Today we took some other Airstreamers –our friends Lisa and George– on an adventure without our Airstreams. We flew the Cirrus up to Friday Harbor for some lunch and some exploring and it was a fabulous day. When we took off from Portland it was a bit cloudy still (scheduled to burn off by the time we got to the San Juan Islands) and we flew part of the time on top:
Air Traffic Control gave us a little present and routed us RIGHT OVER the edge of the Olympics!!
Just as we were nearing the airport at Friday Harbor, we could see the end of the cloud bank, but we had to do an instrument approach down through the cloud layer, popping out at 800 ft. Cool! We parked the plane and walked into town and grabbed some late lunch at Downriggers on the waterfront (fish tacos are great, and they've got a great outside seating area right at the marina).
Lisa and George and I (none for the pilot, awwww) all decided to try a cocktail called the Hot Mess (basically a margarita with cilantro, jalapeno, a little watermelon, with a salt and pepper rim, and we seriously need to learn how to make these…they were great!)
The view from lunch (not pictured: ferries, float planes, and the smell of fresh sea air):
We walked out onto the docks and checked out the aquarium:
There was a gorgeous schooner docked and we talked a bit to one of the crew who was lounging on deck. The boat is the Spike Australia and they do day sails, evening sails (for 39/per person!!), and longer multi-day charters as well. We went on board and checked it all out and I think we'll be doing this sometime!
After we walked around town a bit we headed back to the airport (just at the edge of town, super quick walk) and took off for home. We did a detour loop around Mount St. Helens and it was fabulous.
Mount St. Helens with airplane wing:
St. Helens with Mt. Rainier in the background:
St. Helens, Rainier, airplane tail:
Pretty great, huh?
Landing (our little shadow's almost caught up with us!!):
A great day with great friends!
Unfortunately, Downriggers burned a couple weeks ago: http://www.nwcn.com/news/washington/Building-fire-damages-several-businesses-in-Friday-Harbor-220042591.html
Yum! I can’t stop eating asparagus right now, which means I’ll be making this very soon. Thanks fro sharing.