On the road again

Here we are on the ramp in Trenton, NJ Wednesday morning ready and waiting for passengers. That's our helicopter-cancelled passenger pickup because of low weather. You can see the haze/fog with visibility of less than a mile. We're leaving for Vegas with stops in Sun Valley, Idaho and Cincinnati, Ohio before returning to Trenton on Friday.

I like to do something new every trip. Since I'm in Vegas so often it's sometimes difficult. However, a new hotel/casino opened in April and I booked it for our one night Vegas stay. I hate casino hotels because they are so business-traveler unfriendly. But, with only one night to sacrifice, I decided to give the newest hotel, The M (http://www.themresort.com/ )a try. It was surprisingly nice. Brand new with great windows looking at the Strip, a nice pool and a great Italian restaurant and bakery, complimentary bottled water in the room and morning papers. This is the view from my 8th floor room. Day, Pool, Night.

On the arrival into the Vegas area It is common to fly over Lake Meade and the Hoover Dam. I was able to take this photo that shows the Dam and the new Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge construction http://bridgepros.com/projects/Hoover_Dam_Bypass_Bridge/index.html

After passing the Dam, you pass south of the town of Boulder City, NV and you turn final for Henderson Executive Airport. I mentioned in a previous blog Henderson is an 8 mile drive south of the Vegas Strip. Jet fuel is about 3 dollars a gallon cheaper than at the Vegas airport. With a typical fuel purchase of 1000 gallons, it's well worth the 8 mile drive.

Departing Henderson with a flight to Idaho you get the opportunity to see the benefit of water in the desert. All the green circle are irrigated dessert with water taken from the Colorado River.

Parked in Sun Valley Idaho. Another treat on this trip was the catering from Christina's Restaurant and Bakery of Sun Valley.

If you get to Sun Valley, don't miss the opportunity to try it.

http://www.cristinasofsunvalley.com/restaurant.php

After Departing Idaho, a flight over the Continental Divide: The Centennial Mountains which border Idaho and Wyoming.

Motorcycle ride for Autism sponsored by Hopewell Valley Vineyards

PALS poker ride: Everyone draws a card at the start. A 2nd, 3rd and 4th card at each stop and a final card at the end of the ride at Hopewell Valley Vineyards. Some great prizes-Digital camcorder, Panasonic Digital Camera, Gift certificates at various bike dealers and some local restaurants, plus hats, T-shirts...

Had a wonderful ride through some beautiful parts of NJ and Pennsylvania on Saturday. The weather was not terrific as you can see, but it was great for a motorcycle ride. We met at Pennington Market. My guess is there were about 25 bikes in support of the Pennington Autistic Lifetime Services (PALS)

I started out with a group of 14 bikes and fell to the rear of the formation to get a shot of the group. The picture on the left was taken on Rt518 between Princeton and Hopewell. Trying to juggle the camera and ride the motorcycle proved to be a challenge. So this is the only on-the-road shot. You can see the mist on my windscreen. It was that way most of the ride. No rain but 100% plus humidity and cool temps-low 60's

The first stop was at Princeton Airport shown on the left. The riders seen arriving are Sergio Neri, who sponsored and hosted the riders at his Hopewell Valley Vineyard with his companion Violetta.
2nd stop at Sky Manor Airport,-Pittstown, NJ


3rd stop at Van Sant Airport in Erwinna, PA. This is a great sod strip airport reminiscent of the early days of flying with lots of antique aircraft.

Returning to Pennington takes you through
the Frankenfield covered bridge(1872)

The ride ended at the Hopewell Valley.(click the title of this blog to link to the Vineyard website)






The vineyard is a great place to visit. It started in 2002 and is now 75 acres of grapevines. They produce some pretty good local wines and import grapes from their vineyard in the Chianti region of Italy for producing additional wines. If you haven't been here, let me suggest a visit to their Wed or Fri Happy Hour, or one of the scheduled weekend family events

A new Tattoo

This is my right forearm. For anyone reading this blog who doesn't know: my twin brother Charles, aka Pat, lost a battle against Pancreatic Cancer on February 14, 2008. He was my identical twin and my best friend. He had a Celtic weave tattoo on his right forearm. His tattoo was similar to the one shown here, but without the color.

I consulted with him before I got my first tattoo(a 60th birthday present to myself). I remember calling him from Venus Beach, CA before going into the "House of Ink", to get his advice, and the wisdom of his experience.

I also had a Celtic design, somewhat different than his and I had it put on my left forearm.

Since Charlie's death I've been trying to think of a way to memorialize him with a tattoo. I didn't want to just copy his tattoo I wanted something that said more.

My copilot has several works of art from Neptune Tattooville. He recommended an artist (Kevin) and I went and met him last week before my trip to San Fran. I showed him my brother's tattoo and asked his advice on combining it with a red poppy. (Why the Red Poppy?)

My brother, Charles is a decorated war hero-having won the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism while flying helicopters in Vietnam. The red Poppy is the international symbol of remembrance. I wanted to honor his memory and his service. Kevin came up with the final design

This my forearm now. Charlie's Celtic Weave and a red Poppy centered in it.

