san-diego-2006

Well, the trip was a success although different than originally thought.

We got delayed a day due to very high winds in Denver. Then (3/2) we ended up heading straight west from Longmont, then diverting a little for weather to Steamboat, then following the Colorado River for a long ways. It was beautiful and something I have wanted to do for a while. We flew over Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Lake Powell, and the Grand Canyon.

We laid over at IFP Laughlin/Bullhead. This was different with all the Casinos, but we did get a decent room for $25. The FBO is out of trailer, but everybody was very nice and helpful; worth using again.

Then off again to try to get to San Diego. No luck due to one of the cold front storms with clouds and icing. So we put down in Borrego Springs L08. Very windy, but we made it down. There was an antique motorcycle gathering in town, so all but a podunk motel was booked up. At least we got a room.

The next day (3/4) we finally made it into San Diego, Montgomery Field MYF. SoCal approach was pretty nice, but a lot happened in a short amount of time. I ended up coming in VFR, but I would probably try IFR next time. We had to pass over the ILS traffic to MYF and land on the parallel runway. We used Gibbs Flying Service and they were very nice.

Then on to San Diego fun. Stayed at Holiday Inn on the Bay, and went to Sea World, the seals at La Jolla, Midway, and Star of India. Good fun for a family with a 4 year old.

Then time to head home (3/7). There was a layer of clouds, so I filed IFR and had an easy departure. Clouds got less after the mountains, so we cancelled IFR and went ahead VFR. The rest was pretty good weather, except very bumpy!

So we had to slow down and only made it to Albuqerque. We went to AEG Double Eagle. I got my first ramp check there which was strange. We got a free shuttle into a Best Western near old town. Very nice and convenient to restaurants and stuff. I think we will go back to there.

Weather caught us again with snow in Denver, so we stayed an extra day (3/8) in Albuquerque and went to the Natural History Museum. That was nice too.

We left early the next day since this appeared to be our small 1 day window of good weather to get home before more snow in Denver. Snow was/is expected 3/10-3/13. Luckily it worked out. More bumps and some dodging some clouds in Longmont, but we are home.


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Mar 2 2006
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Mar 2 2006
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Mar 2 2006
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Mar 2 2006
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Mar 2 2006
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Mar 2 2006
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Mar 2 2006
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Mar 4 2006
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Mar 4 2006
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Mar 8 2006
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Mar 8 2006
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Mar 8 2006
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Mar 6 2006
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Mar 6 2006
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Mar 5 2006
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Mar 6 2006
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Mar 5 2006
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Mar 4 2006
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Mar 9 2006
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Mar 9 2006
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All Images Copyright (c) 1999-2002 by Brian Cruikshank