Flying to Catalina Island (Avalon)

It's been some time since I've written a blog. Well, the time has come for me to actually post a blog about flight! This is a pilot's blog afterall, haha. After installing picasa to my computer, I was able to find many long lost photos that I hadn't seen in a while. Thus, this blog post was born!

I found some pictures of a flight to Catalina Island from this past summer. I was down in Southern California visiting a friend of mine, and he suggested we meet up at his home airport (Fullerton - KFUL). I made the drive from West Covina to Fullerton in record time--1.5 hours! Woo! It was great seeing my friend, as well as the upgrades he made to his Commanche. We loaded up and set out on our adventure to Catalina (KAVX), although this was not our original destination. It was more of a whim.

After lifting off from KFUL, we made our way over the entire LA area. I never imagined that LA could look so absolutely small!!! The controllers didn't have much traffic that day, so as soon as we were out of KFUL airspace, we were pretty much free and and clear to carpe diem.The serenity and view were outstanding. We caught up and then came the "where should we go?" question. We both had never flown to KAVX before and thought that it would make for a memorable spot to land. Off we went....

We said goodbye to the beach and LA, and hello open skies! Not long after we departed, I spotted the island off in the distance embedded in a layer of clouds. Land Ho! (I've always wanted to say that)

 The flight took about 20 minutes and soon we were landing at the "airport in the sky."

Mountaintop Landing...Cool isn't it?

We parked and wandered the island, after paying the lovely landing fee. I bought some souvenirs and a coke. My friend bought a bag of chips. We split the chips and went for a hike. It was one of the best hikes I've ever been on. The island was the perfect temperature for such an activity. We discussed how funny it would be if one of us were to fall into the native cacti surrounding the trails. We decided that it wouldn't be very fun. Haha.

The trip was very fun and ended too soon. I needed to leave to head back home to Northern Nevada, since I was driving back. First I had to fly back to KFUL, hop in my truck, drive the 1.5 hours back to West Covina, pack my things then drive 8 hours north to home. But this flight was worth every minute!

Too bad all good things must come to an end...

...soon, we were back to LA coming in for a landing to KFUL.

And, our trip to KAVX came to an end...left forever in the past. Here's to flying there again in the future! I know I will!

Finals

Where did the time go? Here I sit in front of my books, notes, and homework...studying for my 9:45 am final tomorrow morning. The question I keep asking myself is, "where did the time go?" I mean, it literally feels like the semester just started! I can't believe that this Friday it's all over. I can't believe that in 12 hours I'll be driving to my first final of the semester. This is all insane. The time went by too fast. There just wasn't enough of it to go around. I was still doing homework assignments yesterday for goodness sake! I was writing lab reports (that weren't late mind you) today! This is nuttiness in its finest form. Well, the only thing I can do is give it my best! I've already been studying for a while now (over a week), hopefully something stuck. Today is refresher.

I'm still paranoid that I am not going to do well...I guess I really want an A...it's been so long since I've seen one of those. They are quite the rare sight...

~~~

"Victory belongs to the most persevering."
Napoleon Bonaparte