|
|
|
West USA Vacation
8/14/2011
We have been having a great time on our northwest vacation. We haven't
had good luck getting wifi where we have stayed until now so this is the
short form.
We flew to Sacramento Executive airport to visit my daughter Shelly & Payge. We had
a great lunch at a vegan restaurant. They took us to look at the Sacramento
State Capital and all around Sacramento to look at the sights. It was my
birthday and I got presents from them.
|
|
|
||||||
The same day we flew to Santa Rosa to
visit and stay with Joan's son, Sam and family. We stayed there two nights
and had a great time. I gave all three kids a ride in the airplane, and what a
blast that was for them and me also.
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
8/16/2011
We left on Tuesday morning and headed directly for Smiley Creek, Idaho,
U87, a grass strip with a beautiful backdrop of the Sawtooth mountains. We
stayed overnight in one of the cabins there and it was a neat place to
fly. We walked all over the lodge area exploring. It is high tourist season
here now and we thought we would have to camp out but a cabin cancellation
came up at the last minute. While there we talked to some pilots and a
roadway worker who told us that he had just finished paving the landing
strip at Stanley, a town about 20 minutes away by air. The days are hot but
last night was quite cold, perhaps 30 degrees.
|
|
|
||||||
8/17/2011
This morning is Don's 71st birthday, and after breakfast in the lodge
restaurant, we loaded up the airplane and flew over to Stanley. The paved
portion of the strip looked very short so he decided to do a low pass and
check it out. He knew he couldn't stop in the short paved area, and wanted to
see if he could over run onto the dirt strip after the pavment. So after
one botched attempt going too fast, he tried another landing, and was
spot-on, and did over-run the paved part but not by much.
|
|
|
||||||
After tying down we walked to a cabin labeled "air taxi". It used to be
one but the woman pilot who greeted us, Dia Danner, stayed on after her
husband got killed in 2004. She was very informative and told us that no one
ever gets to stop on the paved part as it is only 1600 feet long, and what a
waste of money that was to "dig up the earth and pour cement".
We walked just under a mile to the bakery/coffee shop that was
recommended and had lunch then we went over to a lodge but they were full.
The clerk showed us the Chamber of Commerce across the highway a block
away and told us to ask there. There the gal called all over and finally found us
a vacant cabin at the Triangle C. The owner came and picked us up and took
us to the plane where we got our luggage and back to get into our cabin. It
is great and has a microwave, little refrig, etc. and we can walk to a
restaurant for dinner and the library to get wifi and send this out.
|
|
|
||||||
8/18/2010
Here we are in Salmon, Idaho. We flew over here yesterday from Stanley.
It was a non-event except the takeoff from that 6000' altitude airport felt
kind of mushy and we used all of the paved strip. We met a couple from
Santa Barbara who were flying a 182 as we prepared to leave.
It took about a half hour to fly here. A very nice young man met us at
the gas pumps and helped us with all we needed. He called a hotel and
soon a gal came and picked us up and transported us to town. We have had
beautiful hot weather every day.
|
|
|
||||||
Everything is within walking distance of the Stage Coach Inn. We walked
all around town to check things out and had a good dinner at a Chinese
buffet. We also stopped by a river rafting company and decided to go rafting
the rapids on the Salmon.
8/19/2011
Today we got up early, had our continental breakfast and headed off for
the all-day white water rafting trip. It was a class 2/3 rapid trip. At the
first big rapid spot it scared the daylights out of a little 7 year-old girl
and she cried. After she got used to it everything was OK and she seemed to
like it. Don expected bigger and more rapids. We stopped at an old gold mine
and looked inside it and the old gentleman miner took our pictures from the
nearby bridge which is what he does for a living now. He will mail the ones
we picked out as we had no checks nor cash after buying eyeglass safety
cords as recommended before we left the office. Our 21-year-old river guide
fixed us a super good lunch with fresh fruit on skewers, and turkey and
veggie wraps, with brownies for dessert. He even had beer but none of us had
that, only sodas and water. We did not get back to the hotel until about 6
pm. It was a fun packed day and we plan to head over to Great Falls, Montana
tomorrow to visit Joan's sister, Dona.
|
|
||||
8/20/2011
Joan and I had a great time visiting with Dona, and nephew Rob.
We stayed 2 days in Great Falls, MT. near where they live in Cascade. We
stayed at a place with a kitchen, and rented a car.
|
|
|
||||||
We left Monday morning
and had 20 + knots of headwinds all the way home. Joan & I could not stand
the long grind with the turbulence so we stopped in Jackpot NV for an
overnight stay at a casino nearby, although the airport was deserted.
|
|
||||
8/21/2011
We took off Tuesday morning and the headwinds were still with us. We
decided to stop at Bishop airport for lunch and a rest from the turbulence.
Joan was surprised to find the airport restaurant was called Thai Thai and,
since we both like Thai food we enjoyed the lunch.
It was very hot there andthe 5000' altitude had a density altitude of over 7000'.
Needless to say we used up a lot of runway on takeoff. With only about 2 hours
to go to get home we climbed to 12500' to get out of the turbulence, but that still
didn’t do it until we got closer to the coast with the cooler air.
It is good to be home although we had a real good time. It seems more
costly than going to Mexico and more crowded in small towns than we liked.
There were many motorbikes and riders in Idaho no doubt returning home
from the Sturgis rally in So. Dakota. Gas, food, and hotels were more than
on our cross-country trip to Florida 1 1/2 years ago. Maybe we will slow
down in our young age?
Don & Joan
