Food Then Fly…Sounds Good to Me!

Yep. I’m eating again! But it really has been a whole day since I arrived in Los Angeles and ate some chicken and pasta. Today’s lunch meant that I got my highly-craved salad at California Chicken Café. Amazingly enough, I enjoyed this more last time when I got the balsamic vinaigrette!

But I still love Ranch, too. Don’t get me wrong. (Yes, I love technology…but not as much as you, you see. But I still love technology. Always and forever.)

The sticker for this cookie said that it was made with real butter! Is there really any other way?

After eating some lunch, I hit the road, Jack. On foot, I walked about five miles today. I just hate sitting in a hotel room when it is gorgeous weather outside. So I wandered up the street a few miles to admire all the cute little shops along the way.

The hotel is just a few miles from Van Nuys Airport in a nice neighborhood called Woodland Hills.

I passed numerous bagel shops (which coast am I on again?) and loved this particular shop’s logo. How cute is this?! A little cowboy with a bagel body?! Cracked me up.

It’s the little things in life, I tell you.

LoanSmart…but not pretty. Man oh man, who gave authorization for this sign to actually go up?! This had me laughing while trying to take a picture.

Whoever thought that an ugly cartoon woman hand-modeling for the sign would bring in business probably had a harsh awakening after this thing was in place.

One word: wonky. Look at those hands!

Yes, I’m eating again. Sheesh!

Not too far from my hotel, and many hours after lunch, I decided to grab a bite at Habit Burger. I’ve never been here, but the place was busy even late into the evening! That’s always a good sign.

The burgers were all made-to-order, which really is the only way to have a burger. If I’m at a big burger chain (which I try to avoid, by the way), I usually get chicken or a salad. I don’t like eating a burger that was made before I arrived!

But Habit Burger had the right idea. I accidentally ordered some fries and a chocolate shake to enjoy with my dinner tonight. I don’t know how that happened.

It was pretty good. Not quite Five Guys or In-N-Out good, but it was a yummy dinner.

The next morning, it was already time to make like a tree and get outta here. So we headed to the airport to get ready for a Saturday morning flight home.

As always, there was lots of large eye candy on the ramp. I’m convinced that some of these giant Gulfstreams don’t even leave! The same ones are always parked here when we come to visit.

See what I mean? Monstrous airplanes all over the place! Maybe that’s why I love coming here so much?

This little Piper Archer would be a great family airplane someday. The bulk of my flight training was in Piper aircraft, so I feel really comfortable in them. I haven’t flown something this small in six years, so I wonder how it would feel now?

Considering that it touches down around sixty knots, and I currently fly approach speeds around 110…I think that time would literally stand still for me!

Good morning, pretty girl! Did you have a nice few days in California? I know that I did.

This is my favorite shot of the day.

We had the baggage compartment open and ready for lots of bags on our return flight home.

This beautiful Piper Meridian is a jet-powered turbo-prop. I guess this could also be a sufficient family airplane someday…and it goes quite a bit faster than the Archer above.

Ground traffic usually prevents an on-time departure out of Los Angeles, and today was no different. I think that the freeways are always bad here! There is no such thing as rush hour…it’s all the time!

Soon, we were waiting our turn for IFR release out of Van Nuys. This place was the busiest I’ve ever seen. We waited for ten minutes before finally being allowed into the busy airspace!

This Lear was doing some engine maintenance runs near the approach end of the runway. I hope that they remember to put that engine cowling on before they head out for the day!

Did you know that engines cowlings are designed to help circulate air properly around the engine? That’s just one of its many responsibilities. Put that cowling back on, guys!

This was one of the dozen reasons that it took so long to get out of Van Nuys today. This place was buuuuuusy!

But we were soon kissing the smog of Los Angeles goodbye! Mmmwaaah!

There are many airports in this valley. This little guy was Whiteman Airport in the northeastern corner of Los Angeles.

I can’t make fun of L.A. smog when we come home to our own haze in the Valley of the Sun. How do they expect us to see our airport eighty miles out, like we usually do?

Airport in sight. Cleared for the visual approach. Handed off to Tower, cleared to land. Taxied to the hangar while monitoring Ground Control.

And we’re down! With the car pulled up when we arrived, we got our passengers on their way quickly.

I then wiped down Gladys because she ran into a giant swarm of sticky bugs on our flight today. Rather than letting them bake in the sun and remain forever on my shiny wings, I wiped them clean and then took the rag home to get a good washing itself.

This pretty Gulfstream G100 was in the hangar being prepped for a flight. I’m glad that my workday is already over…now I can enjoy the rest of my Saturday with Hubby.

When I mentioned that I was starting a book club, one of my passengers brought me a bunch of her favorite books to enjoy. I am so excited to read them. Do I work for thoughtful people or what?!

What a great trip to California. It started all spooky on Halloween night and ended on a beautiful Saturday afternoon four days later. I can’t believe that they pay me to do this!