I Still Don’t Know How to Spell Coeur d’Alene

So after just a few short hours in Provo, where I got to eat lunch with my Mama and little brother, we were on our way to the skies once again.

As we left the ramp, I enjoyed some beautiful eye candy.

The “little” guy in front is the Socata TBM 850, a jet-propelled propeller airplane that goes high and fast. I wouldn’t mind one in my stocking, if one insisted.

And this beautiful beast is the Hawker 4000, also known as the Horizon. I have only seen about five of these giants in my travels over the past few years, so it was neat to see it in person on the ramp in Provo.

I wouldn’t mind one of these, either, if people were handing out stuff.

There were also some funky-shaped cargo planes and even a homebuilt on the ramp.

This is my favorite picture of the day…as we’re just departing Provo Municipal Airport. Isn’t that green water beautiful? I don’t know why the lake is green, but it made for a good shot. So I won’t complain too loudly!

Here we are over Utah Lake on our way northward. For the first time with this new job, we are headed to Ideeho today!

Coeur d’Alene, to be exact.

Considering that there were about eight jet arrivals and departures in just the twenty minutes that we watched, I am shocked that Coeur d’Alene doesn’t have a control tower. This place was busy!

It was a nice flight. Once we were safely above the SLC traffic, we were cleared direct to Couer d’Alene. I love shortcuts and try to get them on every flight.

We went pretty high, which meant it was nippy outside. And, since my window was facing away from the warm sun, I got to enjoy some neat ice crystals forming on the window as we flew farther north.

Less than an hour later, we were nearing the beautiful green valleys of northwestern Idaho. My Mama lived near here for a few years as a teenager, so I hope that these pictures bring back good memories.

Coming from the desert, it is always shocking to see green in the middle of the summer.

And a pretty lake! Ours almost dry up thanks to the 119-degree weather outside. (Yes, it’s been that hot for the past few days. Can I move away now?)

We are lining up for a base-to-final entry for Runway 5. No wind, and it’s a gorgeous day in Ideeho!

We made it! I unloaded the airplane and helped to load the passengers’ car with their luggage. After getting them on their way, we got Gladys ready for a few nights on the ramp. And we loaded up our rental car with crew luggage.

And, while doing all of the luggage, lots of pretty airplanes rolled by. You already know how much I love the Citation Sovereign!

And then a pretty Falcon joined the party. I can’t believe that this place has so many big boys but no control tower to help get them in and out safely!

What? You want a closer view of the Falcon 2000? Well, alrighty then. It is a beauty, isn’t it? This guy is huge and can go fast and far. Yes, please.

I can never get enough of airplane-viewing, but I guess it’s time to leave the airport and head to the hotel to get settled in. It’s Monday afternoon, and we will be in Coeur d’Alene until Wednesday afternoon. Fun! I’ve never been here before!

We stayed in the Holiday Inn Express, which was connected to a water park and miniature golf facility. Because the guy picking up my passengers also happened to own this hotel, I got a free pass to the bowling, go-karts, and mini golf.

Am I spoiled or what?

Also, through being nice to the front desk people, I was upgraded to a suite. I think it just means that I now got a fireplace with a floral arrangement. Thanks to the 96-degree weather over the two days, the fireplace stayed off. For some reason.

I borrowed our rental car to run some errands, including grabbing dinner.

I didn’t realize it until I was texting my Dad, but I had pizza a few different occasions while on the road for this two-week trip! Pizza for dinner tonight!

And, like I always try to do, a chain restaurant was avoided to try a local place instead. Tonight, it happened to be the Mackenzie River Pizza Company. And it was gooooood!

The décor was so cute, as was the menu. They had a giant canoe suspended from the ceiling. I wasn’t sitting directly underneath it, thank goodness, but got to enjoy it from afar.

And the menu selection was wonderful, too. Even with all of these exciting flavors, I still decided on my usual pepperoni-and-black-olives routine. Is that boring? I just know what I like and am glad that I got it. It was delicious!

And, while getting some shopping done, I discovered this t-shirt. Doesn’t this crack you up? I loved it! Too funny for words. Can you believe that this was on clearance?!

We shall end for the day with a patriotic cat!

Flying to Call-Ee-Phone-Yaw

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job? I really do. Some ice got loaded onto the airplane for the short flight over to Los Angeles, but it all melted in the 108-degree heat!

I always wipe down the inside and outside of the airplane to make the proper presentation for Glady’s owners. I want them to know that she has good personal hygiene skills. Also, this particular cleaner is great on the wood, metal, glass, and every other surface. And it smells amazing, so the airplane is nice and fresh when my passengers climb on board.

