Flying to Bremerton…Again

After yesterday’s explanation of three trips in one day, it’s time to show you the second leg of our journey. This one took place between Home Base and Bremerton with two passengers in back.

The view of the Grand Canyon is always stunning to me. I am also impressed that Gladys can get us there in about fifteen minutes, while I’m pretty sure it took about four hours in a car.

I’m not much of a road-tripper, and that is only confirmed by my job. “We could have been there hours ago,” says I in a whining tone. Unless I’m in an airplane, it isn’t really the getting-there part that I enjoy. I just want to be there!

I even had a snack on this flight. Have you had the chocolate chunk cookies at Jimmy John’s? If not, we need to remedy that situation as soon as possible. They are quite wonderful.

I always get my mountains mixed up in these parts. It could be Mount Rainier. Or Mount Hood. It isn’t Mount Everest because this mountain still has its top intact. Whichever one it is, I think it looks pretty nifty just off Gladys’ winglet.

This also means that we’re getting close to Bremerton again. This flight took under two and a half hours to complete.

The clouds aren’t very thick during this descent, and it’s warm enough that we didn’t need to turn on the anti-icing equipment. We certainly did this past Monday when we landed here to begin the week of fun. We’re about to dip below the clouds as we arrive at Bremerton.

Oh golly. Isn’t this so beautiful? I would live in these neck of the woods for a summer home. Actually, Everett, Washington is still my number-one pick after my bus ride home from Canada. It’s close to Seattle but still has that small-town feel and charm.

And an outlet mall. But don’t tell Hubby that is a weighing factor or I’ll lose all credibility. And there’s very little left as it is…

Those yellow flowers are a dead-giveaway that we are almost landing in Bremerton. Isn’t everything so green and lush? Coming from the desert, I am always blown away by the amount of non-dead foliage in these parts.

“Bremerton Traffic, this is Gladys. Short final, Runway 1, full stop landing. Bremerton.”

Since this airport doesn’t have a control tower, it’s up to me to make position reports to others in the area so they know how to avoid crashing into us.

I don’t mind talking more on the radio at all…but I’m sure that surprises all of you.

We made it! Look at that green field! That is the area surrounding the runway!

After I unloaded lots of bags (more than two kids backpacks, anyway), I arranged for fuel and then went in to pay the bill.

It didn’t feel too rushed, but I was anxious to get home. My suggestion a few days earlier was to spend the night here, then head home when we were refreshed the next morning. I lost that thumb wrestle, and we turned around for our third time between Seattle and Phoenix in one day.

I was beat! How did I used to do this all the time?!

We had our maintenance logs in the baggage compartment, since we weren’t going back to our home airport. Our intended destination instead was Williams-Gateway in Mesa, where there is an Embraer Service Center. We love having them so close, and they do wonderful work for us.

This is my step ladder, too. This baggage compartment is so huge (and often filled to the brim), so I need a way to climb inside to get all of the bags from the unreachable areas.

Yes, I’ve had nightmares about being locked in here before a flight. I would die, of course, since this part of the airplane isn’t pressurized. But I keep telling myself that someone would notice if I wasn’t up front flying the airplane when we took off. So that keeps me feeling safe when I dig deep into our baggage area.

Two out of three legs done for the day. We are almost finished!