my life and the Eagle driver brought his A game.  After some maneuvering we capture it! A T-33, P-51 and F-15 flying in formation with an iconic PNW mountain in the backdrop. The shoot is complete and we make our way back in the bonanza to land during the show at KHIO. Mission complete. Of course this is a very simplified version of events. Coordination for air to air shoots is very precise and well planned.

Everyone is off to rest, and Mama and Papa Pilot have plans to head back to KBDN the next day.

 

If you want to see more of Papa Pilots awesome work visit: www.airtoairphotography.com or follow him on instagram at @airtoairphoto.

 

KBDN (Bend, OR) August 2016

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Its finally time to begin our grand summer flying adventure. Okay, it is only 10 days, but that is pretty grand for 2 pilots. The itinerary is to go S50- KBDN-KHIO-KBDN-KGPI-KMYL-KBDN-KCCR-S50!

Why so many stops in Bend? Well that is because that is where Gramie, Grandpa and Kami live. The best grandparents ever have agreed to watch The Little Dude while Mama and Papa Pilot get to do some adventures of their own.

The first leg goes a little different than expected. We are getting packed at the house when we learn Kami has encountered some delays coming back from the east coast. Now she will be sitting in the KSEA airport for 3 hours waiting for her connection to KRDM. Well, we are going that way! So after a bit of coordination, we depart from S50 to KBFI, it is only a 15 minute flight. Kami is able to cab over from KSEA to Clay Lacy Aviation. The FBO is super great about letting us park and go without receiving any services. We load up Kami and depart to KBDN. The flight is great for The Little Dude since now Kami is in the back to keep him company. We boogie down to Bend in the classic 1:20 minutes and land at KBDN this time and park at Professional Air. Grandpa meets us and picks us all up. We head to Grandpas House for the night and rest for the next days adventure.

 

6S2 (Florence, OR) July 2016

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After our trip meeting Grandpa and Kami was such a success in Joesph, OR we decide to try another fly in meet up in Florence, OR as a day trip. The summer weather has the entire Oregon coast clear of clouds. We call the FBO and ask about a courtesy car and they say they have 2 cars, first come first served with a 2 hour limit and they are $10 (for insurance) We arrive at Florence and it is very windy! We go around on the first attempt to land because we didn’t have a stabilized approach. We land on runway 33 which takes you over a little bay, thats where the wind shift is. There is lots of open parking and we just pick a spot. The Volunteer at the “FBO” isn’t back from lunch yet, but the building is open and there is a clean bathroom to use. We don’t have to wait long for the volunteer or Grandpa and Kami to land. We all load up in the 90’s sedan (with roll down windows) and drive towards town. Florence seems like a small fishing town with a cute downtown area. As we drive by, we see Mo’s (an Oregon coast seafood chain) and International C food Market side by side. We park and decide on the ICM since we have been to a few Mo’s. The food was very good, including the clam chowder and the seafood salad.

After our lunch we drive over to Heceta Beach south, about a 15 minute drive for the easy beach access. It is very very windy at the beach too, and cold! Grandpa thought ahead and brought a super cool kite, and we brought some towels to lay on. We hid a bit behind one of the sand dunes since the cool air and strong wind made it so chilly. The sand was nice and soft though. The Little Dude wanted a chance to fly the kite, but he couldn’t do it alone since it was soo windy it would have disappeared if he let go! We were coming to the end of our time with the car so we heading back to the airport. The volunteer asked us to be back by 4, which we were. We loaded up just a few things and got some self serve gas before our departure. We meet up with Grandpa and Kami a few miles north of the airport and fly some formation for fun before they break off and head home. We continue the flight home to S50 and put the bonanza away. Another day adventure complete!

 

 

S21 (Sunriver, OR) July 2016

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Another beautiful weekend and we decide to head to Central Oregon, but stay in Sunriver. Sunriver really is an amazing family destination resort, bonus! It has its own airport and FBO. Sunriver is just a bit farther south than Bend. I love packing for summer adventures since it requires so many fewer clothes and bulky items. I’m fine trading the coats and boots for sandals and swimsuits.