Here I am in back folding the seat belts and placing the newspapers for easy access. I try to make the flight as comfortable for them as possible. Being pampered is always a good thing. If I knew how to give pedicures, I would be a triple-threat.

This is the airshow that shows up on the Rosen displays in back. We have two of these screens near the seats, and one screen that can flip down from the ceiling up by the cockpit. Sometimes I feel like I am flying a Suburban! My passengers can and have also watched movies on this system. As I am sure they will tomorrow on two long flights.

I love that they can see our progress of the flight, though I also love when they tap us on the shoulder to talk to us to see how things are up front, too. They know how fast we are going and how long until we land with this airshow. Who needs a flight attendant?!

Holding short Runway 21, ready for takeoff. With traffic flow into the Los Angeles area, we had to wait a few minutes for our IFR release from Phoenix Departure. Even in the air, there are simply too many people in California for them to handle!

Goodbye, Phoenix! Can you see that haze? We have a fire north of us that is burning, and the smoke it just hanging out just north of town. It’s not normally this hazy.

Well, looky here. We flew right over the fire! It’s a really big one. I feel bad for the guys fighting it. It’s going to be a very long fire fighting season for them if they are already starting.

With some smooth talking, we got cleared to Palmdale for the LYNXX 8 Arrival into Los Angeles. Even though we are not landing at the main airport, they have to line up all the incoming traffic to prevent being the main story on the evening news.

Hi, Palmdale! Cute little city. You can’t quite see it (just to the right of my winglet), but Edwards Air Force Base is in the far distance with its 12,000-foot runways and the possibility to double that into a dry lake bed. They land the shuttle here when Texas has bad weather. That was in the good ol’ days when we had a space program. Do you remember?

This is on our turn to line up for the ILS to Runway 16R. We always fly over this mine. I can’t believe they allow mining operations here! Maybe it’s tucked away in the hills and nobody knows it’s there? We are on about a fifteen-mile final for the runway at this point.

We landed at Van Nuys today. Hi, Tower!

Once again, we were treated like royalty by Pentastar Aviation. These guys are great, and I am always relieved when we come here because I know everything will be done well for us.

The only downside was that a Gulfstream V parked just as we were trying to leave, and we had to squeeze past him with the help of the line guys walking both wings.

We made it. No scratches anywhere. Phew!

Since the ramp was a little slow when we first landed, I grabbed fuel from them so I could be ready for our flight home later on. We landed at 11:00 AM and were to be here for about ten hours. Not enough time to run to Disneyland for the day, dangit. I checked.

Gladys is looking fine and fit. I think she has been working out, and you can really tell it from the side view.

This wasn’t even the Gulfstream that blocked our way out! This place was hopping all day long, and it amazes me what big airplanes are in and out of this tiny ramp. Shockingly, we were one of the smaller planes on the ramp today. We can’t compete with these big guys, who can seat eighteen people in huge recliners!

They probably have golden sinks in the lavatory, too. And bowling alleys down the aisle.

This is a turboprop mades by EADS Socata called the TBM700. Very pretty airplane. It would be a great option when Hubby and I are ready to buy our own. They start at around $3 million. Pocket change, right?

We were surprised with a call at 7:00 that our passengers were on their way back! Good thing I wasn’t waiting in line for the Matterhorn, huh? After a nice lunch and some shopping, I worked on my laptop until the call came.

It was fun to sit outside while working to watch the airplanes. I never tire of watching airplanes come in and out of a place. I’m glad I like airplanes as much as I do, since I kinda end up being around them a lot in my work situation.

Goodbye, Los Angeles! Goodbye, Cheesecake Factory! Goodbye, sweet Urban Home!

Pollution always makes the prettiest sunsets! This is the earliest I’ve ever left LA, so it was fun to see it all in the daylight hours on departure.

By the time we landed at home, it was about 8:30 PM and dark. Once on frequency with Albuquerque Center, I was able to get a shortcut to fly away from the ARLIN3 Arrival into Phoenix. If I’m nice to the controllers, they are usually pretty nice to me!

It was still 95 degrees when we landed, and the pitot tubes never cooled enough to put on the covers. That’s OK, since we are flying in a just a few days anyway. I am just glad that my drive home was in a car with air conditioning!

The day trip was nice. We have a big trip coming up tomorrow, so today will be busy getting ready for it. I do indeed love my job.

Somebody Is Getting Older

He's officially an old man. It's the longest six weeks of every year when I am older than my husband. Today, he finally joins me in the uppity-up ranks of the Old Geezer Club. What an honor for him, and a relief for me!

