Western Flying Trip Day 1 and 2

Finally able to post some photos!   4167 mile trip ahead!

Long flying day -  Pittsboro to Clinton, Iowa for fuel stop.

Neat view of windmills from the air.

First overnight stop - Dickinson, ND - will be here two nights to visit Roosevelt National Park.

Interesting drive to the park - lots of flat land - lots of oil rigs.  About half of the rigs we saw were not operating.

Entrance to the park.

Several hikes to viewpoints.  Enjoy the scenery!

Lots of bison -

Dick and Lindy enjoying the hike!  Wonderful countryside. 

Next up - flight to Calgary, Alberta Canada!!

Vegetables!

We had the kids over for dinner....and just thought I'd share a couple of photos of the vegetables since I thought they looked so good!  (And they were good!!)

Vegetables and marinated tofu on the grill.

And this was a new-to-me way to cook fresh broccoli.  Just cut up the head of broccoli - I peeled and chopped the stems too because I like them!  Toss with olive oil and some salt/red pepper.

Then bake until the florets start to brown - takes about 1/2 hour.

And it was delicious!  Really flavorful as opposed to simply steaming or boiling! 

Working on the Avion!

Around the house

My little flower beds are doing a wonderful job of vegetable production!

Lots and lots of great cucumbers.  Some squash, but not many for some reason.

Really enjoying the tomatoes - and enjoying the fact that the mulch in the flower beds make weeding a breeze!

And fortunately, the deer seem to be eating the grass and not my vegetables this year!

More Folly Beach fun

Rafe had marinated some fresh Mahi-mahi steaks -  and cooked them in the back yard on a griddle.

Yum!

Here was the spread -

Fabulous fish tacos!!  (Teresa had avocado tacos - also good!!)

Lots of beach time.

And Teresa and I had front row seats to a beach wedding.

Complete with a bag-piper!

Much beach-walking was accomplished....

And several meals out at beachy bars and restaurants.

All good meals and fun atmospheres.

We took a 4 mile drive to the north side of the island to the Lighthouse inlet.....too far and deep for a venture actually to the lighthouse.  But, a pretty area.

And the days flew by and it was time to head home!  (Not the spec of the lighthouse to the left of the inlet).

We'll definitely keep Folly Beach in the places for a return visit!

Folly Beach

On our way back from Jacksonville, we stopped at Charleston to visit with my sis and her family.  They had rented a house on Folly Beach and had a spare bedroom.  Lucky us!!

Flying over Folly Beach on the way to Charleston Exec Airport. 

 On the porch of the beach house getting ready to go for a walk on the beach.  Note Eaven's cute blue hair.....makes him easy to spot out in the surf!!

Beautiful, flat, wide beach.

The boys lagging behind.

And you may have already seen these photos on Facebook, but I thought they were cute....

Something must have been awfully funny!!  Great start to a relaxing few days in Folly Beach!

Boat Shopping

We flew to Jacksonville, Fl to look at another boat.  This one is a Leopard 40.  I believe this will be the model we buy.  Seems the perfect size - roomy and will fit nicely in our slip in Oriental.

The owner/seller gave us a very nice tour of the boat.  This was the first boat of all our "shopping trips" that we couldn't find much wrong!   Unfortunately, the owner called and said he had an offer on the boat - and we're not going to get in bidding wars.  There is another one for sale - in Trinadad!  We might just go get that one now that we have narrowed it down to a particular model.  So, progress!

Tribute to a faithful companion

Yesterday  we learned that Buddy and Sharon's lifetime pet and family member passed away unexpectedly.

Sad day.

She was almost 15, but the loss for them still hurts. Rest in peace, Capi dog.
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Butterfly

We've been seeing alot of these beautiful butterflies lately....aren't they gorgeous?

Hot!

It's been hot.  I mean really, really hot here!!  We've been sweating it out down in the hangar working on the Avion!!!

Green tomatoes!

The only red tomatoes I have so far are the big grape ones....but my regular tomato vines are teaming with fruit.  It's just green so far.

So, I made the best of it with some fried green tomatoes!

Strangely, I had a can of wax beans - but no kidney beans in my pantry.....so I made some "2 Bean Salad".   Added some coleslaw and this was our light dinner!

Hiking at Jordan Lake Dam

Went for another "conditioning" hike this morning at the Jordan Lake dam.

Scenic overlook.   Beautiful day but hot, hot, hot!!

Made 7 mile circuit - to the other side of the dam!  Then home to work on the Avion!

Lunch

Just working on the Avion.....we come to the house mid-day for a light lunch. 

Perfect for the hot weather!

Hiking

We did a 6 mile hike at Jordan Lake - early in the morning to avoid most of the heat!

Disturbed this lovely black snake on the trail!

Lovely views....but is sure was warm, even in the shade!

Avion

Yeah....you'll have to go to the Avion blog to see what we've been up to!

Little Avion work

Go check out the Avion blog for a little bit of work we did in the crazy hot weather!