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« Google Maps Mania! | Main | Career Planning » March 11, 2006A Saturday Aloft
After last July's dinner-in-the-San-Juans flying excursion, Guy invited me to go up with him again and see more of the state. This time around, we'd be doing it a little bit differently: we'd be in Guy's own plane, which was built from a kit. No, really. Fun Fact: As a kit-built plane, the thing is formally referred to as "EXPERIMENTAL" and has little warnings embossed on the dashboard that read, "Passenger Warning: This Aircraft Is Amateur-Built And Does Not Comply With Federal Safety Regulations For Standard Aircraft." (What, me worry? Guy's a smart dude, and he had it professionally assembled.) Our original plan had been to fly to Ocean Shores. This is a 133-mile, 3.5-hour drive from Seattle. Guy's new experimental buzz machine can get there from Everett's Paine Field in 45 minutes. So it seemed, you know, decadent to use the plane to zoom down, drink milkshakes, and ride go-carts on the ocean. Sadly, the weather wasn't cooperating. The day in Seattle was beautiful, but clouds were rolling in from the south as well as from east of the mountains. The eastbound weather also killed our prospects for flying over Grand Coulee Dam or out to Leavenworth. Instead, we settled for a west side tour of the Cascades, landing in little airstrips like Darrington and Snohomish to get snacks and our bearings. We did get up to Bellingham and had random, I-can't-believe-everyone-was-home-and-able-to-do-this lunch with my friends Jeff and Barb ... which rocked. I'm starting to get addicted to this flying thing. The world is so peaceful and beautiful at 4500 feet, and you feel, quite literally, as if you could do anything. The usual constraints of geography - traffic lights, 60-mph speed limits, winding roads - give way to straight-shot, as-the-crow-flies, 180-mph joyriding. Ocean Shores in 45 minutes? Hell, we can do Spokane in 2 hours (and would have, weather permitting). One also gets the sense of how truly majestic our fragile little planet is. It makes you want to protect it. If you're interested, my Flickr photostream is available (not too many airborne shots, sadly - it's hard to snap a good one at nearly 200mph). One fun shot I did snap is of my building at work. (I know I'm a nerd. Save your e-mail telling me such.) Guy's really done a good job selling me on flying lessons. Hmmmm... Posted by Gavin Shearer at March 11, 2006 9:13 PM. Posted to Cool. Commentsyeah! Thanks for the picture of Building 36. It's nice to have the aerial view of my future place of employment. Posted by: schelley at March 12, 2006 4:08 PM I find it ironical that the reflection in the window, above your head, says "MENTAL" hehehe Posted by: Will Kelley-Kamp at March 12, 2006 11:17 PM OMG, Will and Gavin, I never even noticed the reflection in the window. That is so funny and fitting. Hee! Oh, and as a proud Canuck, I have to let everyone know that Guy's plane was made in Canada, eh -- in Kelowna, B.C., to be exact. Posted by: Elaine at March 14, 2006 7:56 PM Post a commentThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out) (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |
I spent today in the air.