It is high overcast as we depart S50 for S21. We pop up over the clouds and we know it is clear at our destination. Trip tip: It is so cool when looking at weather apps you can also look at actual cameras on the ground in slightly different locations to get a real time look at the current conditions.

We land at S21 and call the resort to pick us up in the shuttle. You can see the lodge from the runway, but  the shuttle has to drive all the way around to get to us. They have always been pretty quick. The shuttle service is for the whole resort. So to and from the Village, SHARC, observatory, equestrienne center and marina. We check into our room, enjoy a nice meal at Carson’s and call it a night. The next day Gramie meets us for some pool time at The Cove. The pool is perfect. It has 3 areas: a zero grade entrance pool, a slide (that is fast) and a hot tub. The area also has wait staff, a bar, food, and towels. It is a sunny day, but it still feels chilly when you get it and out of the water. After the morning swim. The Little Dude heads to the farm for an overnight with Gramie and Mama and Papa pilot get a date night! This date night starts at 2pm. We fly from S21 to 6K5 to meet up with Uncle Joe for some shooting practice and then some drinks at the Three Creeks Brewery. While at the brewery, another friend Scottie and relax. Of course Mama and Papa pilot take turns on these kinds of trips because one of us must fly back to Sunriver. At Three Creeks it is their anniversary and our table won a raffle! It was cool, they came over with shirts, hats, keychains and congratulated us! They even brought us cake, it was fun, we didn’t even know there was a table raffle. The Flight back to Sunriver was short and we met another flying couple when we landed. They had a columbia and were interested what the inside of the bonanza looked like.

On Sunday Gramie meets us back in Sunriver with The Little Dude. He always loves visiting Gramie and spending time on the farm. We visit the Village for Breakfast then call the shuttle to head back to the plane. After a preflight and some refueling we are back in the air to S50. Since we returned and there is still plenty of light, Papa pilot and The Little Dude spend some time wiping down the plane and removing the smashed bugs. The Bonanza is put alway for the night, just waiting for our next adventure.

If you are looking for a more inclusive list of things to do in Oregon, check out this post from Your Rv Lifestyle.

KTIW (Tacoma, WA) June 2016

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We had family come to town to celebrate The Little Dudes 3rd Birthday! During their stay they wanted to go visit Mt St. Helens. Unfortunately, the day during the week they wanted to go was rainy. If you go to the visitors center on a rainy day it is very hard to see anything. So they opted not to go and do another activity instead. But later in the week it was a nice day and Papa pilot was off work so we thought it would be fun to get an up close and personal look! We loaded up the plane with Uncle G, Aunt L, Grandma, Papa Pilot, Mama Pilot and The Little Dude. This was the only trip we have taken Little Dude on that we didn’t bring his car seat. We were short one seat (I don’t remember where it was) so little dude sat on my lap in the front. We flew over Mt. St. Helens and stopped at KTIW to visit The Hub for their 1st $100 hamburgers. The Hub has really good food and a great beer selection. We also enjoyed sitting outside on the patio watching the planes take off and land. After lunch we loaded up and headed back the 15 minutes to S50.

 

KJSY (Joesph, OR) June 2016

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On a cool June morning we decided to celebrate Fathers day with a fly in to Joseph, OR. It is a small town in eastern Oregon and a great meeting point for Grandpa and Kami to meet us for Fathers Day. The area is beautiful. The Wallowa Lake sits just north of the Wallowa Mountains. Its known as Oregon’s “Little Switzerland” for good reason.

Its about a 2:30 flight from our home base of S50, but we have the whole day and great summer weather. We have checked ahead on Airnav and it says they have 2 crew cars. It we are not able to get a car, the plan is to walk into town; its a bit over a mile and no sidewalks, so not ideal, but doable if needed.

