Happy New Year 2010

Vegas

I had some good time off and had a great Christmas but now back at it. This trip is the Las Vegas shuttle. I flew from Minneapolis to Las Vegas on to Detroit spent the night and back to Las Vegas for a short few hour to fly the red eye back to Minneapolis. The Red Eye is the all night flight. You leave at about 3 am Minneapolis time and get in at 6 am. Wow am I tired. I did get some cool pictures. Las Vegas is very unique as it is an Oasis in the middle of nowhere. At night it is spectacular as it looks like the Disney light parade all lit up. Click on the video to see.

The flight out is very cool. You fly over the Rockies and they are always beautiful. We are at 35,000 feet and they still look so close.

On the way in just outside of Las Vegas we flew by the Hoover Dam. Kind of hard to see, but if you follow the water to the left you will just be able to see it.

Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains and it is very different seeing a city surrounded by mountains like these. The first picture you can see the city and mountains lying around it. The second picture you can see the mountains that are off the end of the runway. We takeoff and turn to gain altitude to fly over. Makes for great views.

Well home soon and back to the cold winter on Minneapolis. The weather shows it -10. I cant wait to see ya. Stay warm!

Home for Christmas: Let it snow

This month has been different for me flying. To be able to get Christmas off I had to bid for reserve flying. That means rather than having a regular schedule I have had to be on call. The way that works is I carry around my flight gear and uniform and when the company calls I have to go and fly. I felt a little like Clark Kent. My phone would ring and literally I would have to jump into a phone booth and put on my uniform and fly away. The trips I would fly were mainly into areas that had been affected by weather and had cancelations like the East coast this last week. The company puts on more flying to catch up after the weather prohibits the original flights from operating. ( My Changing Facility) Usually the back seat of the van as Karen drives me to the airport. Kind of like a phone both.

I am home now for Christmas and so happy. I have spent many Christmases alone in a hotel. I am savoring every minute. I wish each one of you no matter where you are a very Merry Christmas! Don't forget to track Santa. The Northern American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracks Santa every year. You can watch him deliver presents too! www.noradsanta.org

Back at it.

Well back at it. It was so nice to be home for Thanksgiving. It was very special. I miss you all so much.

This has been a busy trip. Not much time to do anything but fly and sleep. This trip has had long 14 hour days. I have been to Ft. Lauderdale, Memphis, DC (twice), Minneapolis three times and Raleigh Durham. I can't wait to get home. The pictures above are about all I have seen for the last three days with the exception of the break I had in Minny where we had lunch together. That was definitely the highlight of the trip, seeing you guys. See ya soon.

The Best Way to Fly

Our Private Jet

We make a good team!

This was the best way to go to work. When I can take my family along. I had a normal trip to New York, Tampa and DC. This trip the flights to and from DC were wide open with plenty of open seats and I was scheduled to have the day in DC free from duty. That gave us the day in DC. Karen and Austin came along and it was very special. I loved having them with me. We flew out to DC in the evening and they got to come up to the cockpit before we left and see my office and even got to talk on the flight attendants PA system. Austin loved being in the cockpit with me and I loved having him with me.

When I was walking around the aircraft performing the preflight inspection I looked up in one of the windows to see my beautiful wife looking out and blowing me a kiss. I will remember that moment for ever. It was so special having her on a flight I was flying. Definitely one of my all time highlights.

The Wild West

Crazy Wrabbits

The start of the day was early and as I was walking around the aircraft doing my preflight on the airplane I had to take a double take. There was a bunch of Wild Rabbits (Scary). They were on their way out West. I guess they needed a change from the boring Midwest. They were headed out to the Wild West. When I got back on the airplane the owners of the scary rabbits wanted to make sure they made it on the airplane. This is the picture I had taken so I showed them their crazy wrabbits were with us.

It was the last day of the trip and I was headed out West to San Diego and the route we take is one of my favorites. You fly over the Rocky Mountains and continue on through the desert in Nevada and over the Grand Canyon. It is so beautiful! The Rockies were especially beautiful today as the clouds were slightly below the mountain tops. Denver had just received a lot of snow and it was very scenic.

The Rockies

The Grand Canyon

Milwaukee

It is a cloudy day today in Milwaukee but flying in I saw a unique building on the skyline. I found this picture to show you. It is the Art Museum downtown. I am staying close by it today. The top part that looks like a whales tail or ships tail, is part of the roof that twice a day opens up like wings. Very cool. The temperature today is cool and it is very cloudy.

It was an early get up today at 3am when I left Boston. This trip has had all early departures which is wearing me out. It is hard to make yourself go to bed early. I feel like a senior citizen. I get the early bird special at dinner because I eat at 4 and then in bed by 8 pm. Yee Haw I am living it up. One more day of early get ups and then I am sleeping in. I fly to Minneapolis then on to San Diego and then back tomorrow. Long day but I can't wait to see ya.

I'll have the seniors special please!

Boston

It is hard to believe less than 24 hours ago I was siting on the beach with my beautiful wife. It was quick at home and out on the road.

The trip to the Keys was an amazing get away. Our room was on the beach and as you can see from the top picture you could walk off our porch to the beach. It was so much fun!

It was so hard to go back to work. As you can see it was a little colder and grey in Boston. The leaves are changing and it is a beautiful color. I think though to be honest I like the first picture better.

Well another day and off to Milwaukee tomorrow. Then on to San Diego and Home. The best place of all. (Home)

See ya soon!