Flight to Bar Harbor and NYD Dawn Hike on Cadillac Mountain

For this New Year's I decided to do something different. My friend Kasie is moving to Portland, OR in a few days and for her final goodbye to the East Coast, she decided to do a hike with some friends to see the first sunrise of 2017 on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine. Not wanting to give in to a 5+ hour drive, I flew into Bar Harbor airport (KBHB) instead. Although both the arrival and departure flights were completely VFR, there was a nasty front that passed through during the night (which we then had to hike in!). Due to the weather we did not get to see an actual sunrise, but it was still a lot of fun. It was also interesting to watch the weather change so quickly as the front passed through; and I am glad it did otherwise I would have been stuck there! 

Flying in the Florida Keys

Our family went on vacation in Key West last week. I rented a plane from Marathon Airport and flew around the Keys with my family. There is not much around so you can go quite low and get some beautiful views of the water. Although we could not capture it on camera, we could see various marine wildlife in the water. In fact, several pilots at Marathon were hired to fly low and slow all around the Keys tracking wildlife for certain organizations. Seems like a fun job.

Thunderstorms are commonplace in the Keys, and on an afternoon flight the rain began to fall just as we taxied off the runway and shut down the plane. Luckily we had been tracking the movement of the storm in the air so I knew we'd make it before the storm hit. I'm hoping next time I'm down in Florida I can take a trip to the Bahamas!