We land and taxi to the transient parking. Near the parking is an older double wide trailer which is the Airport “FBO.” On the wall, there are 2 lock boxes that house the keys to the 2 cars, one car was already taken, and we took the 2nd a Silver Mercury Cougar. The borrow fee is $10 for 2 hours. The Car reminds me of a high school beater, but you cant ask much from a loaner crew car except to get you to town and back.

We all fit with the car seat in the middle and we went into town for lunch. The “town” is just a main street with restaurants. shops and a general/hardware/sports store. Its a very cute main street with statues and beautiful flowers blooming in their planters. We find a great selection of kids cowboy boots at the Sports Corral and The Little Dude gets a new pair for his upcoming birthday.

We decide on Embers Brewhouse for lunch since they have a lovely out door seating area. We all ordered sandwiches and had a really great lunch. We then decided to drive around Wallowa lake. Well, you cant really drive around the whole lake, but you can drive to the Wallowa state park at the end. Right next door to the state park is the Wallowa Lake Resort. The resort looked really fun. They had a bunch of different types of accommodations and activities. There was even a gondola ride close by. We took note of all there was to do and hope to come back for an over night.

The only downside to crew cars is you get them such a short time. The normal courtesy period is 2 hours. So after lunch, some town strolling and a short drive to the end of the lake we are out of time. We did a quick stop on the way back to the airport to see Old Chief Josephs grave site and were back to the airport. The Wallowa Lake Resort and the main street area are all within 15 minutes of the airport.

We did stop to put some gas in the car, also a normal courtesy, and it was comical because we couldn’t figure out how to open the gas door! In Oregon, there are attendants and you do not pump your own gas. We tried to push the door, looked inside, checked the key, and nothing. I even asked the attendant if he knew hoping he recognized the car and had put gas in it before. But no luck. We were about to give up and just put a bit of extra money in the car donation box when we found the button. It was inside the center console!

Such a fun time having Grandpa and Kami meet us for Fathers Day in Joseph, OR. We hope to go back soon and stay at the resort, in the summer of course.

 

 

j

6K5 (Sisters, OR) June 2016

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Sisters Oregon is known primarily for two things: The Rodeo and Annual Quilt Festival. Sisters is only a 20 minute drive north of our usual destination of Bend. The airport is actually a fly in community, but only a few homes have taxiway access. There is no official FBO that I know of, but I have read on airnav they have a crew car and loaner bikes. We don’t need any services since we have family in town who pick us up. The main street with tons of restaurants, quilt shops and gift stores is less than a mile away from the airport.

The Bonanza actually used to live in Sisters and we bought it from its owner there.

We land on Runway 20 since it is uphill and depart on runway 02. There is no taxiway so if you land on runway 02 you have to back taxi to the parking area.

This trip was to see the Grand Sisters Rodeo. It was quite an experience, we didn’t see the entire show, but we did see the cowboys on the bulls and some of the in between acts including one family of stunt riders.

The following day we met up with Gramie to visit the Peterson Rock Garden. The Peterson Rock Garden is one mans years or work making sculptures and bridges out of rocks! It is a donation based attraction and has been there for 30 years. There are many different areas and enough room to run for a 2 year old.

 

 

    

S21 (Sunriver, OR) March 2016

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Sunriver is the perfect fly in family destination! Its nice enough for us to venture down on the 1:20 minute flight and our plan is to stay 2 nights. It is a surprisingly nice weekend in March, but still not spring break so we are able to get a last minute room at the lodge. One of the difficulties we have faced with last minute adventures is finding a room last minute! Even more difficult is finding a location that will give you a refund if your airplane doesn’t start or work the way it is suppose to!

We have such a great weekend playing at the SHARC, the indoor pool and mini water park and the bike barn even opened since it was so nice to rent bikes! Normally the bike barn wouldn’t open until April, but they opened for the day since it was so nice. They even had kid bikes and kid trailers for families. The weekend ended way to fast. But we will be back, this is a favorite!