I didn't need it to remember my brother.

I did it, as a way, to get him back in my life. I hope everyone who sees the tattoo will ask me about it. I can't explain it without talking about my brother, the missing part of me.

Thanks Kevin Cavanaugh at Neptune Tattooville.

More San Fran

I made a stop at the Cable Car Museum. A short and very interesting stop. Did you know the cable moves at 9.5 mph. The brakes are made of wood and changes about every 50 hours. There used to be 22 different cable car companies in SF. It now cost $5 a ride but you can buy a 3 day pass for $18 or a 30 day for $45.

The crookedest street in the US is Lombard St.
You can get to it on the trolley to or from Fisherman's Wharf

The Dungeness Crab is available all over San Fran and is served by almost all Fisherman's Wharf seafood street vendors. I had a delicious Dungeness Crab-Avocado omelette for breakfast.

On a good day, you can look across the bay to the famous Alcatraz Prison. The Alcatraz tour is worth the time and money. Only do it on a sunny warm day. It's always cool and damp on Alcatraz.

When the wind's right the chocolate smell from Ghirardelli might drift across Alcatraz. That would be a good day to visit.

My hotel was the Stanford Court Renaissance Marriott I'd recommend it, unless you need a pool. (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sfosc-the-stanford-court-a-renaissance-hotel/) The Hotel is on the corner of California and Powell. All the trolley routes stop at the corner. No need for a car although we had one and parked it @ $45.00/day.

The California trolley takes you between the downtown and the financial district. You can stop at Grant St for China town. If you can't find it here, the Chinese don't make it.

At the opposite end of Fisherman's Wharf on the trolley line is Union Square. Lots of upscale shopping stores, and some good restaurants.
The trolley pulls into a turn around and is manually turned to go back to Fisherman's Wharf.

And if you get on the Powell/Hyde trolley when you get to the Hyde turnaround, you can run across the street for a quick pint@ Tiernan's.

San Francisco

Landed in SFO during a break in the weather on Sunday evening. Tired and hungry, I suggested a pub near Union Square where I had tipped a pint several times prior.(Lefty O'Doul's). Always good for a pint and a corned beef sandwich. They don't take American Express, and that was the last time I saw mine. That's another story.

Weather has pretty much been wet ever since our arrival. It's not a cold rain but a mild misty drizzle, much like Seattle or Ireland weather. It makes the inside of the trolley car sought after but doesn't keep you indoors. Having purchased a 3 day trolley pass for the meal on Sunday evening, we headed down to the Fisherman's wharf on Mon AM and walked from the Hyde stop to the Golden gate Bridge and back(about 6 -7 miles). Lots of upscale water view homes along the way. Much of the walk is through former US Army property-Fort Mason, & The Presidio.

Some pictures along the walk. The weather here is ideal for roses and they are in bloom and magnificent.

Monday night was Sourdough and Chowder at the Boudin bakery and Restaurant on the Wharf

Trenton to San Fran by way of Burlington, VT

Trip got off to 30 min late wit a planned stop in Burlington,BTV) to pick up a passenger. Called Atlantic Aviation the FBO (Fixed Base Operation) at BTV and asked for a "quick turn". That's the term used when time is of the essence for whatever reason. We landed in BTV, topped the main fuel tanks and were airborne on our way to SFO in less than 25 min. I had originally planned a 45 min stop for fueling, so I just made up 20 min of our departure delay.

University of Vermont sits on the elevated terrain just south of the approach to runway 15 in Burlington. I took this picture while my co-pilot was making the ILS 15 approach.

Departure from Trenton was in light rain and we remained in the clouds at FL250 through the entire flight to Burlington.
Departure from BTV was uneventful with my CP flying this leg also. Headwinds were forecast to be significant and a nonstop flight to SFO was out of the question. This is only the second time in 15 months of flying this aircraft that I had to plan an enroute fuel stop to the west coast. I have to admit I find the stops to be a pleasure. It breaks up a long 5 1/2-6 hour trip into 2 much more enjoyable legs of flying. I picked a stop a little over half way, RAP(Rapid City, SD)-the closest airport to Mount Rushmore. I have never seen the monument and planned on flying over it on the departure from RAP. Weather was going to be ideal. So, I planned on flying this leg of the trip.
This the Rapid City, SD airport (picture taken on short final to runway 14). Rapid City is about 25 miles from Mount Rushmore.


The quick turn in Rapid city was unnecessary. Contacting the the tower for departure, we were informed that San Francisco weather was causing arrival delays. To prevent us from arriving and being unable to land, departure for SFO were being programmed and we were and we were given a departure time an hour and a half later than we planned.
Finally departed for the 2:45 min flight to SFO. Asked for VFR departure and a vector toward Mount Rushmore. I gave my CP my camera as I flew the legal minimum altitude and distance from a National Monument.

Here are Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.
After taking the picture we continued our climb to 40,000 and continued with an smooth flight to SFO. The worst of the weather had passed and we broke out of the clouds with good visibility on our approach to runway 28R at SFO.



The last 2 pictures are the fog backed Oakland bridge and our short final to the runway.