Salt Water, Sea Air, Sand and Shrimp!

Tim and Pam came down from Fort Wort to spend the weekend with us. They arrived Friday afternoon, Dale and Tim went flying while Pam and I went dewberry picking along the fence. Saturday we decided to head down to the coast, the weather wasn't conducive for flying, so we took the car. Our first stop, was the world famous "Big Tree" of Lamar, Texas. We then headed across the bridge to Fulton Beach with a stop at the Fulton Beach Mansion, a tour of Key Allegro and a stop at the marina in Rockport. We toured the newly opened Rockport aquarium and checked out the shrimp boats in the harbor. Pam and I tried to sign on with a guy from Quebec that needed a crew for his sailboat that was leaving on May 5, but we changed our minds on hearing he was eventually headed to Monacco across a "Big Ocean". We found a lady heading some beautiful shrimp and Pam bought 10 pounds to take back North. She was thrilled---salt air, salt water, sand and 10 pounds of shrimp headed to her freezer.
We drove on down to Aransas Pass and took the ferry over to Port Aransas. We were starving and headed to The Wharf for a delicious late lunch of fried shrimp. Then it was down to the beach and a stroll on the sand where Dale was almost hit by a low flying pelican. Dale took us out to Mustang Beach airport and then a brief stop at the store with the big shark out front. We took turns taking photos in the jaws of this great creature. I tried to get Pam to lay in the mouth of the beast with a look of fear, but her photo looked more like a pin-up photo that I called "Pin Up Pam". Tim even climbed in the jaws and showed her how to do it. It was getting late so we boarded the ferry and headed back home.
When we got to the house we enjoyed some snacks and some great wine they brought out on the front porch. Sunday morning we enjoyed coffee and the morning paper. I prepared an early lunch so they could get an early start back home.
We enjoyed a great weekend with good friends!
"Pin Up Pam"

TEXAS SANDFEST 2008

We had made plans to fly to Port Aransas for The Texas Sandfest and awoke to find cloudy skies and a low ceiling. Dale checked the weather and we decided the skies would clear and we took off for Mustang Beach Airport in Port Aransas. We stayed at 1,000 feet almost all the way to Rockport with the ceiling lifting, but clouds or haze kept visibility from being great. We flew over the beach to scope out the Sandfest and landed at the airport. We had just missed the trolley, so the airport manager gave us a lift in his golf cart to the beach and dropped us off at Sandfest. They had a pretty big crowd for the last day of the event and the sand sculptors were busy working on their projects. They had a division for Master Sculptors, Amateur Sculptors, and even a kids division for budding sculptors. The Master Sculptors were from all over the US, they even had contestants from Italy, Canada and one from the Ukraine. The Master Sculptors competed in Solo or Duo competition. We walked up and down the beach checking them out and watching the artist at work. They also had vendors selling goods, a few food vendors and even some Blue Grass music in the entertainment tent by South Texas Grass Roots. I was busy taking pictures and trying to get the best shot, with the best light and angle. The horn blew a little after noon and the sculpting came to an end. Dale and I picked our favorites and decided to go get some lunch at The Wharf. We started walking and looking for the trolley and finally it pulled up. We had a great lunch with HUGE Fried Gulf Shrimp. We caught the trolley for a ride back to our plane. We dusted the sand off our feet, climbed in Miss Ice Tea Too and flew home. We had a great day, even if the weather didn't cooperate!

LBX Spring Fly In

We took flight this morning and headed to the Brazoria County Airport for their Spring Fly In. We flew over lots of large catfish farms on our way. The flight was smooth, skies were clear, and the MP3 played our favorite tunes. We buzzed some folks at Daneavang and the Danish Museum, some of Dale's kinfolks. We approached the airport in Brazoria and the radio sounded like the air space was full of airplanes. We got in line to land behind a RV8 and landed with no problems. We had a hamburger lunch and visited with Dennis, the photographer from Austin. They also had a car show and some remote control airplanes flying, a real busy place. We toured the airplanes on the ramp, checked out the Windsock Grill and talked airplane with some folks. Dale decided we would takeoff and fly down the coast to Port O'Connor and then cut across to Victoria. The flight wasn't as bumpy as we thought it might be and we landed and put Miss Ice Tea Too in the hangar.

Brenham, Blue Bell, and Bluebonnets

We took off this morning for a flight to Brenham Municipal Airport and lunch at the Southern Flyer. It was a smooth flight and we arrived at Brenham early, before the crowd. The airport grounds were covered in wildflowers, but not to many bluebonnets. I grabbed a table on the patio so we could watch the airplane traffic during lunch. Dale and I decided to try the 100 dollar hamburgers - airplane talk for how much it really cost to fly and go eat out. When we left the place was packed and people were waiting in line just to get a table. We checked out the other planes and then took off for home. It was a bumpy flight home and Dale had to climb to 6,500 feet to get it to smooth out. We landed, wiped Miss Ice Tea Too down, and headed to the house.
On the flight today Dale logged just over 500 hours in this plane, that's a lot of time in this plane.

Final Day at Sun and Fun

Well our final day at Sun and Fun started the same way, up and out to the show early. We decided to take a flight line tour to view lots of aircraft. Our driver almost hit a truck and didn't know how to shift gears on the tractor pulling the trailer we were on. It was an adventure!
We made one final pass among the vendor booths to make sure we hadn't missed anything. Dale talked with some Rotax guys and I walked out to the flight line to watch the planes come and go. We met some other Ran's pilots at the Ran's booth at noon to compare notes. Since we had done it all we decided after our picnic lunch to head back to the hotel, catch a nap before going out to dinner. It was sunny and very warm today, the hottest day so far. Another Sun and Fun has come to an end for these two Texans.
In the morning we catch our flight home, thank goodness we aren't flying American, lots of canceled flights.

Airplanes And More Airplanes

We were up and out to the air show early this morning after a good nights sleep. We went out to the ultralight area to check it out. Talked with some friends, Dale talked with the Rotax man, and we watched the ultralights fly. Then we headed to the buildings to check out the vendors and order a Bose headset for a friend. Dale and I made a few purchases and made sure we hadn't missed anything. Our picnic lunch at the car was followed by a short cat nap. The crowds were bigger today and the weather was great with lots of sunshine. I took off after lunch to stake out my spot under a Piper wing for the air show. Dale showed up and decided to join me under the wing. We left before the air show ended to beat the traffic. We headed to our favorite seafood restaurant "Shells" for some fried shrimp. Tomorrow is our last day at the show and the RANS guys are having a get together at the RANS booth at noon.