For those of you keeping track at home, I'm working today. I am several states away from Hubby on this, his very special day of the year. He could have come with me for this weekend of work. We would have considered it a free vacation, and he would have been giddy as a school girl in all the buffets here in Reno.

But, alas, someone had to go away on a Scouting Training Camp. They only hold this event twice a year, and Hubby needed to attend this particular one to continue in his Scouting position. Canceling the trip and running away with his wife to Nevada simply wasn't an option. Dang it.

We celebrated his birthday together by opening some presents Thursday night before I left for work. Hubby is a fan of all things fishing and had done some research to find the perfect fishing reel. He opened it as well as three gardening books. He doesn't get excited about many things, but the man I married is so excited to plant next year's garden. He somehow thinks that this year's failure was just a fluke, and that he can beat the odds (read: temperatures don't matter and we can grow a million jalapenos, thank you very much). So I found some highly-recommended books on gardening in extreme heat. I think they will only help us. Believe me...we can't do worse than last year! He said, "Oooo, goodie. Some winter reading." I don't know if that was sarcasm or not, but hopefully our garden next summer will tell!

Of all the places he was offered to eat, he simply wanted to bake a pizza at home. I suggested we add in root beer floats, since that is one of his favorite treats. An hour later, we were eating a Papa Murphy's and enjoying cold ice cream in cold root beer. Then we watched an episode of Wipeout and went to bed. Not a very exciting birthday celebration, but it's what he wanted. And I am always happy to oblige when ice cream is involved.

Luckily, he won't spend the rest of his birthday completely alone. His parents will be in town tonight and are taking him bowling and to dinner. I wish I could be there to help him celebrate, but I am stuck here wandering the city of Reno all alone and eating free food. Sniff sniff.

Happy Birthday, Hubby. I'm so glad you picked me.

A Chance for Real Food

This past Saturday, we gathered with family to celebrate a few birthdays. A babysitter was found for the two babies (neither of which is mine, by the way), which meant an evening of just adults! This hasn't happened in over nineteen months since the babies joined the family, so I was tickled to have a baby-free evening with my bro and sis and their spouses. 

When deciding on a location for dinner, Hubby and I were all for visiting a new restaurant. Trying new places is one of my favorite things to do in my ever-exciting life, after all.

True Food Kitchen is known for healthy meals using the best ingredients in season now. I've been wanting to try it for months, but the location in Phoenix made it hard to justify for just a normal Date Night. Since we had to be in that area to convene with family, the dream to eat at True Food became a reality.

Although everything on the menu sounded delicious, I couldn't make up my mind between the Steak Tacos and the Corn Ravioli. Since everything was made-from-scratch in the restaurant, I had a feeling I couldn't go wrong either way. Our server saved the day by telling me I didn't have to choose since she could bring me a half-order of each. I started with the Steak Tacos, which were simply heaven. I finished with the ravioli, which was also good but didn't have as much flavor as the tacos I had just inhaled. I think had I switched the order of eating, I would have been completely happy with both!

My ears weren't playing tricks on me when I heard Hubby order the Turkey Burger. Two other people at our table ordered the same thing and raved about it from a previous visit. It came with a Sweet Potato Hash, which I casually sampled from my sister-in-law's plate. Hey, she offered!

Joe and T'liese each got an appetizer: a Kale Salad for T'liese and the Sashimi Fish Sampler for Joe. Her entree was the grilled halibut, while Joe ate some fish tacos. They must have been in a fishy mood. I smiled politely at all of the things that arrived on their plates, but I was being fake since I hate fish.

Did I mention everything was scrumptious?

We didn't save room for dessert on purpose since we had a bowling appointment to make. After two hours of throwing heavy balls down a long alley at some pins, and lots of Strike and Spare Dances, Winner-Of-The-Night Hubby got to select which ice cream establishment we visited. When you bowl a 193, you can do anything you want. We were all very impressed at our sister-in-law's consistency and killer score of 167. I broke 100 both games...small goals for me. 

Coldstone was delicious, but (like I've experienced every time I've visited), they tried to give me a tiny portion for the larger size I had ordered. We caught it on three of the six dishes. Luckily, they added a little more ice cream after we called them on it. But if we're paying $5.00 for a bowl of ice cream, why can't they make it a decent portion size? That's why I only go to Coldstone about every three years. Which, considering it's me, is pretty commendable.

Despite the crappy service, I must admit that my Cake Batter Ice Cream with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups mixed in was quite a treat indeed. Almost everyone else got chocolate with brownies mixed in. There was also a mint dish with Oreos. Yummy!

It was a fun evening with family, full of fish, bowling, and sweets. Sounds like a perfect evening to me! Minus the fish, of course.