Long-lost Words…Let’s go to Philly!

After a short stay in our nation’s capital, it was time to head even further north to freeze to death enjoy some pleasant weather. If you consider thirty-four degrees pleasant, anyway.

I personally haven’t considered that pleasant since I moved away from Grand Forks, North Dakota after college.

Lots of gorgeous airplanes were on the ramp today as we braved the cold to prep Gladys for our flight to the greater north.

Can you see her in the distance? I’ll give you a hint…she isn’t purple.

I was from the cold, though. Man, what a whiner!

After dropping off our bags, we made a quick dash to grab some lunch. El Capitan dropped me off at Five Guys for a bite to eat, while he went on to an Indian buffet.

I try to avoid eating at places that I could get at home, but this decision to love Five Guys today came about after considering my budget. After spending so much on hotel rooms, I have to be careful by selecting occasional non-pricey food options!

In a completely surprise move, I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. At a burger place?! Comfort food to fight the cold, you know? And I’m pretty sure that they just toast a bun inside-out and make their grilled cheese sandwiches that way!

I’m also pretty sure that I will happily never order this again. Who knows how many calories are in a sandwich like this!

These were pretty stinking good, if I remember correctly. I’m just glad that I don’t want to eat like this any more.

Let the results come a knocking!

Anyway, back at the airport…

We walked past several airplanes on the ramp to get to Gladys.

Why on earth is she way in the back? Don’t they know how cold I am?!

I hope that we beat that other airplane out of here today. You know, the airplane without engines…

Hi, Challenger! These guys were starting up just as we headed out to get everything ready for our short flight. We are only going a little north to Philadelphia today, so the flight will be around half an hour!

More airplanes suffering in the cold. Isn’t there some sort of hotline that we can call to report such abuse?

Sure, engine covers might help for a few hours. But think how cold those poor little engines get all night long out in the cold!

Hello, gorgeous Falcon. You could fly to South America or all the way to Europe today if you wanted. I wonder where you’re headed?

This airplane has three engines. Three! Ah ah ah.

Channeling Count Dracula here, eh?

We initialized the avionics in Gladys and started getting the flight plan set up to depart one busy airspace and enter another.

Talk about a lot of information on one little screen!

And Hubby thinks that I just push buttons at work?!

With our passengers and some luggage on board, it was time to head on out of Dodge. Look at this big, new, shiny, expensive control tower at Dulles! Our tax dollars hard at work!

We taxied from the ramp to depart Runway 30 this morning. The winds were favoring that direction for takeoffs.

I think that this is my favorite picture of the day. I love seeing airports from the sky! Things can be so obvious from up here, you know?

We flew over the Potomac River on our way north today. I wish that I could yell out, “Cheesesteaks, I’m coming for you!”

But I forgot to have one. Is that even allowed?

We passed the wide open plains of Nebraska today, apparently.

Don’t let the lack of snow fool you for a second. Baby, it’s cold out there!

And just a few minutes later, literally, we were in Philly! There is the city in the distance. And we get to cross the river and land on a runway with awful gusting winds.

Honestly, can’t someone turn down the wind around here. It’s silly!

Once again, the windshield heat ruined what could have been a really neat picture of the Philadelphia International Airport.

What you can’t see in this picture is the airliner doing S-turns on his final approach to the other runway. He had to slow down so we could land in front of him…but we were going as fast as we could!

It was close. But we all made it safely. How exciting!

I haven’t been to this airport very often (just once before, since I always flew into Northeast Philly with my old job), so I had to pay attention on the taxi to the ramp. By the time my camera was out for another shot, we were parked and had already gotten the passengers on their way.

At least they let us bring their car on the ramp to load it up this time. That always helps!

Blue skies…wispy clouds. This place was freezing, so please don’t forget that!

Lots of Learjets are used as air ambulances because their entry doors can be retrofitted large enough to hold a stretcher. This guy pulled in behind us, and the ambulance loaded up the patient and headed to the hospital.

How wonderful is aviation that it can help in areas like this?! Man, I love airplanes.

Just now, looking at this picture, I am realizing that El Capitan took my luggage inside for me while I finished up the post-flight walk around. What a nice guy!

Maybe I accidentally told him about the candy inside…

This was one of our longest stays during this entire nine-day trip. We were in Philly for a whole two nights. Too bad that it was so stinking cold and rainy to do anything about it!

I decided not to chaperone Gladys on her date with this Challenger. I heard that he was the perfect gentleman and even opened doors for her. But then he took her to Chuck E. Cheese.

She is so over him.

Have a nice time here in Philly, Gladys. I’ll see you soon!