I received a call from my son Steven this past week! "Come fly with me! We'll go out to breakfast!" Hmmm. What's a mother to do with an invitation like that?! He hardly got the sentence out of his mouth before I said a firm "YES"!! Our deal was that he provide the airplane (his), the fuel, and the flying expertise. I provide the pre-flight coffee and breakfast! (No guess as to who's getting the better end of that deal!)
What luck! We had a beautiful morning! Calm winds and sunny clear sky! Ah! Perfect! Steven and I both like a bit of adventure, so decided to fly to a breakfast spot and then do some exploring.
I sat in the co-pilot/navigator's seat. O.k. I didn't navigate, nor did I do any flying. I was a passenger with a headset. Nonetheless, it was great fun being "up front"!
Our airport restaurant of choice that day was at the Jackson, Michigan airport. We took off from Brighton's "Hyne Field". The area surrounding the airport has several lakes and ponds. These bodies of water literally glistened in the morning sun, giving both land and sky a shining, almost unreal quality about them. I know I've said this before, but the land has such a peaceful look to it from above.
We flew over farm land and wooded areas. Many of the Fall colors have turned from a brilliant red and gold to a deeper gold and brown. Nonetheless, the scenery was breathtaking!
We flew past an area that had a band of clouds caused by humidity in that area.
No matter where we looked, lakes and ponds were everywhere, along with beautiful farm land and wooded borders!
As we approached Jackson, we flew over Jackson Prison. I knew it was a large facility, but didn't realize HOW large!
The landing in Jackson was so smooth, there wasn't even a squeak! (Forgive me, proud mama speaking!) The restaurant looks over the tarmac and runways, giving an excellent view of all incoming and outgoing activity. Shelly was our waitress, and made a few suggestions on the homemade breads. Steven and I ordered omelettes. I ordered a pancake for us to split. (Watching our waistlines, don't ya know!) The food was good, and must say our service was excellent! Thank you, Shelly! A great start to our day!
Fueling up! |
Since the cost of fuel at the Jackson Airport was less than in Brighton, Steven decided to fill up here. As I left the restaurant, I saw this hysterical sign!
We took off and experienced a few bumps here and there. The wind had picked up a bit, but nothing too uncomfortable. Flying north we noticed a grass strip air park with several beautiful homes around its perimeter. Since Steven is always on the lookout for airport real estate, we decided to land and see if there were any "For Sale" signs. The wind was shifting. I could tell Steven was concentrating on the approach, but the landing was soft. The air park was beautiful and the grass strip runway was perfect. There were no for sale signs there, so took off, thinking what fun it would be to live in a place where your hangar and runway was just out your back door!
We traversed the sky a bit and landed in Mason, Michigan. Steven use to fly into there when he was going to college in Lansing. We decided to use the facilities at the airport, and marveled at how clean and well kept it was!
Off we took again, this time heading home. The day stayed sunny and our view going home was as spectacular as when we left. What a neat adventure!
Thank you so much, Steven! Another wonderful memory for both of us! And by the way, the next time you want someone to go exploring with, I'm your flying buddy!!
For now I say goodbye to the wonderful, wide open, beautiful blue playground- the sky. Again, soon...soon...!
No comments:
Post a Comment