Come Fly Away With Me

When I was a little girl, I had aspirations of becoming an Airforce pilot before moving on to astronaut training with NASA. Of course, this was before I knew that you had to a great mathmatician. Once I discovered that little fact, my dreams were crushed and I moved on to other ambitions.

But luckily for me, my dad IS a great mathmatician and adventure seeker, so he became the pilot in our family.

Flying in a small private plane is much different than your average commercial flights. First of all, there's no peanuts (unless you bring your own), no bathrooms, and really very little space at all. But, you do get to fly at lower altitudes which means you get to actually see much of the country that you are flying over. It really is interesting to see things from above. It helps you gain perspective on just how LARGE this earth is and how little and insignificant our big man-made things can be in the grand scheme of things.

We recently made a quick weekend get-away to my parents and I took some time to document the flying experience. Ladies & Gentlemen, please buckle your safety belts....

Setting off on our adventure...

Told ya small planes were, well...SMALL!

Our fearless leader pilot (a.k.a. my dad)...

...his co-pilot...

...and his two "backseat drivers."

{Yes, that is me. Let me take a moment to give you a quick photography lesson: avoid taking close-ups in small spaces. Your head will look like the size and shape of a melon! Special thanks to the co-pilot for this *special* picture-lol!}

Meet the plane mascot, "Ace!"

And I think my camera has too many buttons! LOL!

"Check out the scenery down there!"

Crop fields always look like large circles from above if they have an irrigation system.

There's a frozen lake, too!

The co-pilot would REALLY like to do a little steering, but is too afraid to try any more than a fingertip steer (it was on auto-pilot, anyway!)

TIME TO LAND!

(It really is hard taking pictures from the back seat!)

Time to put the ol' girl to bed. The whole crew has to work together (including Mom who came to serve as our airport "shuttle service.")

Thanks for the adventure!